Question

The displacements are not equal. While their direction is the same, their length (i.e., distance or magnitude) is not. A is longer than B. What did you include in your response? Check all that apply.

a) The displacements are not equal.
b) The direction is the same.
c) The length is not the same.

Answer 1

Distance is a scalar quantity showing the total path length traveled, whereas displacement is a vector quantity defined by both magnitude and direction.

Step-by-step explanation:

The difference between distance and displacement lies in their definitions and the properties they represent. Distance is a scalar quantity that represents the total path length traveled between two points and does not take direction into account. On the other hand, displacement is a vector quantity that denotes the shortest path between the initial and final positions of an object and is characterized by both magnitude and direction.

For example, if a professor paces back and forth, walking 150 meters during a lecture but ends up only 2.0 meters away from the starting point, the professor's displacement would be +2.0 meters (*indicating direction*), the magnitude of the displacement would be 2.0 meters, and the distance traveled would be 150 meters. Thus, while both displacement and distance show the extent of an object's motion, only displacement considers the direction, making it fundamentally different from distance.