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An airplane starts at rest and accelerates at 5.6 m/s² at an angle of 34 degrees. What is the horizontal component of the airplane's acceleration?

a) 3.2 m/s²
b) 4.6 m/s²
c) 5.0 m/s²
d) 6.2 m/s²

1 Answer

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Final answer:

The horizontal component of the airplane's acceleration is found using the cosine function and is approximately 4.6 m/s², which is option b).

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks about finding the horizontal component of an airplane's acceleration when the airplane accelerates at an angle. To find the horizontal component of an acceleration vector, you can use trigonometry, specifically the cosine function for the adjacent side in a right triangle.

Since the airplane accelerates at 5.6 m/s² at an angle of 34 degrees, you would use the following formula:
Ax = A * cos(θ)
Where Ax is the horizontal component, A is the magnitude of the acceleration, and θ is the angle of acceleration with respect to the horizontal axis.

Applying the formula:
Ax = 5.6 m/s² * cos(34°)
This results in an horizontal component of approximately 4.6 m/s², which corresponds to option b) in the presented choices.

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