Distance and Displacement
Motion • HSC Physics
Lesson Notes
Distance and Displacement
Distance and displacement are two fundamental concepts used to describe the motion of an object. Although they may seem similar, they represent different physical quantities.
Distance
Distance is the total length of the actual path travelled by an object from one point to another.
Key Points
Distance is a scalar quantity.
It represents the total length of the path travelled.
Distance is always positive or zero.
The SI unit of distance is meter (m).
Example
If a student walks 3 meters east and then 2 meters west, the total distance travelled is 5 meters.