Solving a Sailboat Force Problem: Acceleration Mag & Direction

AI Thread Summary
To solve the sailboat force problem, first create a free body diagram to visualize the forces acting on the boat. The force from the sails is 390 N directed north, while the water exerts a force of 180 N directed east. These forces can be represented as vectors forming a right triangle, where the resultant force can be calculated using the Pythagorean theorem. After determining the magnitude of the resultant force, use trigonometric functions to find the direction of the acceleration. Finally, apply Newton's second law (F=ma) to calculate the acceleration of the boat.
atse1900
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Hello,I was wondering how do you solve for this problem?
Yea, I thought about setting up a free body diagram but didn't didn't know which way to point the vectors.

The problem is this:

The force of on the sails of a sailboat is 390 N north.The water exerts a froce of 180 N east. If the boat (including) has a mass of 270 kg, what are the magintude and direction of its acceleration?

Yep, can someone help me out. Please.

lol k.
: ].
 
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To find the resultant, draw a vector diagram of the vectors involve to make a right angled triangle so that they follow each other, i.e. the arrowhead of the first vector leads to the tail of the other. Then draw in the hyp and use pythag and trig to calculate the hyp giving you the resultant force.
 
I still don't understand how you would solve it. Can you guide me through the steps?
 

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