Distance And Displacement - Practice Questions & MCQ

1. Position vector

• The position of a point, in space, is an important physical quantity which is also known as position vectors.

• Representation of position vector 

• Its magnitude is the distance between the initial point (tail) and the final point (head). 

(Generally, we take initial point as origin)

• Its direction is from the initial point and the final point. 

                      Magnitude of 

• E.g. If  then its magnitude 

2. Distance or Path length

• Length of the actual path between the initial and final positions of the body.

• E.g. Distance travelled along a circle for one complete rotation is

• Tips of distance

1. Distance is a scalar quantity.

2. It is always positive.

3. S.I. Unit: meter (m).

4. Dimension

5. Distance is depend on the path followed by the body.  

3. Displacement

• The shortest path is between the initial and final positions.

• Tips for Displacement.

1. Displacement is a vector quantity.

2. It can be positive, zero or negative.

3. Displacement is independent of path.

4.  S.I. unit:  Meter (m)

5. Dimension  (L)

6. The magnitude of Displacement Distance. 

•   E.g. For Semi circle

       while