Name _______________________________
Block _______
Date _________
Vector Addition WS
Equations:
a2 + b2 = c2
Example 1:
A boat drives east across a river at 12 m/s. The current is pushing the boat south at 5 m/s. What is the
resultant velocity of the boat?
Example 2:
A plane is flying north at a velocity of 255 m/s with a crosswind of 45 m/s from west to east. What is the
resultant velocity of the airplane?
Example 3:
A bird is trying to fly west at a velocity of 15 m/s while it experiences a wind blowing to the North. If an
ornithologist (bird watcher) measures the resultant velocity of the bird as 18 m/s NW, how strong is the
wind blowing?
Name _______________________________
Block _______
Date _________
Homework Problem Set.
Show all you work and proper units. Remember Homework is for practice and its purpose if to prepare
you for Quizzes, Labs and Tests.
1. Steven is running down the halls to make sure he isn’t late to class. He runs south down the 400
hall a distance of 150 m, then turns west in the 500 hall and runs 100 m to the class room door.
How far has Stephen travelled from his starting point (in a straight line)?
2. Batman is flying the Bat plane over Gotham city with a velocity of 450 m/s northeast. The
velocity of the Bat plane is a result of the engines flying the plane 425 m/s north and a crosswind
blowing the plane east? What is the magnitude of the wind?
3. A large cargo boat is driving north from Miami, Fl. to Charleston, S.C. at a velocity of 35 m/s N. If
the ocean current is pushing the boat east a rate of 4 m/s, what is the resultant velocity of the
boat?
4. A sailfish is swimming east at a rate of 30.4 m/s, but a marine biologist measured the velocity of
the sailfish to be 36 m/s southeast. How fast is the ocean current moving south?
5. Jorge is an excellent swimmer and can swim up to 12 m/s in a straight line. One day Jorge
decided to swim across the Potomac River. If Jorge swam north across the Potomac River with a
speed of 12 m/s, but his resultant velocity was really 15 m/s NE, how fast was the current in the
Potomac River?