Trajectory of a particle for $t\ge1$ given $r(t)$ for $0\le t \le 1$.

296 Views Asked by At

I have a question on the process for which to solving this question. It is a homework question, and I already have the answer, but I am not sure on the correct process to attaining that answer.

The question in full:

A particle has position given by $r(t)=\left<3t, 5t^2, 3t^3 \right>$ at time $t$ for $0 \le t \le 1$. At time $t = 1$ the particle departs the curve and flies off along the line tangent to the curve at $r(1)$. If the particle maintains a constant speed given by $|v(1)|$, what is the trajectory for the particle for $t\ge 1$.

My process:

So first I thought I'd get the position at $t=1$, and find $r'(t)$ in order to find $|v(1)|$ ($r'(1)$).

$r(t)=\left<3t, 5t^2, 3t^3 \right>$ $\space$ $r(1)= \left< 3, 5, 3 \right>$

$r'(t)=\left<3, 10t, 9t^2 \right>$ $\space$ $r'(1)= \left< 3, 10, 9 \right>$

So having these, I thought I'd just set up parametric equations for the new trajectory and got $x=3+3t, y=5+10t, z=3+9t$ and in turn got the new position vector function to be $r(t)=\left<3+3t, 10t+5, 3+9t \right>$. But the answer is $r(t)=\left<3t, 10t-5, 9t-6 \right>$ and that is wrong, so I'm not sure on how to go about getting those values. Thanks for all the help in advance.

1

There are 1 best solutions below

2
On BEST ANSWER

You did everything right except for one thing. If you'd like to find the position at $t \geq 1$, you start with $r(1)$ as you correctly did, and add $t-1$ times $r'(1)$. Why $t-1$ and not $t$? Because $t-1$ is exactly how much time passes since $t=1$. So the parametrization is

\begin{align} r(t) &= r(1)+(t-1)r'(1)\\\\ &=\left<3,5,3\right>+(t-1)\left<3,10,9\right>\\\\ &=\left<3+3t-3,5+10t-10,3+9t-9\right>\\\\ &=\boxed{\left<3t,10t-5,9t-6\right>}\\ \end{align}


What you calculated was $r(1)+tr'(1)$.