Question

A boy walks in a circle, traveling a total of 10m, then finishing in the same spot where he started. What is the difference between his displacement and the distance he traveled?

Answer 1

Answer:

The boy had a 0 displacement and traveled a distance of 10 m

Explanation:

Distance and Displacement

Both concepts represent similar and often confusing parameters related to the motion of objects.

The displacement is a vector that measures the change of position an object has when moving. If ro is the initial position and r1 is the final position, then

$\vec r=r_1- r_o$

Note that if both positions are the same, then the displacement can be 0.

The distance is the sum of all distances traveled by the object in its movement, regardless of its initial and final positions.

The question states the boy walks in a circle traveling 10 m in total. It's an indication of the distance traveled.

As indicated above, if the initial and final positions coincide, then the displacement is 0.

Summarizing, the boy had a 0 displacement and traveled a distance of 10 m