Help with Kinematics: Moving Towards Origin

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An object moving in 3D space towards the origin has its position vector and velocity vector defined in terms of unit vectors along the x, y, and z axes. The condition for the object moving towards the origin implies that the angle between the position vector and the velocity vector is π, resulting in a negative dot product. This negative dot product indicates that the velocity vector runs opposite to the displacement vector. The discussion also simplifies the problem to one dimension, emphasizing that if an object starts with a positive displacement, its velocity must be negative to move towards the origin. Understanding these relationships is crucial for solving kinematic problems involving motion towards a point.
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An object is moving in 3D space with position vector vectot r=(x)i+y(j)+z(k) and velocity vector v=a(i)+b(j)+c(k)
i,j,k are unit vectors along x,y,z axes
If the object is always moving towards origin,
then
(a) a/x =b/y = c/z
(b) (a/x)(b/y)(c/z)<0
(c)ax+by+cz<0
(d)ab/xy >0
x,y,z,a,b,c are functions of time
question may have one or more correct answer(s)
MY APPROACH
integrating velocity eqn,
r=at(i)+bt(y)+ct(z)
which implies,
x=at
y=bt
z=ct
I don't get the correct ans if I proceed this way
wats wrong?
 
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Angle between position vector and velocity vector is π.
So the dot product of r and v i.e. r.v = - ( xa + yb + zc) < 0
 


please explain me,how the angle is pi
what does the statement the object is always moving towards origin
imply?
 


harini_5 said:
please explain me,how the angle is pi
what does the statement the object is always moving towards origin
imply?

For the sake of argument, let's simplify it to a one dimensional problem.
The x-axis is positive to the right of the origin, and negative to the left of the origin.
The object starts with an initial displacement x_0 &gt; 0
If the object is to move towards the origin, is its velocity negative or positive?

The dot product is the scalar product of two vectors.

\vec i\cdot \vec j \equiv |i|*|j|*\cos{\theta} where \theta is the angle between the two vectors.

So for your velocity and displacement vectors, make an analogy from the one-dimensional case.

The velocity runs opposite the displacement vector for each of the axes. Can you see why the dot product is necessarily negative, now?
 
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