Question

Hello friends,

A particle moves along the curve x=1/t, y=t^4, z=2t.

Find the velocity and acceleration of the particle.

Please help me.

Kind regards

Answer 1

Differentiate the position equation to get velocity. then differentiate velocity to get acceleration.
You do this for each dimension (ie, x, y, z).

Answer 2

Thanks for that Phoenix. Do I have to write it in component form first?

Answer 3

You don't have to. It sometimes makes it more confusing to work with. You can convert them to component form after you've done the differentiation.

Answer 4

So do I just differentiate the x , y and z terms wrt t and then add them up? ie: dx/dt 1/t + dy/dt t^4 + dz/dt 2t ..?

Answer 5

that was for velocity

Answer 6

When you write it in component form you need to denote the x, y, z component.