Question

Samir travels on a straight road. He goes from position A to position B where the distance AB = 5km. Now he turns back and travels a distance of 2km to reach the position C. Find the total distance travelled by samir during the entire journey and the magnitude of his displacement?

Answer 1

Answer:7 kms

Explanation:

As he goes 5km from A to B and returns back 2km to reach C

Therefore 5+2=7

Answer 2

Answer:

7 km and 3 km

Explanation:

According to the given question, it's a linear motion.

AB = 5 km and BC = 2 km

5 km

<---------------------------->

A C B

<------------><------------>

3 km 2 km

From the figure we can see that AC= 3 km

And we are asked to find the total distance and magnitude of displacement.

Now,

Total distance = (A to B) + (B to C)

= 5+2 = 7 km

Magnitude of displacement = AC = 3 km

As the initial position is A and final position is C.

One thing to note here is that, not always magnitude of displacement is equal to distance.