AP Physics B Kinematics Presentation #69

This paragraph explains the graphical process of determining the resultant vector of three displacement vectors. It begins by setting up a coordinate system with X and Y axes and then illustrates the addition of three vectors with different magnitudes and angles relative to the East direction. The first vector is 115 meters at 30 degrees north of East, the second is 20 meters at 37 degrees north of East, and the third is 325 meters at 45 degrees north of East. The resultant vector, represented in purple, is the vector that connects the initial starting point to the final endpoint of the combined vectors. The paragraph details the method of finding the net X and Y components of the vectors by using trigonometric functions such as cosine and sine, and then uses these components to determine the angle of the resultant vector with respect to the X-axis.

The second paragraph continues the process of vector addition by calculating the X and Y components of each vector using trigonometric functions. It provides the specific calculations for the X and Y components of the second and third vectors, which are 20 meters at 37 degrees and 325 meters at 45 degrees, respectively. The paragraph then sums up the X and Y components of all three vectors to find the net components, resulting in a total X component of 47 meters and a total Y component of 38 meters. Using the tangent function and the arctangent (inverse tangent), the paragraph concludes by determining the angle of the resultant vector to be approximately 39 degrees north of East, which is the final answer to the problem presented in the script.