{"id":276114,"date":"2025-07-30T16:11:57","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T16:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=276114"},"modified":"2025-07-30T16:11:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T16:11:59","slug":"an-object-is-initially-at-the-origin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/30\/an-object-is-initially-at-the-origin\/","title":{"rendered":"An object is initially at the origin."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correct answer is A<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a detailed explanation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question asks for the magnitude of the object’s total change in position, which is another term for net displacement. Displacement is a vector quantity, meaning it has both a magnitude (size) and a direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, we need to determine the object’s net displacement. We can model this one-dimensional movement along a number line, with the origin at 0. Let’s define movement to the right as the positive direction and movement to the left as the negative direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. First movement:<\/strong>\u00a0The object moves from the origin to the right by 4 units. This is a displacement vector of +4 units. The object’s position is now at +4.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Second movement:<\/strong>\u00a0From its current position, the object moves to the left by 3 units. This is a displacement vector of -3 units.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The total change in position (net displacement) is the vector sum of these two individual displacements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Net Displacement = (First Displacement) + (Second Displacement)
    Net Displacement = (+4 units) + (-3 units)
    Net Displacement = +1 unit<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The final position of the object is 1 unit to the right of the origin. The question asks for the magnitude<\/em> of this change in position. The magnitude is the absolute value of the displacement, which is a positive scalar quantity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Magnitude = |+1 unit| = 1 unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Now let’s evaluate the justifications for the answer choices:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • A) 1 unit, because in one dimension vectors with opposite directions have opposite signs.<\/strong>\u00a0This is correct. We calculated the net displacement to be 1 unit. The justification is the exact principle we used: we assigned a positive sign to the movement to the right and a negative sign to the movement to the left and then added them. This is the correct way to handle vector addition in one dimension.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • B) 1 unit, because the magnitude of the difference of two vectors is always equal to the difference between the magnitudes of the vectors.<\/strong>\u00a0The numerical answer is correct, but the justification is mathematically false.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • C) 7 units, because the magnitude of the sum of two vectors is always equal to the sum of the magnitudes of the vectors.<\/strong>\u00a0This is incorrect. The value of 7 units represents the total distance traveled (4 + 3 = 7), not the displacement. The justification is also false; the magnitude of a sum of vectors equals the sum of their magnitudes only when the vectors point in the same direction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • D) 7 units, because the object moves a distance of 4 units followed by a distance of 3 units.<\/strong>\u00a0This correctly calculates the total distance traveled but confuses distance with displacement. Displacement is the net change from start to finish, not the total path length.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The Correct Answer and Explanation is: The correct answer is A. Here is a detailed explanation: The question asks for the magnitude of the object’s total change in position, which is another term for net displacement. Displacement is a vector quantity, meaning it has both a magnitude (size) and a direction. First, we need to determine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}