Question

A turtle takes 3.5 minutes to walk 18 m toward the south along a deserted highway. A truck driver stops and picks up the turtle. The driver takes the turtle to a town 1.1 km to the north with an average speed of 12 m/s. What is the magnitude of the average velocity of the turtle for its entire journey?

Answer 1

3.59 m/s

Step-by-step explanation:

The average velocity is defined as:

`(Total displacement)/(Total time)`

The turtle first walks 18m south, and then is taken 1,1Km (or 1100m) north. Thus, the total displacement is 1082m north (1100m north - 18m south).

Now we have to calculate the total time, which will be equal to the sum of the time the turtle walked and the time it was taken by truck.

The walking time is 3.5 minutes. Since 1 minute = 60 seconds, then the walking time is 210 seconds.

To calculate the truck time we use the equation:

Time =
`(Distance)/(Speed)`

Where the distance the truck travelled is 1100m and the speed of the truck is 12m/s.

Thus,

Truck time=
`(1100m)/(12m/s)`= 91.67s

The total time is the sum of the walking time and the truck time.

Total time = 210s + 91.67s = 301.67s.

As mencioned previously, the average velocity is equal to total displacement/ total time, thus:

Average velocity =
`(1082m)/(301.67s)` = 3.59 m/s North

Since the average velocity is a vector, it has a magnitude and a direction. In this case the magnitude is 3.59 m/s and the direction is north since the turtle's final displacement is north of where it started.