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Motion and Its Causes

Introduction

How can you represent a vector quantity such as displacement?

A convenient way to represent a vector is to draw an arrow. The length of the arrow represents the magnitude of the vector; its direction represents the direction of the arrow. For example, you might create a drawing where 1 inch on the drawing represents 100 feet, and west points toward the left edge of the paper. Then the displacement of the house from 1st Avenue would be represented as an arrow 1.6” long pointing toward the left.



This diagram is similar to what navigators once used to calculate sea and air travel motion.
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