Understanding Displacement

Understanding Displacement

Read each question carefully and answer to the best of your ability. This worksheet will help you understand the difference between distance and displacement.

Displacement is a vector quantity that refers to an object's overall change in position. It is the shortest distance from the initial to the final position of an object. Distance, on the other hand, is a scalar quantity that refers to the total path length traveled by an object.

1. Which of the following best describes displacement?

2. A student walks 5 meters North, then 3 meters South. What is the total distance traveled?

3. Displacement is a   quantity, while distance is a scalar quantity.

4. If you walk around a block and return to your starting point, your displacement is  .

5. Displacement can be greater than the distance traveled.

6. A bird flies 10 km East, then 5 km West. What is the bird's total displacement from its starting point?

Consider the image below of a baseball pitching motion. Imagine the ball starts at the pitcher's hand and ends in the catcher's mitt.

7. How would you describe the displacement of the baseball from the pitcher's hand to the catcher's mitt?