What Is John's Resultant Displacement on the Highway?

Thread starter rdhddstpchld9
Start date Jan 10, 2010
Tags

Displacement Motion

AI Thread Summary

John's resultant displacement from the 236 km marker is calculated by considering his movements along the highway. After traveling to the 140 km marker and then back to the 173 km marker, his total displacement is determined by the difference between his starting and ending positions. The correct calculation shows that his resultant displacement is 63 km in the negative direction, but the computer may require the answer to be expressed differently. Displacement as a vector includes both magnitude and direction, which is crucial for accurate results. Therefore, the correct answer should reflect the directional aspect of the displacement.

Jan 10, 2010

rdhddstpchld9

While John is traveling along a straight inter-
state highway, he notices that the mile marker
reads 236 km. John travels until he reaches
the 140 km marker and then retraces his path
to the 173 km marker.
What is John’s resultant displacement from
the 236 km marker?
Answer in units of km.

I keep getting 63, but the computer says it's wrong

Physics news on Phys.org

Jan 10, 2010

alex3

Displacement is a vector, it has direction as well as magnitude.

Thread 'Errors and significant figures'

I multiplied the values first without the error limit. Got 19.38. rounded it off to 2 significant figures since the given data has 2 significant figures. So = 19. For error I used the above formula. It comes out about 1.48. Now my question is. Should I write the answer as 19±1.5 (rounding 1.48 to 2 significant figures) OR should I write it as 19±1. So in short, should the error have same number of significant figures as the mean value or should it have the same number of decimal places as...

View full post »

Thread 'A cylinder connected to a hanging mass'

Let's declare that for the cylinder, mass = M = 10 kg Radius = R = 4 m For the wall and the floor, Friction coeff = ##\mu## = 0.5 For the hanging mass, mass = m = 11 kg First, we divide the force according to their respective plane (x and y thing, correct me if I'm wrong) and according to which, cylinder or the hanging mass, they're working on. Force on the hanging mass $$mg - T = ma$$ Force(Cylinder) on y $$N_f + f_w - Mg = 0$$ Force(Cylinder) on x $$T + f_f - N_w = Ma$$ There's also...

View full post »

Thread 'Explain this asphalt sheen'

This problem is two parts. The first is to determine what effects are being provided by each of the elements - 1) the window panes; 2) the asphalt surface. My answer to that is The second part of the problem is exactly why you get this affect. And one more spoiler:

View full post »