Displacement of an object is independent of the path followed by it. Justify the statement
Answers
displacement is defined as the shortest distance from mean position to other extreme position
so if u are going on a rectangular path
u might go along the sides from one opposite CORNER to other
or
u might go diagonally
in both the cases displacement is equal to the length of diagonal[as it is the shortest path]
hence proved that it is independent of path
Answer:
The displacement is defined as the shortest distance covered or the difference in length of the final postion of an object from its initial position. This is completely regardless of the route or the path followed. This thus makes displacement to be independent of the path taken.
Explanation:
We can look at a few examples to help drive the point home:
1) An object travelling along the circumference of a semicircular path
In this case the total distance covered with be the length of the semicircular path covered by the object.
On the other hand, displacement in this scenario is the diameter of the semicircular path. The displacement will be a straight line ( diameter ) from the point the object started moving to the point where it stopped.
2) An object that moves around a circular path
If the object moves that whole length of the circle, then the total distance covered is the circumference of the circle.
The displacement in this case here is Zero(0). The object ends up in the same position is started making the displacement 0 units.
Note: The displacement of an object is the difference in length between the initial position of the object and final position of the object.
Distance is the length of the path taken by the object.