The total displacement of three combined walks can be graphically determined by drawing vectors to scale and arranging them head-to-tail, and then measuring the resultant vector. Alternatively, one can use the component method and then apply trigonometry for the precise resultant displacement and direction.
- To calculate the total displacement of a person walking three paths on a flat field, we utilize the graphical technique for adding vectors.
- The person walks 25.0 m at 49.0° north of east, then 23.0 m at 15.0° north of east, and lastly 32.0 m at 68.0° south of east.
- To find the resultant displacement vector, each segment's displacement vector should be drawn to scale, with the correct angles in respect to the east direction.
- The vectors are then arranged head-to-tail to visualize the overall displacement.
- According to the parallelogram rule, the length of the resultant vector cannot be a simple sum due to different directions involved, hence the need for a graphical approach or another method like the method of components.
- To avoid algebraic complexity with the graphical method, one can measure the resultant vector's length and angle directly from the graph.
- This provides an approximate value for the displacement and direction.
- To avoid the graphical method's inaccuracy and complexity, one can use the component method by breaking each vector into x and y components, adding the respective components, and then using trigonometry to find the magnitude and direction of the resultant vector.