DISTANCE AND DISPLACEMENT

Question

I. A car moving along in a straight highway from point P to point Q to point R and to point S, then back to point Q and finally to point S as shown in the figure below.

a) Find the distance travelled by car.

b) Find the displacement of the car.

DETAILS:

DISTANCES OF THE FOLLOWING POINTS:

P TO Q=3KM

Q TO R=5KM

R TO S=7KM

Answer 1

a) Distance = PQ + QR + RS + SQ + QS = 3 + 5 + 7 + 12 + 12 = 39 km.

b) Displacement = final minus initial positions = S - P = 15 km.