A man is pulling on his dog with a force of 70.0 N directed at an angle of +30.0° to the horizontal. What are the x and y components of this force?

2 Answers
Mar 27, 2018

Fx=353 N
Fy=35 N

Explanation:

To put it shortly, any force F making an angle θ with the horizontal has x and y components Fcos(θ) and Fsin(θ)

Detailed explanation:

He is pulling his dog at an angle of 30 with the horizontal with a force of 70 N

There are an x component and a y component to this force

If we draw this as a vector, then the diagram looks something like this

![http://zonalandeducation.com/mstm/physics/mechanics/forces/forceComponents/forceComponents.html](useruploads.socratic.org)

The Black line is the direction of force and red and green are x and y components respectively. The angle between the Black line and Red line is 30 degrees as given

Since force is a vector, we can move the arrows and rewrite it as

![http://zonalandeducation.com/mstm/physics/mechanics/forces/forceComponents/forceComponents.html](useruploads.socratic.org)

Now since the angle between the Black line and the Red line is 30 degrees and the vector black line has a magnitude of 70 N, we can use trigonometry

cos(30)=FxF
So, FxisFcos(30)

sin(30)=FyF
So, Fy=Fsin(30)

The x component is Fcos(θ) and y component is Fsin(θ)

So the components are 70cos(30) and 70sin(30)

Fx=353 N
Fy=35 N

Mar 27, 2018

y-direction= 35.0 N
x-direction= 60.6 N

Explanation:

You essentially have a right-angled triangle with a 30-degree angle and a hypotenuse with a magnitude 70.0 Newtons.

So the vertical component (y-direction) is given by=
sin30=(y70)
70sin30=y
y=35.0

The horizontal component (x-direction) is given by
cos30=(x70)
70cos30=x

x60.6