Question

the distance travelled by a body and its displacement, which may be negative?

Answer 1

1. Distance is the total path length covered by a body in moving from one point to another.
2. Displacement is defined as the shortest path between the initial and final positions.
3. Distance is always positive as it is the total path length and it has magnitude only.
4. But displacement can be positive, negative, or zero.
5. Suppose a body starts from point A and travels $10\mathrm{Km}$ in the forward direction and then comes back by$20\mathrm{Km}$.
6. The displacement, in this case, will be$-10\mathrm{Km}$.

Therefore, of the distance travelled by a body and its displacement, displacement may be negative.