Question

A body is moving in a square of side 10 m. Calculate distance and displacement in the
following cases:
(a) From A to B
(b) From A to C
(c) ABCDA

Answer 1

Answer:

From Ato B, body covers 10 m. So the displacement and distance are equal as it is a straight line motion. Thus distance = displacement = 10 m.

From A to C body travels AC diagonal in terms of displacement and fromA to B to C in terms of distance

ΔABC is a right angled triangle

displacement = $\sqrt{10^2+10^2}= \sqrt{200} = 10\sqrt{2}m$

distance = 10 + 10 = 20 m

From ABCDA, the body travels A to B to C to D to A. Thus, in terms of distance it travels the entire perimeter. So distance is 40 m.

But in terms of displacement, it travels back to the initial position so the dispacement becomes 0.