The total displacement of the object is 0 meters.
To understand this, let’s break down the movements:
- The object moves 40 meters north.
- Then, it moves 40 meters west.
- Next, it moves 40 meters south.
- Finally, it moves 40 meters east.
If we visualize this path, we can see that the object effectively forms a square: starting from a point, moving up, then left, down, and finally back to the starting point. Each movement in one direction is canceled out by the movement in the opposite direction. Therefore, the object ends up right where it started.
Displacement is defined as the shortest distance from the initial position to the final position. Since the object returns to its starting point, the total displacement is zero meters.