Understanding Displacement in Physics: Importance, Calculation, and Differences from Distance

displacement

the difference between the initial (first) position and the final position of an object

Displacement refers to the change in position of an object relative to its starting point. It is a vector quantity and takes into account both the magnitude (distance) and the direction of the change in position. For example, if an object moves 5 meters north and then 3 meters east, its displacement would be the vector that connects its starting point to its final point, which would be a distance of 5.83 meters (using the Pythagorean theorem) and a direction of approximately 37 degrees east of north (using trigonometry). Displacement is different from distance, which refers to the actual path covered by an object regardless of its starting and ending points.

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