Question

A gnat takes off from one end of a pencil and flies around erratically for 33.1 33.1 s before landing on the other end of the same pencil. If the gnat flew a total distance of 3.65 3.65 m, and the pencil is 0.0463 0.0463 m long, find the gnat's average speed and the magnitude of the gnat's average velocity.

Answer 1

Explanation:

It is given that total distance is 3.65 m and times is 33.1 s. Therefore, calculate the average speed as follows.

     Average speed = $\frac{\text{total distance}}{time}$

                                = $\frac{3.65 m}{33.1 s}$

                                = 0.11 m/s

Also, we know that

        Average velocity = $\frac{\text{displacement}}{time}$

Where, displacement means that how far final point is from the initial point, here, that is 0.0463 m.

Hence, calculate the average velocity as follows.

         Average velocity = $\frac{0.0463 m}{33.1 s}$

                                      = 0.0014 m/s

Thus, we can conclude that gnat's average speed is 0.11 m/s and magnitude of the gnat's average velocity is 0.0014 m/s.