Question

Question #85b24

Answer 1

a) 5 meters

Explanation:

Start with the extremes, and work backwards.

Straight ahead (OK, may 1' turn) would be 23 + 14 = 37. Not one of the options.

Straight back (180' 'turn') would be 23 - 14 = 9, also not an option, but as a minimum displacement it also eliminates 5 meters as an option.

Therefore, all of the others (10, 15, 20, 25) are possible, depending on the turn angle. ONLY a) 5 meters is NOT possible of the choices.

Answer 2

a.) `5 meters` is the displacement that is not possible in this scenario.

Explanation:

Since none of the directions of motion are given, any answer except a.) is a possible outcome or the change in displacement.

The change in displacement would depend only on the angle at which the runner turns after running the first `23 m`.

For example if the runner turns `180^0` at the end of `23m` and runs back `14m`, his change in displacement will be `9m` in his original direction. So if he were to run the second leg at a slight angle off `180^0`, then `10m` is possible.

At the same time, `5m` is not possible because he did not run far enough back to be within `5m` of his starting point.

The rest of the choices are all possible because his longest possible distance is `23m+14m=37m` where he has turned `360^0` at the turn. Any shorter distance is then in the range.

There is an example of negative displacement here:
https://socratic.org/questions/can-displacement-be-negative