Distance and displacement

Distance and Displacement

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MOTION

MOTION IS A CHANGE IN LOCATION BASED ON A REFERENCE POINT

WITHOUT A FRAME OF REFERENCE, HOW DO YOU KNOW MOTION OCCURED?

• Have you ever been sitting as a stoplight and the car next to you moves slowly forward and you think your car is moving??

• You were using the other car as your point of reference.

• If you are looking at the stoplight, or a tree on the side of the road, then you do not feel like you are moving, you know the other car is moving. Right?

Think about being on a school bus and holding a basket ball. If you are on the bus, the basket ball is not moving in relation to the bus. But if you are on the street, looking in the bus and noticing the basket ball, as the bus moves down the street, the basket ball moves at the same speed and direction as the bus!

Multiple Choice

If the bus in the example drives .25 miles east, how far did the basket ball move in relation to the person standing on the street?

• .25 miles

• It is not moving if someone is holding it.

• 0 miles

• .50 miles

Multiple Choice

If the bus in the example drives .25 miles east, how far does the basket ball move in relation to the bus and the student holding the ball?

• .25 miles

• It does not move

• .50 miles

• .125 miles

Multiple Choice

Here is a harder one. A student leaves their house and drives 5 miles north to the gas station to get gas for their grandmother's lawn mower. They then drive back south 2 miles past their house to their grandmother's house to mow their grandmother's lawn. (What a great kid!) What was the distance traveled? Read the question carefully. It helps to draw pictures of these problems.

• 5 miles

• 7 miles

• 2 miles

• 12 miles

So the car drives 5 miles to the gas station, 5 miles back past the student's house, then 2 miles past that to the grandmother's house. So the distance was 12 miles.

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The displacement, (distance from the starting point to the end point) was only 2 miles--the distance from the student's house to the grandmother's house.

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Multiple Choice

If you run around the school track, what distance did you run? What was your displacement?

• Distance =

  440 yds

  Displacement = 440 yds

• Distance =

  440 yds

  Displacement =

  220 yds

• Distance =

  440 yds

  Displacement =

  0 yds

Multiple Choice

Try this one. It is best to draw a picture. A teacher at a seminar in downtown Charlotte left the motel to take a walk. She walked 2 blocks north, then 3 blocks east. She decided to go back to the motel and walked 1 block south, but there was a road block so she had to go one block further east. The teacher then turned back south and walked one block and there was a Starbucks! She stopped and went in. What was the distance the teacher walked and her displacement?

• She walked 8 blocks, and stopped 4 blocks from the motel

• She walked 3 blocks and was 8 blocks from the motel..

• Distance was 6 blocks and displacement was 6 blocks.

• Distance was 8 blocks and displacement was 8 blocks.

Check out the difference between distance and displacement

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Multiple Choice

A car travels 6 miles to the store and 5 miles to a friends house with soda and snacks. What was the distance traveled by the car?

• 11 miles

• 12 miles

• 1 mile

• 0 miles

Multiple Choice

A student rides their bike 2 miles to school and then 2 miles back home with the papers they forgot to take home. What was the distance the student traveled and the displacement?

• 2 miles distance and 2 miles displacement

• 0 miles distance and 4 miles displacement

• 4miles distance and 4 miles displacement

• 4 miles distance and 0 displacement