A Mischievous Caracara

A Mischievous Caracara#

A mischievous caracara sees a fisherman unscrew a shiny steel nut from a bolt on his ship while doing repairs in a harbor off the Falkland Islands. The fisherman watches helplessly as the bird picks up the nut and flies toward the shore. The bird flies due east at a constant speed of 6 m/s and constant height of 14 m. The bird flies directly over a person on the shoreline, dropping the nut at the instant they are above the person.

Part 1#

Prepare:

Draw a pictorial representation of this problem showing the location of the person on the shore, the path travelled by the bird and the path travelled by the nut. On your diagram label the position, velocity, acceleration, and time at three important positions for each of the bird and the nut. Use a dashed line to indicate the trajectory of the nut after it has been released.

Answer Section#

Part 2#

Prepare: Explain why the air resistance of the nut can be neglected in this problem.

Answer Section#

Answer in 1-2 sentences, and try to use full sentences.

Part 3#

Prepare: At the instant the caracara releases the nut, what is the magnitude of the velocity vector of the nut?

Answer Section#

Please enter in a numeric value in m/s.

Part 4#

Prepare: At the instant the caracara releases the nut, in which directions does the velocity vector of the nut have components along?

Answer Section#

  • East

  • West and up

  • South and down

  • North and up

Part 5#

Prepare: While travelling with the bird, what is the nut’s acceleration vector?

Answer Section#

Please enter in a numeric value in m/s2.

Part 6#

Prepare: Once the nut has been released, what is the magnitude of its acceleration vector?

Answer Section#

Please enter in a numeric value in m/s2.

Part 7#

Prepare: Once the nut has been released, in which directions does the acceleration vector have components along?

Answer Section#

  • Down

  • West and down

Part 8#

Solve: How long does it take the nut to fall to the ground?

Answer Section#

Please enter in a numeric value in s.

Part 9#

Solve: How far from the person on the shoreline does the nut land?

Answer Section#

Please enter in a numeric value in m.

Attribution#

Problem is licensed under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
The Creative Commons 4.0 license requiring attribution-BY, non-commercial-NC, and share-alike-SA license.