Question

A force of 38 newtons is acting on an object making an angle of 55° with the horizontal. What is the value component of the force acting along the y-axis?

Answer 1

`F_y = 31 N`

Explanation:

First let's orientate the problem. The y-direction is vertical and the x-direction is horizontal.

Now a diagram of the problem.

In the diagram on the left the force is shown with the 55º angle that is given in the question. On the right I have shown the two components of the force:

• `F_V` is the vertical component which we can also call `F_y`
• `F_H` is the horizontal component which we can also call `F_x`

The question requires us to find `F_V`.

By using trigonometry we can see that `F_V` forms the side of a right angled triangle that is opposite to the 55º angle, so:
`F_V = 38 sin55 = 31N` (2 sf).