Kelly is playing and hits the cue into the nine ball, which is directly in the center of the pool table. The nine ball travels a total of 7 meters before stopping , one meter the the left of the initial starting point of the nine ball. Which sentence reflects the correct statement regarding distance and displacement when considering the motion of the nine ball?
b
The displacement of the nine balls is 1 m while the distance travelled by the nine balls is 7 m.
What is the displacement of he ball?
The displacement of the ball is the change in the position of the ball. Displacement describes the shortest distance between the initial and final position of an object.
Mathematically, the displacement of the nine balls is given as;
Δx = xf - xi
where;
xf is the final position of the object
xi is the initial position of the object
If the balls travels 1 meter to the left of the initial starting point, then the displacement of the balls is 1 m. The 1 meter is the shift from the initial position.
The distance of the balls is the total path covered by the balls.
distance = 7 m
Thus, the displacement of the nine balls is the change in the position of the balls while the distance of the nine balls is the total path covered.
To determine the correct statement regarding distance and displacement, we need to first understand the definitions of these terms.
- Distance: Distance refers to the length of the actual path traveled by an object. It is a scalar quantity and is always positive or zero.
- Displacement: Displacement refers to the straight-line distance between the initial and final positions of an object, taking into account the direction. It is a vector quantity and can be positive, negative, or zero.
In this scenario, the nine ball travels a total distance of 7 meters. This means that the length of the actual path taken by the ball is 7 meters.
However, since the nine ball ends up one meter to the left of its initial starting point, the displacement would be 1 meter to the left. Displacement considers the straight-line distance between the starting and ending points rather than the actual path taken.
Therefore, the correct statement regarding the motion of the nine ball would be:
"The distance traveled by the nine ball is 7 meters, while the displacement is 1 meter to the left of the initial starting point."