A rope pulls a sledge with a force of 25 N at an angle of 35° above the horizontal.
(a) Calculate the horizontal and vertical components of this force. [2]
(b) State the difference between a scalar and a vector quantity. [1]
- (a) horizontal = $25\cos35° = 20$ N allow 20.5 N(1)
- (a) vertical = $25\sin35° = 14$ N allow 14.3 N(1)
- (b) a vector has magnitude and direction; a scalar has magnitude only(1)
- Answer: (a) 20 N horizontal, 14 N vertical (b) vector has direction as well as magnitude
- Examiner tip: The component adjacent to the given angle uses cos; check the horizontal component is the larger one here since 35° < 45°.