Question

Mr. H, the physics teacher, walked 3 m from the classroom door, made a right turn, and walked 4 m towards the back of the classroom. What is Mr. H's displacement from the classroom door?

a) 1 m
b) 5 m
c) 7 m
d) 12 m

Answer 1

Mr. H's displacement from the classroom door is 5 m, calculated using the Pythagorean theorem, since his movement forms a right-angled triangle with sides of 3 m and 4 m.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks to determine Mr. H's displacement from the classroom door after he walks 3 m from the door and makes a right turn to walk another 4 m. Displacement is a vector quantity which means it has both magnitude and direction, and it is defined as the change in position of an object. It is not the same as the distance traveled, as distance does not take into account the direction.

In this case, we can use the Pythagorean theorem to calculate the displacement since Mr. H's movement creates a right-angled triangle with one side of 3 m and the other side of 4 m. The displacement will be the hypotenuse of this triangle. The formula for the hypotenuse (h) in a right-angled triangle is:

h = √(a² + b²)

where a and b are the lengths of the other two sides. Substituting the given values:

h = √(3² + 4²) = √(9 + 16) = √25 = 5 m

Therefore, Mr. H's displacement from the classroom door is 5 m, which corresponds to option b).