Question

If an airplane pilot is told to fly 123 km in a straight line to get from San Francisco to Sacramento, explain why he could end up anywhere on the circle . What other information would he need to get to Sacramento?

Short answer

To get to Sacremento, the pilot will need an additional information about the direction, which is 45° north-east.

Step-by-step solution

Displacement

A displacement is the shortest path between the initial and final positions of a body. It is a vector quantity, which cannot be defined completely without direction.

Missing information

If a pilot is informed to fly 123 km in a straight line, he could end anywhere on the circumference of the circle of radius 123 km.

In order to reach Sacramento from San Francisco, he must fly ${45}^{°}$north-east along a straight line. Here, ${45}^{°}$north-east is the direction of the displacement vector, whose initial position is San Francisco, and the final position is Sacramento.

Hence, to get to Sacremento, the pilot will need an additional information about the direction, which is 45° north- east.