Question

The figure shows a velocity-time graph of a particle moving along a straight line. The total distance travelled by the particle is

• A. 68 m
• B. 52 m
• C. zero
• D. 37 m

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

68 m

We know that the area under the velocity time graph gives us the displacement.
To calculate the distance we simply add the area which is below the x-axis instead of subtracting it.
From the figure we get the areas as
$(\frac{1}{2}\times 2\times 10)+(3\times 10)+(\frac{1}{2}\times \frac{1}{3}\times 10)+(\frac{1}{2}\times \frac{2}{3}\times 20)+(\frac{1}{2}\times 2\times 20)\approx 68$