Displacement Vector

Introduction to displacement vector
Vectors are the physical quantities which can be completely described by their magnitudes and as well as their directions. Without direction, there are no meaning of vector quantities. Suppose we are saying that you have to go 5 m and find a red flag so it is not sure whether we get the flag or not because we don’t know in which direction we have to move to find the flag. Therefore, displacement is a vector quantity. There are so many vector quantities in the physical world such as velocity, force, momentum, impulse, thrust etc.

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Displacement vector


Displacement vector is defined as the change in the position of the body in a particular fixed direction. Displacement vector is given by a vector drawn from initial position to the final position of the body. Displacement vector can be positive, negative or zero. The Standard Unit of displacement vector is metre and the other units are centimetre and millimetre etc. The magnitude of the displacement vector is less than or equal to the actual distance travelled by the object in the given interval of time. Displacement vector is the shortest path between two points and the direction displacement vector is always from the initial point to the final point.

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Characteristics of displacement vector


The main characteristics of the displacement vector are as follows:

(i) Displacement vector has the unit of length.

(ii) The displacement vector of a body can be positive, negative or zero. If a body moves towards right in the particular time interval, its displacement vector is positive. If a body moves towards left in any particular time, its displacement vector is negative. If a body completes one round around any closed path, its displacement vector is zero.

(iii) The displacement vector is not depends on the choice of origin of the position coordinates.

(iv) The actual distance travelled by a body in a given interval of time is greater than or equal to the magnitude of the displacement.

(v) The displacement of a body between two points is the unique path that takes the body from its initial to final position.

(vi) The displacement of the body between two positions does not give nay information regarding the shape of the actual path followed by the body between these two positions.