How Do You Calculate Vector Components on an Inclined Plane?

[possum30540]

Homework Statement

a snow-covered ski slope makes an angle of 35 degrees with the horizontal. when a ski jumper plummets onto the hill, a parcel of splashed snow projects to a maximum position of 5 m at 20 degrees from the vertical in the uphill direction. find the components of its maximum position a.) parallel to the surface and b.) perpendicular to the surface.

Homework Equations

you would construct a triangle with 20* and 5 m as the opposite side.
Then use 5/(tan20) to find the adjacent side.
Then use the pythagorean theorem to find the hypotenuse. ( I don't really know if you need this though)

The Attempt at a Solution

a.) 13m

b.) 5m

 

[possum30540]

I don't understand why no one has answered my question . . .I would really like to know if I figured this out correctly or not.

 

[PhanthomJay]

Homework Statement

a snow-covered ski slope makes an angle of 35 degrees with the horizontal. when a ski jumper plummets onto the hill, a parcel of splashed snow projects to a maximum position of 5 m at 20 degrees from the vertical in the uphill direction. find the components of its maximum position a.) parallel to the surface and b.) perpendicular to the surface.

Homework Equations

you would construct a triangle with 20* and 5 m as the opposite side.
Then use 5/(tan20) to find the adjacent side.
Then use the pythagorean theorem to find the hypotenuse. ( I don't really know if you need this though)

The Attempt at a Solution

a.) 13m

b.) 5m

It appears that the 5 meter position is measured from the hill along a line 20 degrees to the vertical; the 5 meter length is the hypotenuse of a right triangle, whose components are parallel and perpendicular to the incline. You need to draw a sketch and determine the angle that the 5m hypotenuse makes with the incline, so that you can find these components using trig. Treat the incline as the x axis.