A car moves in a straight line with a constant horizontal acceleration a. A small pendulum of length l is suspended from the roof of the car. The bob remains at rest relative to the car, making a steady angle θ with the vertical.
a. (a) Draw all the forces acting on the bob as observed by a passenger sitting inside the car.
b. (b) By resolving the forces into convenient components and applying the condition for equilibrium, derive an expression relating tanθ to a and g.
c. (c) If a=3ms−2 and g=9.8ms−2, calculate the value of θ (in degrees, correct to two significant figures).