Mechanics 1 {IAL updates}

Chapter : 3
Vectors

1. [In this question i and j are horizontal unit vectors due east and due north respectively and position vectors are given
relative to a fixed origin O.]
A ship A is moving with constant velocity (2i – 14j) kmh–1. At 2 pm the position vector of ship A is (8i + 7j) km.
A ship B is moving with constant velocity (12i – 4j) km h–1. At 2 pm the position vector of ship B is (i + 2j) km.
(a) Show that at time t hours after 2 pm,
⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗ = [(7 – 10𝑡)𝐢 + (5 – 10𝑡)𝐣] km
𝐵𝐴
(b) Hence find the length of time for which the ships are within 2 km of each other.
June ‘19 IAL
2. [In this question i and j are horizontal unit vectors due east and due north respectively and position vectors are given
relative to a fixed origin O.]
At time t = 0, a bird A leaves its nest, that is located at the point with position vector (20i – 17j) m, and flies with
constant velocity (–6i + 7j) m s–1. At the same time a second bird B leaves its nest which is located at the point with
position vector (–8i + 9j) m and flies with constant velocity ( pi + 2pj) m s–1, where p is a constant. At time t = 4 s,
bird B is south west of bird A.
(a) Find the direction of motion of A, giving your answer as a bearing to the nearest degree.
(b) Find the speed of B.
Jan ‘19 IAL

3. [In this question i and j are perpendicular horizontal unit vectors and position vectors are given relative to a fixed
origin O.]
A particle P is moving in a straight line with constant velocity. At 9 am, the position vector of P is (7i + 5j) km and at
9.20 am, the position vector of P is 6i km. At time t hours after 9 am, the position vector of P is rP km.
(a) Find, in km h–1, the speed of P.
(b) Show that rP = (7 − 3t) i + (5 − 15t) j
(c) Find the value of t when rP is parallel to 16i + 5j.
The position vector of another particle Q, at time t hours after 9 am, is rQ km, where
rQ = (5 + 2t) i + (− 3 + 5t) j
(d) Show that P and Q will collide and find the position vector of the point of collision.
June ’18 IAL
4. [In this question i and j are perpendicular horizontal unit vectors.]
A particle P of mass 2 kg moves under the action of two forces, (2i + 3j) N and (4i − 5j) N.
(a) Find the magnitude of the acceleration of P.

At time t = 0, P has velocity (−𝑢i + uj) m s-1, where u is a positive constant. At time t = T seconds, P has velocity (10i
+ 2j) m s-1.
(b) Find
(i) the value of T,
(ii) the value of u.
Jan ’18 IAL

5. Two forces, F1 and F2 , act on a particle A. F1 = (2i – 3j) N and F2 = (pi + qj) N, where p and q are constants. Given
that the resultant of F1 and F2 is parallel to (i + 2j),
(a) show that 2p – q + 7 = 0
Given that q = 11 and that the mass of A is 2 kg, and that F1 and F2 are the only forces acting on A,
(b) find the magnitude of the acceleration of A. May ‘16 IAL
6.

Two forces P and Q act on a particle at a point O. Force P has magnitude 6 N and force Q has magnitude 7 N. The
angle between the line of action of P and the line of action of Q is 120°, as shown in the figure. The resultant of P and
Q is R. Find (i) the magnitude of R, (ii) the angle between the line of action of R and the line of action of P.
Jan ‘17 IAL
7. [In this question i and j are horizontal unit vectors due east and due north respectively and position vectors are given
relative to a fixed origin.] The velocity, v m s–1, of a particle P at time t seconds is given by v = (1 – 2t)i + (3t – 3)j
(a) Find the speed of P when t = 0
(a) Find the bearing on which P is moving when t = 2
(b) Find the value of t when P is moving (i) parallel to j, (ii) parallel to (– i – 3j).
May ‘13
8. [In this question i and j are horizontal unit vectors due east and due north respectively and position vectors are given
relative to a fixed origin.] At 2 pm, the position vector of ship P is (5i – 3j) km and the position vector of ship Q is (7i
+ 5j) km.
(a) Find the distance between P and Q at 2 pm.
Ship P is moving with constant velocity (2i + 5j) km h–1 and ship Q is moving with constant velocity (–3i – 15j)
km h–1.
(b) Find the position vector of P at time t hours after 2 pm.
(c) Find the position vector of Q at time t hours after 2 pm.
(d) Show that Q will meet P and find the time at which they meet.
(e) Find the position vector of the point at which they meet. IAL Jan ‘16

