Answer: Can the displacement vector for a particle moving

Chapter 28, Problem 3Q

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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.

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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.

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