Snow is falling vertically at a constant speed of 6.6 m/s. At what angle from the vertical do the snowflakes appear to be falling as viewed by the driver of a car traveling on a straight, level road with a speed of 66 km/h?

6.6 m/s and 18.333 m/s (66 km/h) become the horizontal and vertical components of the velocity vector as seen by the driver. The answer is

tan^-1 6.6/18.333 = tan^-1 0.36 = 19.8 degrees

The above answer is wrong. You need to have tan^-1 (18.333/6.6)=70.2 degrees. (that is, tan^-1(Velocity in y direction/Velocity in x direction)

To find the angle at which the snowflakes appear to be falling as viewed by the driver of the car, we can use trigonometry.

Let's start by converting the car's speed to meters per second:

66 km/h * (1000 m / 1 km) * (1 h / 3600 s) = 18.33 m/s

Now, let's consider the vertical and horizontal components of the motion:

The vertical component is the speed at which the snowflakes are falling, which is given as 6.6 m/s.

The horizontal component is the speed at which the car is moving, which is 18.33 m/s.

The angle at which the snowflakes appear to be falling can be found using the tangent function:

tan(angle) = vertical component / horizontal component

tan(angle) = 6.6 m/s / 18.33 m/s

tan(angle) ≈ 0.360

To find the angle, we can take the inverse tangent (arctan) of both sides:

angle ≈ arctan(0.360)

Using a calculator, we find that the angle is approximately 20.89 degrees.

Therefore, the snowflakes appear to be falling at an angle of approximately 20.89 degrees from the vertical as viewed by the driver of the car.