Distance and displacement sound the same, don’t they? But they’re just a little different from each other, and here’s how: distance is a scalar quantity, like 5 miles. Displacement is a vector quantity that describes how far out of place an object is, like going up and down the same flight of 8 steps. Your distance is 16 steps, but your displacement is zero, since you physically traveled 8 steps up and 8 steps down, but your total is zero since we also take into account the direction of travel, and everything cancels out.
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The dot on the left describes your starting point. The dot on the right describes a place to which you travelled. In this example, you travel a distance of 26 miles to the dot on the right, but take a “shorter” route back home which only takes 10 miles. Displacement describes a straight line between your starting point and ending point. In this example, you start and finish at the same location, so the displacement is zero. But you travelled a total of 36 miles, so the distance is 36.
How does in the first example of displacement show with the 26 and 10 miles how does that cancel out to zero
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A scalar quantity only has magnitude, but a vector quantity has both magnitude and direction.
Displacement is a vector quantity because it has both magnitude and direction.
Even if the final value of displacement is zero, it is still a vector quantity (the direction is zero as well). It needs to stay a vector so we can compare it to other vectors.
Hi!
If everything cancels out to zero, does the Vector become a Scalar due to the Displacement being zero? Or is it still a Vector?
Shouldn’t the displacement be 50 going East?
Quick editorial note: there’s an error in the dialog at 1:09 in the video. Aurora said, “there’s no distance associated with it [that scalar].” I believe she meant, “there’s no *direction* associated …”
Yes, displacement is distance AND direction.
I’m not fully getting the concept of Displacement. I don’t know how you’re finding the displacement. Is it just the distance + the direction? Just like a Vector?