Question

A particle is moving along a curved path in a plane, then the distance traveled by the particle in any time interval is always___ than the magnitude of displacement in the corresponding time interval.

Answer 1

Explanation:

1. Distance:

1. The complete length of the path between any two points.
2. It is a scalar quantity as it depends upon the magnitude and not the direction.
3. It can have positive values.

2. Displacement:

1. It is the shortest path between the initial and final positions.
2. It is a vector quantity as it has a direction and magnitude.
3. It can be positive, negative, and even zero.

3. For a particle traveling in a curved path:

1. In a curved path, the direction of displacement can be negative or positive.
2. For example, consider the curve given below:

No in this curved path, the distance will always be greater than displacement because displacement is the shortest distance covered and distance will be the length of the path traveled which will be greater than the displacement every time because the path is curved.

If the path was straight there could be a chance that the distance could be equal to the displacement as well at some time intervals.

Hence, when a particle is moving along a curved path in a plane, then the distance traveled by the particle in any time interval is always greater than the magnitude of displacement in the corresponding time interval.