Can you solve unknown triangle from shared hypotenuse?

  • #1
FGD
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My question comes from an accelerometer attached to a rotating plate. C and T are the centrifugal and tangentinal accelerations. X and Y are the accelerometer x, y axis readings. The x and y axis are not perfectly aligned with the C,T accelerations and are rotated by some arbitrairy unknown angle. I can get the magnitude of x, y which should be the same as C,T. (I think). But then I would like to know the amounts of T and C in each of the x, y axis. With all that said, is there a way to get the values of C, and T? Thanks in advance..
Solve_C_T.jpg
 
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  • #2
You cannot solve for C and T. If you draw a semicircle with H as the diameter, then any pair of C and T with the right angle vertex on the semicircle will work. So there are an infinite number of C,T pairs that satisfy your condition.
 
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  • #3
FGD said:
But then I would like to know the amounts of T and C in each of the x, y axis.
With all that said, is there a way to get the values of C, and T?

It seems that the posted diagram and your question are not very well related.

Could you add the x and y readings of the accelerometer to determine one unique acceleration vector, which could then be decomposed into radial and tangential acceleration vectors?
 
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