An airplane is flying at 80 kilometers per hour when a strong tail wind, traveling in the same direction at 5 kilometers per hour, hits the airplane. How can the net force acting on the airplane be calculated?
a
multiply the forces
b
divide the forces
c
add the forces
d
subtract the forces
The concept of force in this context is not directly related to the velocity of the wind and the velocity of the airplane. In physics, force is defined as a push or pull upon an object resulting from the object's interaction with another object. It is quantified using the equation F = m*a (force equals mass times acceleration). Neither the speed of the airplane nor the speed of the wind is directly a force. Instead, these speeds contribute to the relative velocity of the airplane with respect to the ground when the wind is considered.
If you're interested in understanding how the wind affects the airplane's velocity, rather than net force, you would simply add the speed of the tailwind to the speed of the airplane to compute the new speed with respect to the ground. This is because the wind is pushing in the same direction that the plane is moving, effectively "helping" the plane go faster.
So, if an airplane is flying at 80 kilometers per hour and a tailwind is blowing in the same direction at 5 kilometers per hour, the airplane's new speed with respect to the ground would be:
80 km/h (airplane speed) + 5 km/h (tailwind speed) = 85 km/h (new ground speed)
The correct operation for combining these speeds is:
c. add the forces (although in this context, "speeds" or "velocities" would be more accurate than "forces").