Question

What if the ball,the car, and the dog in the illustration go back to their starting positions,what will happen to their respective distances? How about their displacement?

Answer 1

Distance is double but displacement is zero

Answer 2

Distance is the measure of the total range/ span traveled by a body.

Displacement is the gap between the starting and the ending positions of the respective body.

• Displacement can be zero but distance can never be zero if a body has traveled.
• Both the distance and displacement are measured by the units of length, m.

Therefore, if the ball, the car, and the dog go back to their initial position,   their distance will be doubled but their displacement will be zero.

This is because the distance between the initial and final positions of them is zero.