Question

Which statement is true regarding the relationship between distance and displacement? A) Distance and displacement are always equal. B) Distance is always different than displacement. C) Distance is always less than or equal to displacement. D) Distance is always greater than or equal to displacement.

Answer 1

Answer:

D) Distance is always greater than or equal to displacement.

Explanation:

Since we know that the displacement is shortest distance between initial and final position or we can say it is the straight line distance between initial and final position.

While distance is the total path length of the object while it will move from initial to final position.

So if object moves in a straight line path without any turn then the path length and the displacement is always same.

But if the object move on curved path then displacement is smaller than the distance moved by the object

So here correct answer would be

D) Distance is always greater than or equal to displacement.

Answer 2

Displacement is a vector quantity whereas distance is scalar quantity.
Distance is the magnitude of displacement. Hence distance is always greater than or equal to displacement.
Option D is correct.