Question

3 differences between distance and displacement. ( 3 marks )

Answer 1

$\huge\bf {Answer -}$

Differences between Distance and Displacement (4 points) -

_______________________________________

• Length of actual path travelled by an object is called distance.
• Shortest distance between intial point and far point of an object is called displacement.

_________________________________________

• Distance is scalar quantity.
• Displacement is vector quantity.

___________________________________________

• Distance remains positive, it can't be '0' or negative.
• Displacement can be positive negative or 0.

__________________________________________

• Distance can be equal to displacement ( in linear path.)
• Displacement can be equal to distance or its lesser than distance.

________________________________________

Hope it helps....

Answer 2

Distance And Displacement

Distance and displacement are two quantities that seem to mean the same but are distinctly different with different meanings and definition. Distance is the measure of “how much ground an object has covered” during its motion while displacement refers to the measure of how far out of place is an object. In this article, let us understand the difference between distance and displacement.

What is Distance?

Distance is the total movement of an object without any regard to direction. We can define distance as to how much ground an object has covered despite its starting or ending point.

Let’s understand with the following diagram

Boy cycling his way back home from a reference point A crossing point C to get to point B

Distance here will be = 4m + 3m + 5m = 12 m

Distance Formula

Δd=d1+d2

How is Displacement defined?

Displacement is defined as the change in position of an object. It is a vector quantity and has a direction and magnitude. It is represented as an arrow that points from the starting position to the final position. For Example- If an object moves from A position to B, then the object’s position changes. This change in position of an object is known as Displacement.

Distance And Displacement

Displacement = Δx=xf−x0

xf = Final Position

x0 = Initial Position

Δx = Displacement