Question

If your velocity is 20 m/s south and you travel for 10 minutes, how far have you gone?

Answer 1

You would have gone 12000 meters in south direction.

Step-by-step explanation:

Since velocity = displacement/time, we would know two values which are velocity and time. We can find displacement travelled by solving the equation:

`\displaystyle{20 \ \text{m/s} = \frac{ \vec s}{10 \ \text{min}}}`

However, we cannot find the displacement right away as the unit of time is not same yet. We will have to convert from 10 minutes to seconds unit.

We know that 1 minute = 60 seconds. By multiplying 10 both sides, we have:

10 minutes = 10×60 seconds = 600 seconds. Hence:

`\displaystyle{20 \ \text{m/s} = \frac{ \vec s}{600 \ \text{s}}}`

Now we can solve for displacement:

`\displaystyle{20 \ \text{m/s} \: \cdot \: 600 \ \text{s}= \vec s} \\ \\ \displaystyle{12000 \ \text{m}= \vec s}`

Since displacement is a vector quantity, this means that the equation you just solved for value is just its magnitude. We know that the velocity has south direction. Therefore, the displacement travelled is 12000 meters south.