Question

What is displacement?

Answer 1

Hint: Displacement refers to the shortest path covered by an object from initial point to the final point. In simple words, it is known to be the change of position of the object. It is a vector quantity as it has both magnitude and direction.

Complete step by step answer:

Displacement describes the position of an object relative to a reference frame and mostly, it refers to the stationary objects in the frame. It implies that the object has moved or displaced. The equation for displacement can be written as,

$\mathrm{\Delta }x=x_f-x_i$

Where, $x_f$ is the value of ending or final position

$x_i$ is the value of starting or initial position and

∆x represents the displacement

Displacement is vector, it has magnitude as well as direction. In one-dimensional motion, the direction should be specified with a plus or minus sign to make sure the direction is correct. It always takes place between two points in a straight line. The term ‘distance travelled’ is also used which gives the length of the path travelled between the positions but it is not a vector quantity and has no sign for direction. Distance travelled does not have both magnitude and direction equal, sometimes the distance travelled may be greater than the magnitude of displacement between the points.

The S.I unit of displacement is metre, as it is only the distance covered. The CGS unit of displacement is centimetre, it means the distance covered is measured in centimetres. The conversion between the systems is possible.

Note: The terms distance and displacement are often confusing but distance is a scalar quantity, it does not provide direction and only measures the length covered when an object is moving. The rate of change of displacement is referred to as velocity.