On a very muddy football field, a 110 kg linebacker tackles an 85 kg halfback. I

Question

On a very muddy football field, a 110 kg linebacker tackles an 85 kg halfback. Immediately before the collision, the linebacker is slipping with a velocity of 8.5 m/s north and the halfback is sliding with a velocity of 7.4 m/s east.

1)What is the magnitude of the velocity at which the two players move together immediately after the collision? I got the answer of this one to be 5.8 m/s and its correct

2)What is the direction of this velocity ?

I've tried this problem numerous times. I've got the first question correct but I have no idea how to solve the second one. Could someone please help me out

Explanation / Answer

I'm guessing you don't need help with 1 so let's only work on 2. This is quite easy if you treat the players' momentum as vectors. Player 1 (the halfback) has a momentum of 85kg*7.4m/s at 0 degrees (align the axes with the typical compass) and Player 2 (the lineback) has a momentum of 110kg*8.5m/s at 90 degrees. So then you can just find the arctan of (629/935) and that should give you the angle relative to east.

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