A small quadcopter drone takes off from a launch pad that is defined as the origin of…

PHYSICS · Multi-part · A Level · Physics · Mechanics and materials · Mechanics and materials

Problem

A small quadcopter drone takes off from a launch pad that is defined as the origin of an

xy

-coordinate system, with the positive

x

-axis directed east and the positive

y

-axis directed north. The drone executes the following flight plan at constant altitude: • Leg 1:

300\,\text{m}

due east. • Leg 2:

400\,\text{m}

due north. • Leg 3:

150\,\text{m}

due west. (a) Determine the

x

and

y

coordinates of the drone’s final position after the three legs. (b) Express the drone’s overall displacement as a vector in component form

\langle \!x,\,y\!\rangle

using meters. (c) Calculate the magnitude of the displacement and the angle it makes with the positive

x

-axis. Specify the angle’s direction (e.g., "north of east"). (d) If the drone’s total flight time for the three legs was

50\,\text{s}

, compute its average velocity vector during the flight.