Question

If you travel 1.7 km north from your house at noon, and at 6:00 PM you travel 5.4 km south, what is your displacement? 3.7 km north 3.7 km south 7.1 km north 7.1 km south

Answer 1

Answer

3.7 Km south

Explanation

The definition of displacement is the distance traveled in a specific direction. It is the vector quantity. We add displacements like the way we add vectors.

Taking the direction towards North to be positive (+1.7 Km), the distance towards south would be negative (-5.4 Km).

Now lets add the two values.

(+1.7) + (-5.4) = 1.7 - 5.4

                    = - 3.7 Km      But negative was towards south.

∴ Answer = 3.7 Km south.