Describing Motion Verbally with Distance and Displacement

Read from Lesson 1 of the 1-D Kinematics chapter at The Physics Classroom:
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/1DKin/U1L1a.cfm
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/1DKin/U1L1b.cfm
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/1DKin/U1L1c.cfm

MOP Connection: Kinematic Concepts: sublevels 1 and 2

Motion can be described using words, diagrams, numerical information, equations, and graphs. Using words to
describe the motion of objects involves an understanding of such concepts as position, displacement, distance,
rate, speed, velocity, and acceleration.

Vectors vs. Scalars

1. Most of the quantities used to describe motion can be categorized as either vectors or scalars. A vector is a
quantity that is fully described by both magnitude and direction. A scalar is a quantity that is fully described by
magnitude alone. Categorize the following quantities by placing them under one of the two column headings.
displacement, distance, speed, velocity, acceleration
Scalars Vectors
distance displacement
speed velocity
acceleration

2. A quantity that is ignorant of direction is referred to as a scalar quantity.

a. scalar quantity b. vector quantity

3. A quantity that is conscious of direction is referred to as a vector quantity.

a. scalar quantity b. vector quantity
Distance vs. Displacement
As an object moves, its location undergoes change. There are two quantities that are used to describe the
changing location. One quantity - distance - accumulates the amount of total change of location over the course
of a motion. Distance is the amount of ground that is covered. The second quantity - displacement - only
concerns itself with the initial and final position of the object. Displacement is the overall change in position of
the object from start to finish and does not concern itself with the accumulation of distance traveled during the
path from start to finish.
4. True or False: An object can be moving for 10 seconds and still have zero displacement.
a. True b. False
5. If the above statement is true, then describe an example of such a motion. If the above statement is false,
then explain why it is false.
If an object somehow turns or curves around and finishes at the starting point, then there is zero
displacement. For instance, if a physics teacher starts on one corner of a table and walks all around the table
and back to the starting point, then her displacement is zero. She is not out of place.

6. Suppose that you run along three different paths from location A to location B. Along which path(s) would
your distance traveled be different than your displacement? Path 1 and Path 3

Anytime there is a change in direction for an object's motion, the distance traveled is different than the
displacement. The distance is the length of the path (the amount of ground covered). The displacement is
how far out of place the object is - the length of the line segment from A to B. These are different when there
is a direction change.
7. You run from your house to a friend's house that is 3 miles away. You then walk home.

a. What distance did you travel? 6 miles (3 miles to your friend's + 3 miles back home)
b. What was the displacement for the entire trip? 0 miles (You finish where you started)

Observe the diagram below. A person starts at A, walks along the bold path and finishes at B. Each
square is 1 km along its edge. Use the diagram in answering the next two
questions.
8. This person walks a distance of 31 km. (Measure the path's length.)
9. This person has a displacement of 3 km, E.
a. 0 km b. 3 km c. 3 km, E d. 3 km, W
e. 5 km f. 5 km, N g. 5 km, S h. 6 km
i. 6 km, E j. 6 km, W k. 31 km l. 31 km, E
m. 31 km, W n. None of these.
(Measure from the starting point to the ending point; indicate the direction.)

10. A cross-country skier moves from location A to location B to location C to location D. Each leg of the back-
and-forth motion takes 1 minute to complete; the total time is 3 minutes. (The unit is meters.)

It helps to draw arrows from A to B to C to D to indicate the sequence of movements made by the skier. Then determine
the lengths of each segment. Record on the diagram the length of the segment and the direction of motion. Direction will
be ignored for any distance questions but considered for all displacement questions.
a. What is the distance traveled by the skier during the three minutes of recreation? 360 m
Add the lengths of the three segments - 160 m + 120 m + 80 m.

b. What is the net displacement of the skier during the three minutes of recreation? 120 m, East
Measure from the starting point (A) to the ending point (D); include direction since displacement is a vector.

c. What is the displacement during the second minute (from 1 min. to 2 min.)? 120 m, West
The second minute corresponds to a movement from B to C. Measure from the starting point (B) to the
ending point (C); include direction since displacement is a vector.

d. What is the displacement during the third minute (from 2 min. to 3 min.)? 80 m, East
The third minute corresponds to a movement from C to D. Measure from the starting point (C) to the ending
point (D); include direction since displacement is a vector.
Motion in One Dimension Name:

