A car moves 5 km to the east, then 3 km to the north, and then 1 km to the east again. What is his displacement from his original position? Write your answer to the nearest tent…

Question

asked Oct 17, 2019 154k views

1 Answer

Frank Van Wijk · Answer 1 · 2019-10-22T23:31:45+0000

The displacement is 6.7 km to the northeast.

Displacement = 5 km + 1 km = 6 km to the east and 3 km to the north.

The net displacement is the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle with sides

6 km and 3 km.

According to Pythagoras’ Theorem,

a^2 + b^2 = c^2, where c is the hypotenuse and a and b are the other two sides.

c^2 = (6 km)^2 + (3km)^2 = 36 km^2 + 9 km^2 = 45 km^2

c = √(45 km^2) = 6.7 km NE