Physics Word Problem

Question

A bug crawls 15cm west, turns 90° ccw, and crawls another 12cm. It's whole trip took 1 minute. Calculate distance, displacement, average speed, and average velocity.

Answer 1

Distance= 15cm+12cm=27cm

 

Displacement = since they are in different directions you have to solve the triangle for the hypotenuse.

Displacement=sqrt(12*12+15*15)=19.2cm

 

average speed=0.27m/60secs=0.0045 m/s

 

average velocity = 0.192 m/60  =0.0032m/s in the direction as measured ccw from West axis (38.7deg)