Question

A flea jumps by exerting a force of 1.27*10^-5 N straight down on the ground. A breeze blowing on the flea parallel to the ground exerts a force of 1.20*10^-6 N on the flea. Find the direction and magnitude of the acceleration of the flea if its mass is 6.0*10^-7 kg. (Let us assume that
Fwind points to the right. We will consider this to be the +x direction and vertical to be the +y direction.)

Answer 1

So there are 3 forces acting on the flea

Write newton's second law for these

\(\sum F_x=F_{wind}=ma_x \rightarrow a_x=\dfrac{F_{wind}}{m}\)

\(\sum F_y=F_{jump}+F_g=F_{jump}-mg=ma_y \rightarrow a_y=\dfrac{F_{jump}}{m}-g\)

So the acceleration vector are:

\(a_x=\dfrac{F_{wind}}{m}\)

\(a_y=\dfrac{F_{jump}}{m}-g\)

Now it's just trigonometry you need