Question

A 20 g rifle bullet traveling 225 m/s buries itself in a 3.3 kg pendulum hanging on a 2.7 m long string, which makes the pendulum swing upward in an arc. Determine the vertical and horizontal components of the pendulum's displacement.

I was able to get the vertical components which was 0.0936m but I'm not sure how to get the horizontal.

Answer 1

Yes, your vertical component (h) is right.

For horizontal component, we can assume that the triangle made by length L, L-h, and horizontal component x is a right angled triangle (very nearly). Therefore,

This gives, x = 0.705 m