Does this make sense? Something hanging from an accelerating object

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cheeseburger
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Accelerating
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
1 reply · 8K views
Cheeseburger
Messages
1
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


A pair of fuzzy dice is hanging by a string from your rearview mirror. While you are accelerating from a stoplight to 28m/s in 6s, what angle does the string make with the vertical?


Homework Equations


g, accel. of car is 4 2/3 m/s^2


The Attempt at a Solution


http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/8594/physwl0.png

I just figured the two accelerations were all that was necessary since the string length and mass are not given. So the angle is arctan(4.66/9.8) or 25.43 degrees? I did this in class in under a minute and it seems right but on the other hand it also seems too easy.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Physics news on Phys.org