Question

A student moves to the right 4.5 meters, turns around and moves to the left 3.2 meters. If the student's motion occurred over 12.0 seconds, calculate her velocity.

A. 0.1 m/s
B. 0.3 m/s
C. 0.4 m/s
D. 0.7 m/s

Answer 1

The student's velocity is calculated using net displacement divided by time, which gives 0.1083 m/s, rounded to answer B, 0.1 m/s.

Step-by-step explanation:

When calculating velocity, it's important to consider the total displacement of the object rather than the total distance traveled. The student moved to the right 4.5 meters and then to the left 3.2 meters, which results in a net displacement of (4.5 - 3.2) meters or 1.3 meters to the right. Since the motion occurred over 12.0 seconds, the velocity can be calculated by dividing displacement by time: velocity = displacement/time = 1.3 meters / 12.0 seconds = 0.1083 meters per second. Answer B, 0.1 m/s, is correct when rounding to one decimal place.