Displacement in Physics

Introduction to Displacement in Physics:

Displacement of a particle is the change in the position of the particle in a particular direction.Just as Position co-ordinate is measured in units of length, the displacement is also measured in units of length. i.e, It is the shortest distance from the final and initial positions of a point.

Displacement in any interval of time may be Zero,Positive or negative.

The displacement of a particle in a given interval of time is independent of the choice of origin.

The knowledge of displacement `dx`  of a particle in a given time `dt` gives no indication about the actual motion or even the actual path of the particle. Rather, it gives the information about instanteneous velocity.

In  dealing with motion of a rigid body the dispalcement also include the rotation of a body, i.e, the displacement of a particle of the body is the Linear displacement and the rotation of a body is the Angular displacement. I like to share this Formula for Average Velocity with you all through my article.


Dispalcement- time Graph in physics


In a  Displacement - Graph , the slope of the straight line joining two points on the displacement- time graph gives the average velocity of the particle between those points. Where as the slope of the tangent at a point gives the value of instantaneous velocity at that point.

In a D-t graph ,if the tangent slopes upward right , then the instantaneous velocity would be considered as Positive due to positive value of slope & Vice versa

A D-t graph  moving with constant velocity , which will be a straight line, the slope directly gives instantaneous velocity and it will be equal to average velocity. Please express your views of this topic Electromagnetic Spectrum Examples by commenting on blog.


Difference between Displacement & Distance in physics


Distance is the Scalar  value of how far an object has traveled regardless of direction.

Displacement is the vector value of how far an object has been displaced, meaning how far is it from where it started.

They are similar but not the same.For example, if you walked in a circle and stopped in the same exact place you started, the distance you traveled would be whatever the circumference of the circle you walked was; your displacement would be zero!