Question

Raindrops are falling straight downward. When observed from a car traveling at 55.0 mi/h, the drops streak the side window at an angle of 60.0° with the vertical. Find the speed with which the drops are falling.

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

It is given that,

Speed of the car,
`v_c= 55\ mi/h = 24.58\ m/s`

The drops makes an angle of 60 degrees with the vertical. The attached figure shows the whole description.
`v_r` is the speed with which the drops are falling.

Using trigonometry in the attached figure,

`tan\ 60=(v_c)/(v_r)`

`v_r=(v_c)/(tan\ 60)`

`v_r=(24.58)/(tan\ 60)`

`v_r=14.19\ m/s`

So, the speed with which the drops are falling is 14.19 m/s. Hence, this is the required solution.