9. A particle P moves from point A to point B with constant acceleration (ci + dj) m s-2 , where c and d are positive
constants. The velocity of P at A is (−3i − 3j) m s-1 and the velocity of P at B is (2i + 9j) m s-1. The magnitude of the
acceleration of P is 2.6 m s-2. Find the value of c and the value of d.
May ‘15 IAL
10. [In this question i and j are horizontal unit vectors due east and due north respectively and position vectors are given
relative to a fixed origin.] A boy 𝐵 is running in a field with constant velocity (3𝐢 − 2𝐣)𝑚𝑠 −1 . At time 𝑡 = 0, 𝐵 is at
the point with position vector 10𝐣 𝑚.
Find
(a) the speed of 𝐵
(b) the direction in which 𝐵 is running giving your answer as a bearing.
At time 𝑡 = 0, a girl 𝐺 is at the point with position vector (4𝐢 − 2𝐣)𝑚. The girl is running with constant velocity
5
( 𝐢 + 2𝐣) 𝑚 𝑠 −1 and meets 𝐵 at the point 𝑃.
3

(c) Find
(i) the value of 𝑡 when they meet,
(ii) the position vector of 𝑃,
May ‘14
11. [In this question i and j are horizontal unit vectors due east and due north respectively and position vectors are given
relative to a fixed origin.]
A ship sets sail at 9 am from a port P and moves with constant velocity. The position vector of P is (4i – 8j) km. At
9.30 am the ship is at the point with position vector (i – 4j) km.
(a) Find the speed of the ship in km h–1.
(b) Show that the position vector r km of the ship, t hours after 9 am, is given by r = (4 – 6t)i + (8t – 8)j.
At 10 am, a passenger on the ship observes that a lighthouse L is due west of the ship. At 10.30 am, the passenger
observes that L is now south-west of the ship.
(c) Find the position vector of L. Jan ‘13
12. [In this question i and j are horizontal unit vectors due east and due north respectively and position vectors are given
relative to a fixed origin.]
Two ships P and Q are moving with constant velocities. Ship P moves with velocity (2i – 3j) km h -1 and ship Q
moves with velocity (3i + 4j) km h -1
(a) Find, to the nearest degree, the bearing on which Q is moving.
At 2 pm, ship P is at the point with position vector (i + j) km and ship Q is at the point with position vector (- 2j) km.
At time t hours after 2 pm, the position vector of P is p km and the position vector of Q is q km.
(b) Write down expressions, in terms of t, for
(i) p
(ii) q
(iii) → .
𝑃𝑄
(c) Find the time when
(i) Q is due north of P,
(ii) Q is north-west of P. May ‘11
13. During a cricket match, the batsman hits the ball and begins running with constant velocity 4i ms -1 to try and score a
run. When the batsman is at the fixed origin O, the ball is thrown by a member of the opposing team with velocity
(– 8i + 24j) ms -1 from the point with position vector (30i – 60j) m, where i and j are horizontal perpendicular unit
vectors. At time t seconds after the ball is thrown, the position vectors of the batsman and the ball are r metres and s
metres respectively. In a model of the situation, the ball is assumed to travel horizontally and air resistance is
considered to be negligible.
(a) Find expressions for r and s in terms of t.
(b) Show that the ball hits the batsman and find the position vector of the batsman when this occurs.
(c) Write down two reasons why the assumptions used in these calculations are unlikely to provide a realistic model.
solomon K
14. [In this question, the horizontal unit vectors i and j are directed due east and north respectively]
A mountain rescue post O receives a distress call via a mobile phone from a walker who has broken a leg and cannot
move. The walker says he is by a pipeline and he can also see a radio mast which he believes to be south-west of him.
The pipeline is known to run north-south for a long distance through the point with position vector 6i km, relative to
O. The radio mast is known to be at the point with position vector 2j km, relative to O.
(a) Using the information supplied by the walker, write down his position vector in the form (ai + bj).

The rescue party moves at a horizontal speed of 5 km h-1. The leader of the party wants to give the walker and idea of
how long it will take to for the rescue party to arrive.
(b) Calculate how long it will take for the rescue party to reach the walker’s estimated position.
The rescue party sets out and walks straight towards the walker’s estimated position at a constant horizontal speed of
5 km h-1. After the party has travelled for one hour, the walker rings again. He is very apologetic and says that he now
realises that the radio mask is in fact north-west of his position
(c) Find the position vector of the walker.
(d) Find in degrees to one decimal place, the bearing on which the rescue party should now travel in order to reach the
walker directly. June 2001