Physics

[megarooniduh]

A girl delivering newspapers travels three blocks west, four blocks north, and then six blocks east.

A.) What is her resultant displacement?

B.) What is the total distance she travels?

[Karin78]

I suggest drawing the path as if it were a map.  Start a line moving to the left (west), then turn the line up (north), then turn the line to the right (east) and continue it twice as long as the bottom part of the line since the last leg of the trip (six blocks) is twice as long as the first (three blocks).

You'll end up with kind of a three sided box, open on the right side.  To solve the problems, you'll need to use geometry. 

A) Label your starting point on the drawing X.  Label the end point Y.  Draw a line from point X straight up, and call the point where it hits the top line Z.  Now connect X and Y with a line.  Do you see the triangle XYZ?  The "resultant displacement" is the line between X and Y.  In other words, it's how far the end point is from the start point.  It's also the hypotenuse of your right triangle.  Use the Pythagorean Theorem () to solve.

B) To find the total distance, just add up the three legs of the journey.  How many blocks did she travel in all?

(I'm really sorry if this is confusing.  It would be much easier just to draw a picture, but I can't figure out how to do that here one Cafemom.  If this doesn't make sense, please let me know and I'll figure out a way to explain it better.)

[megarooniduh]

thank you! :)

this physics is killing me. i havent been to class because landons been sick, so i'm totally lost in class!

Quoting Karin78:

I suggest drawing the path as if it were a map.  Start a line moving to the left (west), then turn the line up (north), then turn the line to the right (east) and continue it twice as long as the bottom part of the line since the last leg of the trip (six blocks) is twice as long as the first (three blocks).

You'll end up with kind of a three sided box, open on the right side.  To solve the problems, you'll need to use geometry. 

A) Label your starting point on the drawing X.  Label the end point Y.  Draw a line from point X straight up, and call the point where it hits the top line Z.  Now connect X and Y with a line.  Do you see the triangle XYZ?  The "resultant displacement" is the line between X and Y.  In other words, it's how far the end point is from the start point.  It's also the hypotenuse of your right triangle.  Use the Pythagorean Theorem () to solve.

B) To find the total distance, just add up the three legs of the journey.  How many blocks did she travel in all?

(I'm really sorry if this is confusing.  It would be much easier just to draw a picture, but I can't figure out how to do that here one Cafemom.  If this doesn't make sense, please let me know and I'll figure out a way to explain it better.)

[Karin78]

Quoting megarooniduh:

thank you! :)

this physics is killing me. i havent been to class because landons been sick, so i'm totally lost in class!

Post questions any time.  Physics was one of my favorite subjects.