National League for Nursing (NLN) Science Practice Exam

In this scenario, the key concepts to understand are displacement and distance traveled. Displacement refers to the overall change in position from the starting point to the final position, taking direction into account, while distance traveled measures the total ground covered, regardless of direction.

When the airplane travels 500 miles northeast and then returns 500 miles southwest, it effectively ends up back at its original starting point. Since the initial and final positions are the same, the displacement is 0 miles. This is because displacement depends solely on the initial and final positions and not on the path taken.

On the other hand, the distance traveled is the sum of the distances moved in both legs of the journey. The airplane traveled 500 miles northeast and 500 miles southwest, adding up to a total distance of 1,000 miles.

Thus, the correct observation here is that the displacement is 0 miles, and the total distance traveled is 1,000 miles.