Worksheet

RESULTANT AND COMPONENTS OF VECTORS

Attempt all questions showing all working where appropriate.

(Assume g = 10 Nkg-1 or 10 ms-2 unless stated otherwise)

RESULTANT OF VECTORS QUESTIONS

X 4ms-1

Y 3 ms-1

Figure [Z]

1. A girl X runs with a velocity of 4 ms-1 across the deck of a ship Y moving in the
sea at 3 ms-1 at 90o to the direction of X in figure [Z], find the girls resultant
velocity relative to the sea.[2]

100 kmh-1
X

Y 300 kmh-1

Figure [G]
2. An aeroplane Y moving due south at 300 kmh-1 suddenly meets a wind X moving
due west 100 kmh-1 as shown figure [G] above. Find the resultant velocity of the
aeroplane. [3]

C 30 ms-1

D
P Y 20 ms-1
Q
Figure [F]
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3. A car C is moving due north at 30 ms-1 at P, as denoted by figure [F]. Another car
D at Q is moving due west at 20 ms-1. Find the resultant velocity relative to D and
show the relative direction in a diagram.[3]

River bank

Direction of river flow

0.8 ms-1 0.6 ms-1

Swimmers direction

River bank

4. A swimmer swims across a river at a velocity of 0.8 ms-1 in a direction

perpendicular to the river banks. The river flows at 0.6 ms-1. Using either
triangular or parallelogram method or otherwise , find the resultant velocity of the
swimmer.[3]

5. Find the resultant of a force of 5N and another force of 12N acting at the same
point on an object if :-

i) the forces act opposite directions but in the same straight line.[2]

ii) the forces act perpendicularly to each other.(NB – To give both the
magnitude and direction of the resultant relative to one the original
vectors).[2]

5N

40o
7N
B Figure [O]

6. Two forces of magnitude 5 N and 7N act on a small body B at an angle between

the directions along which the forces act is 40o as illustrated above in figure
[O].Find the the resultant force acting on B. using either a scale diagram or
otherwise [2]
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7. A car of mass 1000 kg is accelerating at 2 ms-2. What is the resultant force that
acts on the car?

i) If the resistance to the motion is 1000 N.[2]

ii) What is the force due to the engine only.[2]

COMPONENT OF A VECTOR QUESTIONS

30o
horizontal
W
Figure [I]

8. In figure [I] a sledge rests on a slope at an angle of 30o to the horizontal. If the
mass of the rider and the sledge is 80 kg find :-

i) the weight of the rider and the sledge in (N). [1]

ii) the component of the combined weight which acts parallel to and down the slope.
[2]

iii) the component of the combined weight which provides the contact force acting
normal to the slope. [2]

l = 400 m

30o

Figure [R]
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9. A man of mass 60 kg walks up a track inclined at 30o to the horizontal as in figure

[R] above. If he walks 400 m along the track l, how much work does he do? [3]

2m

0.6 m

Figure [W]

10. A man loads a crate of mass 40 kg onto lorry (truck) by pushing it up a sloping
plank, at a steady speed as shown above in figure [W]. The plank is 2 m long and
its upper end is 0.6 m above the lower end.

i) What is the component of the weight of the crate parallel to the length of the
plank? [2]

ii) How much work does he do in pushing the crate up the length of the plank if
he pushes along the length of the plank with a force of 250 N.[2]

Therefore

F1 = 100 N

Box 60o

Ground (the Horizontal)

figure [V] (i).

F1 = 100 N

Box 20o

Ground (the horizontal)

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Figure [V] (ii).

11. A man attempts to pull a box along the ground. He can pull a rope attached to the
box with a force of 100 N. A force of 70 N is needed to overcome the frictional
forces along the ground and just get the box moving. If he uses a short rope to
pull the box it makes an angle of 60o with the horizontal (i.e. the level ground)
figure [V] (i). However if he uses a longer rope it makes an angle of 20o with the
horizontal figure [V] (ii)..

i) Explain why he fails to move the box in the 1st scenario.[2]

ii) Explain why he succeeds in moving the box in 2nd scenario.[2]

And this Ch of the force parallel to the ground 94 N is greater than the 70 N
needed to move the box and so the man is able to move the box with the
longer rope with ease.

Y 20 ms-1

30o
O X

Figure [J]

12. Figure [J] above shows a car A moving with a velocity of 20 ms-1 at an angle of
30o to the direction OX.

i) What is the component of the velocity along OX. [2]

ii) What is the component along the direction OY perpendicular to OX.

[2]

800 N B

100 N
30o
A
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W = 1000 N

Figure [U]

13. A model car (toy car) O is moving up an inclined road AB at 30o to the horizontal
as shown in figure [U] above. The weight W of the car is 1000 N , the frictional
force acting down the plane is 100 N and the force on the car due to the engine is
800 N up the plane AB.

i) Calculate the component of the weight W down the plane AB.[2]

ii) The resultant force acting on the car up the plane.[2]

iii) The reaction force R on the car at right angles to the road AB if this IS
balanced by the component of the weight in the opposite direction OC.
[3]

2 kg X

l = 10 m
h

Y 30o

Figure [S]

14. A Block of mass 2 kg is on a smooth slope of 30o. If it slides from rest at X, find
its speed at Y after moving 10 m down the slope as shown below in figure [S].[2]

15. An elephant dragging a tree trunk along a horizontal surface by means of an

attached rope which makes an angle of 30o with the horizontal. The tension force
in the rope is 4000 N.

i) By scale drawing or otherwise determine the horizontal force exerted by the

rope on the tree trunk.[2]

ii) Determine also the vertical component of the force exerted by the rope on the
tree trunk and explain why it serves a useful purpose.[2]
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iii) Name the other forces which act on the tree trunk and show clearly the
directions in which they act.[2]

F = 50 N

40o
X

Ground
Y
Figure [C]

16. A man presses on the ground with a walking stick with a force of 50 N as denoted
in figure [C] above.

i) what type of force is exerted on the ground by F.[1]

ii) Determine both the horizontal component (parallel to the ground), and
the vertical component (perpendicular to the ground)of the force F. [4]

iii) Name the type of force that pairs with X and Y forces respectively. [2]

17. Two tug boats pull a ship by means of two horizontal steel cables(wires), each
with a tension T of 10,000 N. The angle between the cables is 60o. Find by scale
drawing and measurement the total force pulling the ship.[2]

River bank

River current
1 ms-1 resultant velocity
Swimmers speed 1.5 ms-1 of swimmer
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River bank

Figure [J]

18. A Swimmer can swim at 1.5 ms-1 in still water. He wishes to cross a river in
which there is a current flowing at an average speed of 1 ms-1.

i) Find by scale drawing and measurement the direction in which the

swimmer should swim in order to cross the river at right angles.[2]

 NB – Use the fact that the resultant velocity of the river and swimmer
should be at right angles to the bank of the stream.[2]

19. By scale drawing and measurement or otherwise resolve the vector P into two
perpendicular components, one of these making angle θ with P, where;

i) P = 20 N and θ = 20o [2]

ii) P = 400 km h-1 and θ = 60o [2]

Use both the parallelogram and the triangular method for each construction
compare your results.[2]

iii) Which of the methods above in (ii) do you consider the more reliable
method? Parallelogram Why .[3]