Solution Found!
Answer: Can the displacement vector for a particle moving
Chapter 28, Problem 3Q(choose chapter or problem)
Problem 3Q
Problem
Can the displacement vector for a particle moving in two dimensions be longer than the length of path traveled by the particle over the same time interval? Can it be less? Discuss.
Questions & Answers
QUESTION:
Problem 3Q
Problem
Can the displacement vector for a particle moving in two dimensions be longer than the length of path traveled by the particle over the same time interval? Can it be less? Discuss.
ANSWER:
Problem 3Q
Step-by-step solution
Step 1 of 2
In a two dimensional coordinate system, the displacement is defined as the shortest distance between the initial and final position of the object.
As shown in the diagram above, in the two dimensional XY-coordinate system, a particle starts from position 1 and goes to position 3 via position 2. It’s displacement is shown by the green arrow, whereas, the total path length can be obtained by adding the two segments.