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Re: zero-length vectors (was: displacement)



One of my students once told me that the direction of the zero-value
resultant of a round-trip chain of vectors ought to be the direction of
the final vector in the chain. His logic: when you finally return to
the origin you are facing in the direction of your last motion. It's
wrong, but sort of naively compelling :-)

God, how I love it when kids try to think things through; and it's
becoming so rare.

Best wishes,

Larry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Larry Cartwright <exit60@ia4u.net>
Physics and Physical Science Teacher
Charlotte HS, Charlotte MI USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Charlie Payne wrote:

Listers:
Although this may be trivial, I have a question concerning displacement.
Many of our textbooks define displacement as a vector with distance as
magnitude and some direction from a designated point, or as simply a change
in position. I understand that if a body returns precisely to the original
reference point, then its displacement is zero. My question concerns
direction. If a vector must have direction, and displacement is a vector,
how should one describe the displacement of a body that returns to its
starting point? I am a non-physics major who'd appreciate a kind response!
Thanks.
Charlie Payne
Northern HS
Durham, NC