Define the following terms:
1. Final-
2.Movement-
3. Scalar-
4. Start-
5. Vector-
Why Displacement is important to Scientists
An everyday example can help to show what displacement is and why it is important. A student,
called Ana, walks from her house in North Street to school each morning via the house of her friend,
Bea, in South Street. Ana's path to school is shown on the village map below in heavy dashed line ( ).
Ana must walk from Point A to Point B and then to Point C. It takes Ana 6 minutes to get to Bea's house.
Ana waits 2 minutes for Bea to get ready, then Ana and Bea take 3 minutes to walk together to school.
Village Map
School
North Street
South Street
The light dashed line () represents how far Ana is from her house (start position) when she gets
to school (final position). This represents the net distance that Ana is from her house.
The green line has an arrow on it because it points in the direction that Ana's school is from her
house. When we know the net distance and net direction that Ana has moved, we know her
displacement from her house to school.
When Ana gets to school, her displacement is 80 meters directly West from her house.
Displacement is a measure of both the net distance moved and the net direction moved. This is
important to scientists as knowing distance and direction gives precise measurements of where moving
things have traveled.
Guide Questions:
1. How far in total does Ana walk to get to school each morning?
2. After school, Ana walks home along North Street. What is the distance she needs to walk?
3. What is Ana's displacement from her school in the afternoon?
4. How far has Ana walked in total in going both to and from school?
5. How would you describe Ana's displacement over the whole day?
Help plss
