Assume that a school bus, like the one in Figure 12.2, passes by as you stand on the sidewalk. Its obvious to you that the bus is moving. It is moving relative to you and the trees across the street. But what about to the children inside the bus? They arent moving relative to each other. If they look only at the other children sitting near them, they will not appear to be moving. They may only be able to tell that the bus is moving by looking out the window and seeing you and the trees whizzing by. This example shows that how we perceive motion depends on our frame of reference. Frame of reference refers to something that is not moving with respect to an observer that can be used to detect motion. For the children on the bus, if they use other children riding the bus as their frame of reference, they do not appear to be moving. But if they use objects outside the bus as their frame of reference, they can tell they are moving. What is your frame of reference if you are standing on the sidewalk and see the bus go by? How can you tell the bus is moving? The video at the URL below illustrates other examples of how frame of reference is related to motion. MEDIA Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: Did you ever go to a track meet like the one pictured in Figure 12.3? Running events in track include 100-meter sprints and 2000-meter races. Races are named for their distance. Distance is the length of the route between two points. The length of the route in a race is the distance between the starting and finishing lines. In a 100-meter sprint, for example, the distance is 100 meters. The SI unit for distance is the meter (1 m = 3.28 ft). Short distances may be measured in centimeters (1 cm = 0.01 m). Long distances may be measured in kilometers (1 km = 1000 m). For example, you might measure the distance a frogs tongue moves in centimeters and the distance a cheetah moves in kilometers. Maps can often be used to measure distance. Look at the map in Figure 12.4. Find Mias house and the school. You can use the map key to directly measure the distance between these two points. The distance is 2 kilometers. Measure it yourself to see if you agree. Things dont always move in straight lines like the route from Mias house to the school. Sometimes they change direction as they move. For example, the route from Mias house to the post office changes from west to north at the school (see Figure 12.4). To find the total distance of a route that changes direction, you must add up the distances traveled in each direction. From Mias house to the school, for example, the distance is 2 kilometers. From the school to the post office, the distance is 1 kilometer. Therefore, the total distance from Mias house to the post office is 3 kilometers. You Try It! Problem: What is the distance from the post office to the park in Figure 12.4? Direction is just as important as distance in describing motion. For example, if Mia told a friend how to reach the post office from her house, she couldnt just say, "go 3 kilometers." The friend might end up at the park instead of the post office. Mia would have to be more specific. She could say, "go west for 2 kilometers and then go north for 1 kilometer." When both distance and direction are considered, motion is a vector. A vector is a quantity that includes both size and direction. A vector is represented by an arrow. The length of the arrow represents distance. The way the arrow points shows direction. The red arrows in Figure 12.4 are vectors for Mias route to the school and post office. If you want to learn more about vectors, watch the videos at these URLs: (5:27) MEDIA Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: You Try It! Problem: Draw vectors to
Output: length of the route between two points