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LESSON 2 Vectors, Displacement, Distance
LESSON 2 Vectors, Displacement, Distance
QUANTITY
LESSON 2
Week 3
A vector is represented by an
arrow: the length represents the
magnitude & the head of the arrow
indicates the direction; the tail
represents the origin.
50 m east
40 m north 40 m south
50 m west
• The distance that Junior traveled is the sum of the path he had taken from
his house going to school and back = 180 meters.
• Take note that distance is a scalar quantity and the magnitudes can simply
be added as long ad they have the same unit, regardless of the direction.
• Distance – is the length of the actual paths travelled.
Quadrant II Quadrant I
(-x, +y) (+x, +y)
W E
S
The direction guide: North, The Cartesian coordinates
South, East & West
• The direction guide shows that north is represented by an
arrow along the positive y-axis, south is an arrow along the
negative y-axis, east is an arrow along the positive x-axis,
and west is an arrow along the negative x-axis.
• Using this direction guide, we can add or subtract vectors
that belong to the same axis.
• It means that we cannot add or subtract 30 meters north
and 40 meters east simply because they belong to different
axis.
• The y-axis is totally independent of the x-axis and vice versa.
How to Find Distance and Displacement
• Three dogs, Prince, Cute & Jup start from the same point O.
Prince went 3 m North, & then 4.0 m west. Cute went 5 m
east, & Jup went around the circular path of diameter 2 m.
Determine (a) the distance travelled by each dog and (b) the
displacement of each dog from point O.
Solution:
Prince 4 m (a) 1. Prince: 3 m + 4 m = 7 m
dis 2. Cute: 5 m
pl
ac 3m
e
t me O
n
5m Cute 3. Jup: Distance = 𝜋d
Jup = 3.1416 (2m)
= 6.28 m
2m (b) 1. displacement =
= 5.0 m 53° west of
north
3. zero displacement
Exercises:
• Find the distance traveled and the displacement of the
following vectors.
dR
d2
θ
d1
Sample Problem
• A plane flying due north at 100 m/s is blown by a strong wind at 500
m/s due east. What is the plane’s resultant velocity?
• Given: v1 = 100 m/s north
v2 = 500 m/s east
Required to find: vr
• Solution: Draw first the vector diagram
500m/s E
b
100m/s N θ
Vr a c
θ
The vector diagram shows that the vectors form a right triangle where v r = c,
the hypotenuse of the triangle; v1 = a, one side of the right triangle; and v2 = b,
the other side of the triangle
Using Pythagorian Theorem
• The square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the
two sides of a right triangle.
√
2 𝑎 100 𝑚 /𝑠
𝑚 tan 𝜃= =
𝑣𝑟 = 260,000 2 𝑏 500 𝑚 /𝑠
𝑠
𝒗 𝒓 =𝟓𝟎𝟗 . 𝟗𝟎
𝒎
𝒔
𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜃=0.2
𝜃=arctan 0.2
𝜽=𝟏𝟏.𝟑𝟏° 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕
So,
Group Exercise – Working Together by 2s
1. A group of soldiers walked 15 km north from their camp,
then covered 10 km more due east. What was the total
distance walked by the soldiers? Determine their total
displacement from the starting point.
2. A ship sails north at 15 km/h but drifts westward with the
tide at 8 km/h. What is the resultant velocity of the ship?
3. Find the distance traveled and the displacement of the
following vectors in the given problems.
a. A ship is going north with a speed of 200 m/s. the waves going 300
m/s west is affecting the velocity of the ship. Find the resultant
velocity of the ship.
b. Find the resultant of a vector 40 m/s south and a vector 50 m/s
west.