Ed drives back and forth along Main Street, which runs east-west, stopping a few different places to run errands. Let’s call east the +x direction. Over the course of 1.75 hours, he travels a total distance of 4.2 km, and his net displacement ∆x is −1.2 km. a) What is Ed’s average x velocity, in km/h b) What is his average speed? c) When Ed travels in the −x direction, is his instantaneous speed positive or negative? How about his instantaneous velocity?
Displacement, Velocity and Acceleration
In classical mechanics, kinematics deals with the motion of a particle. It deals only with the position, velocity, acceleration, and displacement of a particle. It has no concern about the source of motion.
Linear Displacement
The term "displacement" refers to when something shifts away from its original "location," and "linear" refers to a straight line. As a result, “Linear Displacement” can be described as the movement of an object in a straight line along a single axis, for example, from side to side or up and down. Non-contact sensors such as LVDTs and other linear location sensors can calculate linear displacement. Non-contact sensors such as LVDTs and other linear location sensors can calculate linear displacement. Linear displacement is usually measured in millimeters or inches and may be positive or negative.
Ed drives back and forth along Main Street, which runs east-west, stopping a few different places to run errands. Let’s call
east the +x direction. Over the course of 1.75 hours, he travels a total distance of 4.2 km, and his net displacement ∆x is
−1.2 km.
a) What is Ed’s average x velocity, in km/h
b) What is his average speed?
c) When Ed travels in the −x direction, is his instantaneous speed positive or negative? How about his instantaneous
velocity?
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