Question
A particle A is moving along a straight line with velocity 5 m/s and another particle B has a velocity 8 m/s at angle 37° to the path of A. Find the relative velocity of B w.r.t. A.
Solution
Consider, be the velocities of particles A and B respectively.
The relative velocity of B relative to A is given by,
To find we will first change
into
and then add to
as shown in figure.
We can see that, makes an angle of
with
.
Therefore will subtend an angle
with
Now,
So,
The angle that the relative velocity makes with is,