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Learning objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Observe that motion in two dimensions consists of horizontal and vertical components.
  • Understand the independence of horizontal and vertical vectors in two-dimensional motion.

The information presented in this section supports the following AP® learning objectives and science practices:

  • 3.A.1.1 The student is able to express the motion of an object using narrative, mathematical, and graphical representations. (S.P. 1.5, 2.1, 2.2)
  • 3.A.1.2 The student is able to design an experimental investigation of the motion of an object. (S.P. 4.2)
  • 3.A.1.3 The student is able to analyze experimental data describing the motion of an object and is able to express the results of the analysis using narrative, mathematical, and graphical representations. (S.P. 5.1)
A busy traffic intersection in New York showing vehicles moving on the road.
Walkers and drivers in a city like New York are rarely able to travel in straight lines to reach their destinations. Instead, they must follow roads and sidewalks, making two-dimensional, zigzagged paths. (credit: Margaret W. Carruthers)

Two-dimensional motion: walking in a city

Suppose you want to walk from one point to another in a city with uniform square blocks, as pictured in [link] .

An X Y graph with origin at zero zero with x axis labeled nine blocks east and y axis labeled five blocks north. Starting point at the origin and destination at point nine on the x axis and point five on the y axis.
A pedestrian walks a two-dimensional path between two points in a city. In this scene, all blocks are square and are the same size.

The straight-line path that a helicopter might fly is blocked to you as a pedestrian, and so you are forced to take a two-dimensional path, such as the one shown. You walk 14 blocks in all, 9 east followed by 5 north. What is the straight-line distance?

An old adage states that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The two legs of the trip and the straight-line path form a right triangle, and so the Pythagorean theorem, a 2  +  b 2  =  c 2 size 12{a rSup { size 8{2} } " + "b rSup { size 8{2} } " = "c rSup { size 8{2} } } {} , can be used to find the straight-line distance.

A right-angled triangle with base labeled a height labeled b and hypotenuse labeled c is shown. Using Pythagorean theorem c is calculated as square root of a squared plus b squared.
The Pythagorean theorem relates the length of the legs of a right triangle, labeled a size 12{a} {} and b size 12{b} {} , with the hypotenuse, labeled c size 12{c} {} . The relationship is given by: a 2 b 2 c 2 size 12{a rSup { size 8{2} }  "+ "b rSup { size 8{2} }  "= "c rSup { size 8{2} } } {} . This can be rewritten, solving for c size 12{A} {} : c  =  a 2 b 2 size 12{c" = " sqrt {a rSup { size 8{2} }  "+ "b rSup { size 8{2} } } } {} .

The hypotenuse of the triangle is the straight-line path, and so in this case its length in units of city blocks is ( 9 blocks ) 2 ( 5 blocks ) 2 = 10 . 3 blocks size 12{ sqrt { \( "9 blocks" \) rSup { size 8{2} }  "+ " \( "5 blocks" \) rSup { size 8{2} } }  "= 10" "." "3 blocks"} {} , considerably shorter than the 14 blocks you walked. (Note that we are using three significant figures in the answer. Although it appears that “9” and “5” have only one significant digit, they are discrete numbers. In this case “9 blocks” is the same as “9.0 or 9.00 blocks.” We have decided to use three significant figures in the answer in order to show the result more precisely.)

An X Y graph with origin at zero zero with x-axis labeled nine blocks east and y axis labeled five blocks north. A diagonal vector arrow joining starting point at point zero on x axis and destination at point five on y axis with its direction northeast is shown. A helicopter is flying along the diagonal vector arrow with helicopter path of ten point three blocks. The angle formed by diagonal vector arrow and the x-axis is equal to twenty-nine point one degrees.
The straight-line path followed by a helicopter between the two points is shorter than the 14 blocks walked by the pedestrian. All blocks are square and the same size.

The fact that the straight-line distance (10.3 blocks) in [link] is less than the total distance walked (14 blocks) is one example of a general characteristic of vectors. (Recall that vectors are quantities that have both magnitude and direction.)

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Source:  OpenStax, College physics for ap® courses. OpenStax CNX. Nov 04, 2016 Download for free at https://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11844/1.14
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