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Describe the ant's distance, speed, and velocity when it crawls from 6 cm to 2 cm in 2 seconds.

a) Distance: 4 cm, Speed: 2 cm/s, Velocity: 2 cm/s
b) Distance: 4 cm, Speed: 2 cm/s, Velocity: -2 cm/s
c) Distance: 6 cm, Speed: 3 cm/s, Velocity: -3 cm/s
d) Distance: 6 cm, Speed: 3 cm/s, Velocity: 3 cm/s

1 Answer

6 votes

Final answer:

The ant travels a distance of 4 cm at a speed of 2 cm/s, and because it moves in the negative direction, its velocity is -2 cm/s, corresponding to answer choice (b).

Step-by-step explanation:

To describe the ant's distance, speed, and velocity when it crawls from 6 cm to 2 cm in 2 seconds, we first need to clarify these terms. Distance is the total length of the path traveled irrespective of direction, speed is the rate at which distance is covered (and is a scalar quantity), and velocity is the displacement per unit time (and is a vector quantity).

In this scenario, the ant moves a distance of 4 cm because the absolute difference between 6 cm and 2 cm is 4 cm. To find the speed, we divide the total distance traveled by the time, which gives us 2 cm/s (4 cm divided by 2 s). For velocity, since the ant is moving from a higher to a lower centimeter value, we consider the direction and end with a negative sign, yielding a velocity of -2 cm/s.

Therefore, the correct answer here would be:
Distance: 4 cm
Speed: 2 cm/s
Velocity: -2 cm/s
This matches answer choice (b).

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