(1 lap is one length of the pool) Show Answer Question 5: Kylie swam 3 complete laps in a 50 meter pool. Question 4: You spin around 5 times without moving any direction. Question 3: Derrick walks 4 meters south, and then turns east and crawls 6 meters.

Question 2: Ash runs exactly 2 laps around a 400 meter track. The standard unit for distance/displacement is meter * Remember to put answer in standards units.

Question 1: Tyler runs 2 km south, then turns around and runs 3 km north. Note that displacement is written as ∆x and distance is written as ‘s’. PQ – Displacementįind the distance and displacement of each scenario below. Your distance, however, is 400 kilometers (200 km to go and 200 km back). Your displacement (∆x) is zero, because you’re back where you started. What’s the distance traveled and displacement? Show Answer Let’s say you took a 200-km trip to LA and came back. The total amount your finger traveled is what we call distance. Take your finger and trace out the entire purple path. Lastly, Distance (a scalar quantity) is the total amount traveled. Mathematically ∆x = x f =x i, which simply states that displacement is the change in the final position from the initial position. The “∆” symbol is the greek letter for delta which means “change in.” Since you started and ended at the same spot, your displacement is 0.ĭisplacement is written as ∆x. Imagine taking a ruler and drawing the dotted green line on the diagram above. In kinematics, displacement (a vector quantity) is how far we are from our starting point. Place your finger anywhere on the solid line above – that will be your position. We can specify a position using coordinates. Position (a scalar quantity) is where we are. Pay attention to bold words and their meanings.įor example speed and velocity do not mean the same thing.ĭistance and displacement sound similar. This might seem easy to understand, but it can get be pretty confusing. Kinematic VariablesĪs mentioned there are 3 very important kinematic variables: displacement, velocity, and acceleration. In the next lesson we will cover the kinematic equations in order to start solving problems. In this lessons we will cover the kinematic variables: displacement, velocity, and acceleration. For anything that moves, we will be able to use kinematics to analyze the motion with graphs and equations. Unit 1.5 | Projectile Motion: Using Kinematic Equations in 2 Dimensions.Unit 1.4 | Using Kinematic Equations in 1 Dimension.Unit 1.2 | The Kinematic (motion) variables: Displacement, Velocity, and Acceleration.Unit 1.1 | Understanding vectors and the Standard Units used in Physics.

Graphical analysis of motion explained