Question

a hamster in a ball begins its journey 10 feet to the left of a refrigerator, travels 20 feet to the right of the refrigerator, and ends its journey directly in front of the refrigerator. if negative values are assigned to positions to the left of its starting position and positive values are assigned to positions to the right of its starting position, what is the displacement of the hamster? (1 point) 10 feet -20 feet 5 feet 0 feet

Explanation:

Step1: Define initial and final positions

Let the starting - position of the hamster be the origin. It starts 10 feet to the left of the refrigerator. So its initial position \(x_1=- 10\) feet. It travels 20 feet to the right and ends in front of the refrigerator. Its final position \(x_2\) relative to the starting - position is calculated as follows.

Step2: Calculate the displacement

Displacement \(\Delta x=x_2 - x_1\). The hamster moves 20 feet to the right from its initial position. So \(x_2=20 - 10=10\) feet (because it started 10 feet to the left). Then \(\Delta x = 10-(-10)=10 + 10=10\) feet.

Answer:

10 feet