The Nature of Vectors: Understanding Displacement, Position, and Velocity

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the classification of quantities as vectors or scalars, particularly focusing on displacement, position, and velocity. Participants are examining various scenarios and examples of motion to identify these classifications and understand the underlying concepts.

Discussion Character

  • Conceptual clarification, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants are attempting to classify quantities from given scenarios and questioning the definitions of vectors and scalars. Some are exploring the implications of displacement in different motion examples and discussing the calculations of average velocity.

Discussion Status

There are multiple interpretations being explored regarding the classification of vectors and scalars. Some participants have raised questions about specific examples and calculations, while others are clarifying their understanding of the concepts involved.

Contextual Notes

Participants are working within the constraints of homework questions that require them to classify quantities and analyze motion without providing direct solutions. There is also a mention of potential confusion regarding the notation of exponential numbers in calculations.

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1. Which quantities are classified as vectors?
A. Distance, position, and velocity
B. Position, displacement, and speed
C. Displacement, speed, and velocityD.Displacement, position, and velocity

Use the information to answer the next question.
A student was given the following situations.
1. A cold air mass has a temperature 5ºC.
2. A car increases its velocity to 90 km/h.
3. An airplane changes its position to N 52º W.
4. A track contestant runs the 100 m dash in 9.89 s.
5. A submarine covers a displacement of 150 km, north.
2. Which of the given situations are examples of scalar quantities?
A. 1 and 3 only
B. 1 and 4 only
C. 2, 3, and 5 only
D. 2, 4, and 5 only
Use the information to answer the next question.
A student was given the following examples of motion.
1. A complete walk around a circular track.
2. A walk to school four blocks west.
3. A complete walk around the block.
4. A walk two blocks east, and then three blocks west.
3. For which motions is there displacement?
A. 1 and 3
B. 2 and 3
C. 2 and 4
D. 3 and 4
For displacement, the ending position has to be different than the starting positions.
4. A vehicle travels 250km in 2.3h. The average velocity for the trip is
The average velocity is 89.13km/h
5. How long would it take an asteroid traveling at 2.7 x 103m/s to travel 5.9 x 109m? 4.58x10^-7
6. A man walks 700m north, turns around and walks 438m south. What is his total displacement from his starting point?
His total displacement is 262 S

Thanks :rolleyes:
 
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I only checked 4,5,6 (I have a short attention span at the moment, sorry).

-4- 250/2.3 has to be over 100, right?

-5- Are 103 and 109 exponentials like 10^3 and 10^9? If so, 10^9[m] / 10^3[m/s] is about 10^6 seconds...

-6- He walked farther north than south, so how can the total displacement be in the "S" southern direction...?
 
Question one is incorrect.

-Hoot:smile:
 
Hootenanny said:
Question one is incorrect.

-Hoot:smile:
Really? Assuming velocity is a vector (I can never remember the speed versus velocity semantics), why aren't displacement and position vectors? Displacement is the difference between two position vectors, no?
 
berkeman said:
Really? Assuming velocity is a vector (I can never remember the speed versus velocity semantics), why aren't displacement and position vectors? Displacement is the difference between two position vectors, no?

Your quite correct, I thought the OP had highlighted C, my laptop screen doesn't work well with pinks
 

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