I'm shown a graph with position on the y axis and time on the x axis. The question is what is the total displacement during the time interval.
The position in (m) starts at 1.0 and goes to 6 and the time starts at 0-10.0 (s). The question is what is the total displacement during the time interval. Do I just take 6-1 and the total displacement is 5 or do I do something with the lapsed time which is 10.0 seconds.
Thank you
The total displacement is the 6 minus 1. You would also need the time interval if you were computing the average speed, but you aren't asked for that.
Thank you very much
To find the total displacement during the given time interval, you need to consider both the change in position and the time elapsed. Simply subtracting the initial position from the final position will give you the distance traveled, but not the displacement.
Displacement refers to the change in position from the initial point to the final point, taking into account the direction. If the displacement is positive, the object has moved in a positive direction. If it is negative, the object has moved in a negative direction.
In this case, since the position starts at 1.0 m and ends at 6.0 m, you would subtract the initial position from the final position: 6.0 m - 1.0 m = 5.0 m. This gives you the total distance traveled during the time interval.
However, to find the total displacement, you also need to consider the time. The displacement is affected by both the change in position and the time taken to make that change. Displacement is calculated as the average velocity multiplied by the time interval. Average velocity is determined by dividing the displacement by the time taken.
In this scenario, the time interval is given as 10.0 seconds. So, to find the displacement, divide the total distance traveled (5.0 m) by the time interval (10.0 s): 5.0 m / 10.0 s = 0.5 m/s.
Therefore, the total displacement during the given time interval is 0.5 meters.