Question

What is the difference between distance and displacement? Give an example of a situation where distance and displacement both have the same magnitude. Give another example, where distance and displacement have different values. Make sure to address the terms "vector" and "scalar" in your response.

Answer 1

Distance and displacement differ in that distance is a scalar quantity while displacement is a vector quantity, taking into account both magnitude and direction. Examples where distance and displacement have the same magnitude and different values are provided to illustrate these differences.

Step-by-step explanation:

Distance and displacement are both measurements used to describe how far an object has traveled, but they have different definitions and characteristics. Distance is a scalar quantity that only accounts for the magnitude or size of the displacement between two positions, without considering the direction. On the other hand, displacement is a vector quantity that not only includes the magnitude but also the direction of the movement.

An example where distance and displacement have the same magnitude is when a car travels in a straight line from point A to point B and then returns back to point A using the same path. Here, the distance traveled by the car will be twice the distance between point A and point B, whereas the displacement will be zero since the car ended up at the same position it started.

Conversely, an example where distance and displacement have different values is when a person takes a walk around their neighborhood, starting at their house and returning back to the house without retracing their steps. In this case, the distance traveled will be greater than the displacement since the person covered a longer path, while the displacement will only consider the straight-line distance between the initial and final positions.

Answer 2

Explanation :

Distance is total path travelled by an object during its entire journey. It is a scalar quantity i.e only magnitude.

Displacement is the shortest distance covered by an object. It is basically the change in position of object. It is a vector quantity i.e direction as well as magnitude.

When an object is travelling in a straight line and stops at the end point, then both distance and displacement are same.

When an object is travelling in a straight line and then changes its direction or we can say come backwards then the magnitude of distance and displacement are different.