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Rijad Hadzic
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Homework Statement
A police officer is attempting to reconstruct an accident in which a car traveling southward with a speed of 23 mph colided with another car of equal mass traveling eastward at an uknown speed. After the collision, the two cars coupled and slid at an angle of 60 degrees south of east. If the speed limit in that neighborhood is 25 mph, should the officer cite the second driver for speeding?
Homework Equations
The Attempt at a Solution
https://imgur.com/a/FbBgU
https://imgur.com/a/N3gk2
This is the solution manual answer.
in the third box when they write:
m(10.3 m/s) = 2m vcos(60)
This does not make sense to me. The car is traveling south at 23 mph, which = 10.3 m/s, but that is the Y COMPONENT, not the x component,
Wouldn't it make sense to write:
m(x) = 2m vcos(60)
and
m(10.3 m/s) = 2m vsin(60)
But doing it that way I get the wrong answer. Is anyone able to explain this to me please?
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