Understanding Displacement
This worksheet helps grade 8 students understand the concept of displacement, distinguishing it from distance, and calculating it in various scenarios.
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Understanding Displacement
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Read each question carefully and answer to the best of your ability. Show all your work for calculation problems.
1. Which of the following best defines displacement?
The total path length traveled by an object.
The straight-line distance between the starting and ending points, and the direction.
How fast an object is moving.
The change in an object's speed over time.
2. An object moves 5 meters East, then 5 meters West. What is its total displacement?
10 meters East
10 meters West
0 meters
5 meters East
1. Displacement is a quantity, meaning it has both magnitude and direction.
2. is the total length of the path traveled, regardless of direction.
3. If an object starts at point A and ends at point A, its displacement is .
1. A student walks 30 meters North, then 40 meters East. What is the magnitude of their displacement? (Hint: Think about right triangles.)
1. Displacement can be greater than the distance traveled.
True
False
A car travels 10 km North, then turns around and travels 4 km South.
a) What is the total distance traveled by the car?
b) What is the magnitude and direction of the car's final displacement?
Draw a simple number line diagram to represent the car's movement and final displacement.