A hamster in a ball begins its journey 5 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.

Question

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)
Responses

0 feet
0 feet

5 feet
5 feet

-5 feet
-5 feet

20 feet

Answer 1

To determine the displacement of the hamster, we first need to establish its starting and ending positions relative to the refrigerator.

1. The hamster starts 5 feet to the left of the refrigerator, which can be represented as -5 feet.
2. It then travels 20 feet to the right. Moving 20 feet to the right from -5 feet: \[ -5 + 20 = 15 \text{ feet} \]
3. Finally, it ends its journey directly in front of the refrigerator, which is positioned at 0 feet.

Now, we calculate the displacement, which is defined as the difference between the final position and the initial position: \[ \text{Displacement} = \text{Final Position} - \text{Initial Position} \] Substituting in our values: \[ \text{Displacement} = 0 - (-5) = 0 + 5 = 5 \text{ feet} \]

Thus, the displacement of the hamster is 5 feet.