Queen’s College

Physics Society 23-24

Physics Olympiad Training
Vectors (II)

Name: _______________________ Class:_________ ( )

Displacement, Velocity, and Acceleration as vectors

Distance and Speed are “scalar” quantities- They only have a magnitude (Which you
can think of as “size”) and no direction.
e.g. The Earth is about 384,400km away from the Moon.

Displacement and Velocity, meanwhile, are vectors. They have a direction as well. In
the last set of notes, you learnt how to represent vectors in terms of î, ĵ and k̂.
î points in the positive x direction, ĵ in the positive y direction, and k̂ in the positive z
direction (Only in 3D)

A convenient way to visualise

displacement as a vector is
through minecraft coordinates.
Notice the highlighted text- The x
coordinate is 7.613, y is 111.132,
and z is 10.518.

Therefore, the displacement can

be represented as
7. 613î + 111. 132ĵ + 10. 518𝑘̂

Unlike minecraft, real life does not have an “origin”. This means you need something
else to compare your displacement too. This can be any point in space as you
choose. A lot of PhO questions might ask you about the displacement relative to the
starting point after a certain amount of time.

In calculation:
→ → →
𝑠𝐴 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐶 = 𝑠𝐴 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐵 + 𝑠𝐵 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐶
(Remember that s is the symbol for displacement)
Worked Example

Timmy stands as shown above. (Take home → school as positive displacement)

1. Since he likes his home very much and despises school, he decides to use his
home as a reference point. Find his displacement relative to his home.
2. In an alternate universe, Timmy’s parents are abusive and he finds academia a
refreshing escape from home, so he sets the school as his reference point. Find
his displacement relative to the school.

Take North as the positive y direction and East as the positive x direction.
Timmy now stands as shown in the photo above. Answer the same questions as above.
(Remember to pay attention to the signs (+ve/-ve) for displacement!)

Exercise
1. Alice and Bob meet at a water fountain. After that, Alice runs 300m to the
north and Bob runs 100m south and 100m east. What is the relative
displacement of Alice from Bob, and the relative displacement of Bob from
Alice? What do you observe?
2. On a line, there are two particles moving as time passes. The displacement of
the particles from the origin are given as follows:
A: 2t2 + 6t + 5 B: -3t2 + 14t + 5
a. Find the relative displacement of B from A’s point of view.
b. Remember the equation s = ut + ½at2. What is the initial speed and
acceleration of B from A’s point of view?
c. Repeat the same procedure for A from B’s PoV. What do you find?
3. The displacement of a planet relative to its star is given by (Acosθî) + (Asinθ)ĵ.
θ is a variable depending on time.
a. Does its distance to the star change? Prove your answer.
b. The star itself moves around the centre of the galaxy following the
equation (Bcosɸî) + (Bsinɸ)ĵ, where ɸ again depends on time. What is
the displacement of the planet relative to the galaxy centre? Does its
distance from the galaxy centre change?