Question

State whether the distance is a scalar or vector quantity.

Answer 1

Hint: Distance is the total movement of an object irrespective of its direction. We can also tell that distance is a quantity that tells us how much ground an object has covered despite its starting or ending point. It cannot be a negative or a zero value, it can only be a positive value.

Complete step by step solution:
Suppose from the above diagram we can assume that a person in a bicycle has to travel from point A to point B. We know that the shortest distance is always a straight line. But for some reason, he has to travel from point A to point C first and from point C to point B. So we can say from the diagram, that the person has traveled totally \[50km\]\[(AC + CB)\]. This is known as the total distance covered by that person. The distance of the object gives us complete information about the path traveled by the object.

But distance does not give us direction. We can simply say from the above example that the person has traveled a total distance of \[50km\] irrespective of his direction. Therefore distance is a scalar quantity. Distance will always be more than or equal to the displacement.

Note:
But from the diagram, the line joining from the points A and B gives us the displacement of that person. Unlike distance, displacement is a vector quantity and it gives us both direction and magnitude. Both distance and displacement may look similar but they have distinctively unique characteristics. But the units for both distance and displacement are the same. Both are measured in meters \[\left( m \right)\].