Question

An ant is crawling along a yardstick that is pointed with the 0-inch mark to the east and the 36-inch mark to the west. It starts at the 1-inch mark, crawls to the 26-inch mark, then moves to the 5-inch mark. What was the total distance the ant traveled?

in
What was the total displacement of the ant?

in to the A. west B. east C. no direction

Answer 1

A. = -9.00 cm
B. = 52.0 cm
C. = 16.0 cm

Answer 2

Total distance = 46 inch

Total displacement = 4 inch towards West

Step-by-step explanation:

Distance refers to the total length of the path traversed. The ant starts crawling from 1 inch mark towards West till 26 inch mark and then comes back to 5 inch mark.

Thus, total distance covered is (26-1) +(26-5) = 46 inches

Displacement refers to the shortest length between final and initial position. Thus, total displacement of ant is final position-initial position = (5-1) inch =4 inch towards West.