Position and Displacement question.

[ybhathena]

Homework Statement

You walk to the corner store after school to buy a carton of milk before going home. The store is 750 m south of the schoo, and your house is 625 m north of the school. What is your net displacement.

Homework Equations

dT=d1+d2

formula for displacement

The Attempt at a Solution

625-750
= -125

I do not think this is right. Please help!

 

[HallsofIvy]

No, it isn't. The first thing you need to do is review the meaning of "net displacement". You started at school and wound up at home. How far from your starting point are you?

 

[ybhathena]

From school to home I am 625 m away.

 

[tiny-tim]

hi ybhathena!

You walk to the corner store after school to buy a carton of milk before going home. The store is 750 m south of the schoo, and your house is 625 m north of the school. What is your net displacement.

From school to home I am 625 m away.

then that's the answer!

(except that displacement is a vector, so you need to specify the direction also )

 

[Nickie]

I would like to clarify that displacement is a vector quantity that describes the change in position of an object, taking into account both the magnitude and direction of the change. In this case, your net displacement would be the distance between your house and the corner store, which is 625 m + 750 m = 1375 m. However, displacement does not depend on the path taken, only the initial and final positions. So, whether you walked directly from the school to the store and then to your house, or took a detour, the displacement would still be the same. In order to find the net displacement, we cannot simply subtract the two distances, as that would only give us the distance traveled, not the displacement. Instead, we need to use the formula dT=d1+d2, where dT is the total displacement and d1 and d2 are the individual displacements. In this case, dT=625 m + (-750 m) = -125 m. This negative sign indicates that your displacement is in the opposite direction of your initial position (north). I hope this helps clarify the concept of displacement for you.