phy 121
Your 'cq_1_22.1' report has been received. Scroll down through the document to see any comments I might have inserted, and my final comment at the end.
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Seed question 22.1
An airplane traveling to the northwest is exerting just enough force to overcome wind resistance. It encounters a sudden wind gust which is directed at 30 degrees south of east, which results in a net force in that direction.
During the half-second before the pilot has time to react to the gust, does the airplane speed up, slow down or maintain constant (or very nearly-constant) speed?
answer/question/discussion:
I’m looking at this like it is a head-on collision. 30 south of east would be in quad IV, while the airplane is traveling in quad II direction. So they will be nearly head-on. I think the wind will manage to slow the airplane down in the half-second before the pilot responds. It certainly doesn’t seem like it could speed it up (that would have to be a tail wind in the same direction as the plane).
Does it veer a bit to the right, a bit to the left or does it continue traveling along a straight line?
answer/question/discussion
If the plane is traveling in a true northwest direction then it’s angle is 135 degrees. The wind is not quite head on then but approaches a bit further west from the plane (from the plane’s left), therefore the plane would lurch a bit to the right…meanwhile Anne is in the plane throwing up due to all of this slowing down, speeding up and lurching about.
Yours happens to be the first submission in tonight's collection of files, and the very last thing I did was make reservations for my wife and I on a cross-country round-trip flight. Fortunately I've never experienced motion sickness.
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15 mins
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Excellent solution. Viewing the encounter as a collision is absolutely appropriate. If you figure out the additional mass of the air encountered in that first half-second, due to the wind, and know the mass of the plane you can do just that.