Science Common Sense
1658 - What are the components of displacement, velocity, and acceleration for a particle moving in a plane.
Imagine a particle moving around in a plane, like a car on a road or a ball on a table. There are three important things to know about its movement: displacement, velocity, and acceleration. Here's how to find their components:
- Displacement: Displacement is how far the particle has moved from where it started. Think of it like a map that shows where the particle went.
- x-component (horizontal): how far the particle moved to the left or right.
y-component (vertical): how far the particle moved up or down.
Velocity: Velocity is how fast the particle is moving in a certain direction. Think of it like the speedometer in a car.
- x-component (horizontal): how fast the particle is moving to the left or right.
y-component (vertical): how fast the particle is moving up or down.
Acceleration: Acceleration is how quickly the particle's speed is changing. Think of it like when you press the gas pedal in a car and it starts to speed up.
- x-component (horizontal): how quickly the particle is speeding up or slowing down horizontally.
- y-component (vertical): how quickly the particle is speeding up or slowing down vertically.
To find the total displacement, velocity, or acceleration, you combine the x and y components using a magic formula called Pythagorean theorem:
Total = √(x² + y²)
This helps you calculate the total movement or speed of the particle.