Describing Motion Verbally with Speed and Velocity

Read from Lesson 1 of the 1-D Kinematics chapter at The Physics Classroom:
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/1DKin/U1L1d.cfm
MOP Connection: Kinematic Concepts: sublevels 3 and 6
Review:
1. A scalar quantity is completely described by magnitude alone. A vector quantity is completely
described by a magnitude with a direction.
a. scalar, vector b. vector, scalar
2. Speed is a scalar quantity and velocity is a vector quantity.
a. scalar, vector b. vector, scalar

Speed vs. Velocity

Speed and velocity are two quantities in Physics that seem at first glance to have the same meaning.
While related, they have distinctly different definitions. Knowing their definitions is critical to
understanding the difference between them.
Speed is a quantity that describes how fast or how slow an object is moving.
Velocity is a quantity that is defined as the rate at which an object's position changes.

3. Suppose you are considering three different paths (A, B and C) between the same two locations.

Along which path would you have to move with the greatest speed to arrive at the destination in the
same amount of time? Path C Explain.
Path C is the path with the greatest distance. You would have to move faster along this path to cover
it in the same amount of time as the other two paths. For the same time, speed and distance are
directly proportional.
4. True or False: It is possible for an object to move for 10 seconds at a high speed and end up with an
average velocity of zero.
a. True b. False
5. If the above statement is true, then describe an example of such a motion. If the above statement is
false, then explain why it is false.
If an object somehow turns or curves around and finishes at the starting point, then there is zero
displacement. For instance, if a physics teacher starts on one corner of a table and walks all around the table
and back to the starting point, then her displacement is zero. She is not out of place.

6. Suppose that you run for 10 seconds along three different paths.

Rank the three paths from the lowest average speed to the greatest average speed. B < C < A
Rank the three paths from the lowest average velocity to the greatest average velocity. A < B = C
Average speed is based on distance traveled; average velocity is based on displacement. The greatest
distance is for Path A, followed by C and then B. Yet A has the least displacement; B and C have
equal displacement.

© The Physics Classroom, 2009 Page 1

Calculating Average Speed and Average Velocity
The average speed of an object is the rate at which an object covers distance. The average velocity of
an object is the rate at which an object changes its position. Thus,
distance displacement
Ave. Speed = time Ave. Velocity = time
Speed, being a scalar, is dependent upon the scalar quantity distance. Velocity, being a vector, is
dependent upon the vector quantity displacement.

7. You run from your house to a friend's house that is 3 miles away in 30 minutes. You then
immediately walk home, taking 1 hour on your return trip.

a. What was the average speed (in mi/hr) for the entire trip? 4 mi/hr (ave. speed = 6 mi/1.5 hr)

b. What was the average velocity (in mi/hr) for the entire trip? 0 mi/hr (there is no displacement)

8. A cross-country skier moves from location A to location B to location C to location D. Each leg of the
back-and-forth motion takes 1 minute to complete; the total time is 3 minutes. The unit of length is
meters.

Calculate the average speed (in m/min) and the average velocity (in m/min) of the skier during the
three minutes of recreation. PSYW
You must begin by determining the distance traveled and the overall displacement of the skier
during the three minutes. The distance traveled is the sum of all three segments of the motion; this is
a distance of 360 m (160 m + 120 m + 80 m). The overall displacement is simply a measurement of
the distance between starting point (A) and finishing point (D); this is 120 m, east. Now use these
values along with a time of 3 minutes to determine the average speed and average velocity value.

Ave. Speed = (360 m/3 min) Ave. Velocity = (120 m, East / 3 min)

Ave. Speed = 120 m/min Ave. Velocity = 40 m/min, East

© The Physics Classroom, 2009 Page 2

Motion in One Dimension Name:

