Question

A plumb bob is hanging from the ceiling of a car. If the car moves with an acceleration a, what is the angle made by the string with the vertical?

Answer 1

`\theta=\tan^(-1)(a)/(g)`

Step-by-step explanation:

Here we are assuming that the car is moving in a straight line and is traveling on a smooth surface. When the car is moving with acceleration
`a` the bob moves in the opposite direction with the same acceleration. Gravity is acting on the bob so it is experiencing an acceleration of
`g` downwards.

The angle between the acceleration
`a` and the acceleration due to gravity
`g` is

`\theta=\tan^(-1)(a)/(g)`.