Finding Normal and Tangential Acceleration Components in 2D Motion

[member 428835]

Homework Statement

ive reduced a problem down to one last part, and where i need the normal and tangential acceleration components of a moving particle. we are given the following: $$a=xi+yj$$ and $$v=ui+zj$$ where a and v are acceleration and velocity and the x,y,u,z are the components.

note we are only in 2 dimensions

i can't think of any way to proceed. thanks for any help!

 

[jedishrfu]

So when you say you want the tangential acceleration then that would be the a component in the direction of v

So look at the dot product of a with v

In a similar vein you should now know how to get the normal component.

 

[Chestermiller]

If you have the equation for the velocity vector v, then you should be able to write down an equation for a unit vector in the direction of the velocity vector. What is that equation?