Question

Five differences between distance and displacement

Answer 1

1. Distance is the length of the path travelled by a body in certain interval of time, whereas displacement is the shortest distance between the initial and final positions of a body.
2. Distance is a scalar quantity whereas displacement is a vector quantity.
3. Displacement can be zero when distance is not zero. But distance cannot be zero when displacement is not zero.

Answer 2

Distance: Distance is the length of actual path covered by a moving object in a given time interval.

Distance is a scalar quantity


Displacement: Shortest distance covered by a body in a definite direction is called displacement.
It is vector quantity.
Displacement may be positive , negative or zero where as distance is always positive.