Distance & Displacement Flashcards

All 5 cards in this deck

What is distance?

How far an object moves. It does not involve direction, so it is a scalar quantity.

What is displacement?

The distance from the start point to the finish point measured in a straight line, together with the direction of that line. It is a vector quantity.

How do you express a displacement fully?

e.g. a walker ends up 5 km from the start, towards the north

Give a magnitude and a direction: 5 km north.

True or false? An athlete who runs one complete lap of a track has travelled a distance of 400 m and has a displacement of 400 m.

False. The displacement is zero because the finish point is the same as the start point.

True or false? Distance is a vector quantity.

False. Distance has no direction, so it is a scalar.