Video Transcript
A car is at the center of a
circle. The arrows show paths that the car
could travel to reach the circumference of the circle. Is the displacement of the car
between its initial and final positions the same in both cases? Yes or no.
Displacement between two points is
the straight-line distance from one point to another in the direction of travel. In our diagram, if we mark out the
start and the end of both the blue and the red arrow paths, then we know that the
straight-line distance between these pairs of points is the same. They both go from the center of the
circle to a point on its circumference. However, displacement includes more
than just the straight-line distance between points. It also involves the direction of
motion.
If the car followed the blue arrow
path to the circumference of the circle, it would move in this direction, while if
it followed the red arrow path, its displacement would be in this direction. These directions are not the same,
and therefore the displacement of the car is not the same in both cases, either. These two possible displacements
have the same magnitude but different directions. We choose answer option (B),
no.
