Final answer:
The angle of the rocket's net external force below horizontal can be found using the tangent function of a right triangle formed by the forces. The correct answer, using the given forces, is closest to 30 degrees, which means option A is the approximately correct choice.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question pertains to determining the angle of the rocket's net external force below horizontal, when the thrust is 200N horizontally and the force of gravity is 150N vertically downward. Since these two forces are at right angles to each other, we can use the right triangle formed by these forces to find the angle of the net force using trigonometry.
To find the angle θ below horizontal, we will use the tangent function, which is the ratio of the opposite side (force of gravity) to the adjacent side (thrust): θ = tan⁻¹(opposite/adjacent) = tan⁻¹(150N/200N). The calculated angle is 36.87 degrees, which is closest to option A, 30 degrees.