Question

A tow truck pulls a car 5 km along a horizontal roadway using a cable having a tension of 850 N. How much work does the cable do on the car if it pulls at 35° above the horizontal?

a) 3.48 × 106 J
b) 4.25 × 106 J
c) 6.15 × 107 J
d) 4.25 × 103 J

Answer 1

The work done by the tension in the cable on the car, when pulled at an angle of 35° above the horizontal for a distance of 5 km, is approximately 3.48 × 106 J.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question relates to the calculation of work done by a force acting at an angle to the direction of displacement. To calculate the work done, we can use the formula Work (W) = Force (F) × Distance (d) × cos(θ), where θ is the angle between the force and the direction of displacement. Since the tow truck pulls the car horizontally, we are interested only in the horizontal component of the force, which is 850 N × cos(35°). The work done by the cable on the car is therefore 850 N × 5,000 m × cos(35°).

Calculating this gives us a work done of approximately 3.48 × 106 J, which corresponds to answer option (a).