Any assistance explaining how to work this would be great!
The force exerted by the wind on the sails of a sailboat is Fsail = 480 N north. The water exerts a force of Fkeel = 240 N east. If the boat (including its crew) has a mass of 350 kg, what are the magnitude and direction of its acceleration?
The acceleration is the magnitude of the net force divided by the mass.
Since the two component forces are perpendicular, the magnitude of the net force is
sqrt[(480)^2 + (240)^2] = 536.7 N
The direction of the acceleration is that of the resultant force, tan^-1(1/2) = 26.6 degrees east of north