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A bus with a vertical windshield moves along in a rainstorm at speed v b . The raindrops fall vertically with a terminal speed v r . At What angle do the raindrops strike the windshield?

A bus with a vertical windshield moves along in a rainstorm at speed vb. The raindrops fall vertically with a terminal speed vr. At What angle do the raindrops strike the windshield?

Grade:upto college level

1 Answers

Deepak Patra
askIITians Faculty 471 Points
9 years ago
The figure below shows the velocity vectors of the bus and the raindrops. It is assumed that the raindrops fall at an angle \thetawith respect to the vertical direction.
233-814_16.PNG
To the driver of the bus, the raindrops not only have the vertical velocity component but also a horizontal component, in a direction opposite to the direction of velocity vector of the bus. Therefore, the raindrops will appear to move in a direction at an angle \thetarelative to the vertical and given by:
233-199_17.PNG
It is important to note that \thetais also the angle between the velocity vector of raindrops from the reference frame of the driver in bus and the velocity vector from the reference frame of the person on ground.

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