Instantaneous Speed vs. Average Speed

The instantaneous speed of an object is the speed that an object has at any given instant. When an object
moves, it doesn't always move at a steady pace. As a result, the instantaneous speed is changing. For an
automobile, the instantaneous speed is the speedometer reading. The average speed is simply the
average of all the speedometer readings taken at regular intervals of time. Of course, the easier way to
determine the average speed is to simply do a distance/time ratio.
9. Consider the data at the right for the first 10 minutes of a Time (min) Po’s (mi)
teacher's trip along the expressway to school. Determine ...
a. ... the average speed (in mi/min) for the 10 minutes of 0 0
motion. 1 0.4
The distance traveled is 7.6 mi (assuming a straight line path) 2 0.8
and the time is 10 minutes. The average speed is 0.76 mi/min or 3 1.3
~46 mi/hr. 4 2.1
b. ... an estimate of the maximum speed (in mi/min) based on 5 2.5
the given data. 6 2.7
The maximum speed occurs during the 1-minute interval 7 3.8
during which the teacher travels the greatest distance. The 8 5.0
greatest distance is traveled during the 9th minute (from t=8 min
9 6.4
to t=9 min). This is a distance of 1.4 miles. So the maximum
speed is 1.4 mi/min or ~84 mi/hr (… and that would be 10 7.6
speeding. Shame! Shame!)

10. The graph below shows Donovan Bailey's split times for his 100-meter record breaking run in the
Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

a. At what point did he experience his greatest average speed for a 10 meter interval? Calculate
this speed in m/s. PSYW
For each x,y coordinate pair, the first value is the accumulative time and the second value is
the accumulative distance traveled. Since all distances are 10-meters, the greatest speed occurs
during the interval in which the 10 meters is covered in the least amount of time. So a
comparison of one coordinate pair must be made to the previous one to determine which 10
minutes has the least time. This occurs during the interval from 40 m (4.9 s) to 50 m (5.6 s).
Greatest average speed = (10.0 m/0.7 s) = 14.3 m/s (Please excuse the insignificant digits.)

b. What was his average speed (in m/s) for the overall race? PSYW
The average speed is the ratio of the overall distance traveled (100.0 m) to the time (9.84 s).
Average speed - (100.0 m/9.84 s) = 10.2 m/s

© The Physics Classroom, 2009 Page 3

Problem-Solving:
11. Thirty years ago, police would check a highway for speeders by sending a helicopter up in the air
and observing the time it would take for a car to travel between two wide lines placed 1/10th of a
mile apart. On one occasion, a car was observed to take 7.2 seconds to travel this distance.
a. How much time did it take the car to travel the distance in hours?
There are 60.0 seconds in one minute and 60.0 minutes in 1 hour. So 7.2 seconds is equivalent to
0.0020 hours
t = 7.2 s • (1 min/60.0 s) • (1 hr/60.0 min) = 0.0020 hr

b. What is the speed of the car in miles per hour?

The average speed is the distance/time ratio
Average speed= (0.10 mi/0.0020 hr) = 50. mi/hr

12. The fastest trains are magnetically levitated above the rails to avoid friction (and are therefore called
MagLev trains…cool, huh?). The fastest trains travel about 155 miles in a half an hour. What is their
average speed in miles/hour?

The distance is 155 miles and the time is 0.500 hour. So the average speed is …

Average speed= (155 mi/0.500 hr) = 310. mi/hr

13. In 1960, U.S. Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger broke the records for the both the fastest and the
longest sky dive…he fell an amazing 19.5 miles! (Cool facts: There is almost no air at that altitude,
and he said that he almost didn’t feel like he was falling because there was no whistling from the
wind or movement of his clothing through the air. The temperature at that altitude was 36 degrees
Fahrenheit below zero!) His average speed while falling was 254 miles/hour. How much time did
the dive last?

The average speed equation can be rearranged to solve for time (t). The values of 19.5 mi (d) and 254
mi/hr (vave) can be substituted into the equation to solve for time.

time = d / vave = (19.5 mi) / (254 mi/hr) = 0.0768 hr (equivalent to ~4.61 minutes!)

14. A hummingbird averages a speed of about 28 miles/hour (Cool facts: They visit up to 1000 flowers
per day, and reach maximum speed while diving … up to 100 miles/hour!). Ruby-throated
hummingbirds take a 2000 mile journey when they migrate, including a non-stop trip across Gulf of
Mexico in which they fly for 18 hours straight! How far is the trip across the Gulf of Mexico?

The average speed equation can be rearranged to solve for distance (d). The values of 18 hr (t) and 28
mi/hr (vave) can be substituted into the equation to solve for distance.

distance = vave • t = (28 mi/hr) • (18 hr) = 504 mi (or 5.0 x 102 mi)

© The Physics Classroom, 2009 Page 4