Question

A student said, "the displacement between my dorm and the lecture hall is 1 kilometer." is he using the correct physical quantity for the information provided? What should he have called the 1 kilometer?

Answer 1

No, the student did't use the correct measure of physical quantity.

He used the word Displacement, which means the length of a space from one point to another point with a specific direction. But he did't mention the specific location.

So when he is not using the specific location and telling about the length of space from one point to another, then he is describing the Distance.

So he should have used the measure, Distance, instead of Displacement.

Answer 2

Answer: No. The student should have used “distance.”

Distance and displacement are both physical quantities that can be measured. In our example, 1 kilometer refers to the distance between the dorm and the lecture hall. It is not displacement because it did not specify direction.