Relative motion, distance and displacement

Distance: The Path You Travel!

Distance is always positive and can never be zero.



A soccer player runs all over the field, covering a long distance.

The Long Way vs. The Shortcut:

Two students start from the same point, one takes a long path, the other takes a shortcut.



Who traveled a greater distance?

Distance And Its Scalar Properties

​Distance is a scalar quantity, meaning it only has magnitude, not direction.

​The common units of distance are meters (m), kilometers (km), or centimeters (cm) depending on how long the distance is.

Distance is
the total ground yo have
covered , without
worrying about the turns in your
path!

Displacement

​Displacement is the shortest straight-line distance between an object's starting and ending points


it focuses on how far and in which direction an object has moved.

When Displacement is Equal to Distance

Displacement is equal to distance when an object moves in a straight line without changing direction.

Zero Displacement!

Zero displacement occurs when an object returns to its starting position, even after covering some distance.

Examples Of The Zero Displacement!

​Earth's Revolution around the sun

​Driving to store and coming back home

​






You
are running
5 laps
on a
Circular track

Displacement and Refrence point

Choosing the right reference point is crucial for correctly measuring displacement!

Positive and negative displacements

Positive displacement occurs when moving in the defined positive direction.

Negative displacement occurs when moving opposite to the positive direction.

Rat's Displacement

Imagine a rat sitting below the flower pot at point A.



It scurries over to point B, then moves to point C. Find the Rat’s displacement.

Uniform motion

Uniform motion occurs when an object travels the same distance in equal intervals of time.

Non Uniform motion

When an object travels unequal distance in equal interval of time, motion is said to be non uniform.

Uniform and non uniform motion

Can you figure out which object shows uniform motion with steady movement, and which one shows non-uniform motion?

Relative displacement

Relative displacement is the shortest distance between two moving objects, measured from one object as a reference.

Relative displacement Analysis

What is the relative displacement of Car A relative to Car B and the traffic light?