Define, compare and contrast distance and displacement

Question

Physics

Katrina Liu

11 May, 11:05

Define, compare and contrast distance and displacement

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Rachel French · Answer 1

Distance is how much ground is covered by an object, regardless of its starting or ending position. There is no directional component to a distance measurement, making it a scalar quantity.

While Displacement is the shortest possible distance between the starting and the ending position. Since it has a directional component, it is a vector quantity.

Here is a deeper analysis:

Say you were riding a car from your house to the market and back. Lets say that the market is 10 miles away. So, the total distance you would have covered will be 20 miles. Interestingly, the displacement in this case would be 0. This is because, the initial and the final positions coincide (your house)