Question

A baseball diamond is a square with sides 90ft in length. If the positive x axis points from home plate to first base, and the positive y axis points from home plate to third base, find the displacement vector of a base runner who has just hit (a) a double (b) a triple and (c) a home run

Answer 1

(a) (90ft)x + (90ft)y

(b) (90 ft)y

(c) 0

Step-by-step explanation:

We can represent the situation as follows:

When the runner hits a double, the displacement vector is represented by the green line. So, this vector ends in a position of 90 ft in the x-direction and 90 ft in the y-direction. Therefore, it can be represented as:

(90ft)x + (90ft)y

On the other hand, when the runner hits a triple, the displacement vector is represented by the blue line. It means that this vector is 90 ft in the y-direction or (90ft)y

Finally, when the runner hits a homerun, he comes back to the initial point, so the displacement is 0.

Therefore, the answers are:

(a) (90ft)x + (90ft)y

(b) (90ft)y

(c) 0