Question

Under what condition do the displacement and the distance have the same magnitude?

Answer 1

Distance:

1. It refers to an object's entire movement, regardless of direction.
2. It is a scalar quantity.

Displacement:

1. The shortest path between the object's final and initial points is defined as displacement.
2. It is a vector quantity as it has magnitude and direction.

Condition for distance and displacement to be equal:

When an object moves in a fixed direction in a straight line, its displacement and distance are always equal.

As a result, if a body is moving in a straight line then the displacement and the distance have the same magnitude.