|
|
|
Main Menu
|
|
Sections
Talkback
Downloads
Information
|
|
|
|
|
![[parent]](https://images.physicslibrary.org/images/uparrow.png) Viewing Message
|
|
|
| ``Vector problem''
by Thomas2054 on 2007-11-11 19:28:29 |
|
| I am puzzling over the below stated problem. This is not homework or school related, I am just doing it for fun. It comes from "Feynman's Tips on Physics", p. 143. The problem I am having is finding a deterministic way of solving it. When I write the relationships I end up with 2 unknowns, time and course, and only one relationship. I have solved it with a computer program to sweep through the unknowns using the one relationship, so it is not the answer I am looking for, I have that.
My preference would be some guidance on how to solve it in closed form. My solution equations involve the difference between the displacement vectors for each ship, which have both unknowns in that one difference equation.
Thanks in advance for any guidance.
Thomas
= = =
You are on a ship traveling steadily east at 15 knots. A ship on a steady course whose speed is known to be 26 knots is observed 6.0 mi due south of you; it is later observed to pass behind you, its distance of closest approach being 3.0 mi.
a) What was the course of the other ship?
b) What was the time between its position south of you and its position of closest approach?
|
| | [ reply | up ] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
