Distance And Displacement - Practice Questions & MCQ

1. Position vector

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

• E.g. Distance travelled along 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 body .  

3. Displacement

• Shortest path in between the initial and final position.

• Tips for Displacement.

1. Displacement is a vector quantity.

2. It can be positive, zero and negative.

3. Displacement is independent of path.

4.  S.I. unit    Meter (m)

5. Dimension  (L)

6. Displacement Distance.

•   E.g.  For Semi circle

       while