Section 4.

Position, distance and

displacement
• Position and distance
• Position and displacement
• Time
• Scalar and vector quantities
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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 4)

Position and distance

Mechanics
Why?
study motions of bodies
How?
1. position
2. direction
3. time taken
4. other related physical quantities
Go to Go to

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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 4)

Position and distance

• position — denotes both the

direction & distance from a given reference point
• unit of distance: metre (m) / kilometre (km)

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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 4)

Position of shopping centre X

N Shopping centre
1 km east
X from Chris:
X
Tracy direction: north
1 km distance: 1 km
1 km north
position of Tracy
Chris Shopping centre
X from Tracy:
direction: east
1 km
position 1
distance: of km
Chris

Y
1 km 1 km
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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 4)

Position of church Y
N The position of
X
church Y from
Tracy
Chris:
1 km

direction = south-east
Chris distance = 2 km
　　 = 1.41 km

1 km

Y
1 km 1 km
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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 4)

Position of church Y
N
Tracy The position of
X
church Y from
Tracy:
1 km
direction = south-east
distance = 8 km
Chris 　　 = 2.83 km

1 km

Y
1 km 1 km
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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 4)

The reference point

Different reference point Position changes
destination
200 m

starting point 200 m

• Distance from destination = 200 m

• Distance from starting point

(complete 1 loop) = 400 m
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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 5)

Position and displacement

• Distance alone is not enough

5m 5m

Distance = 5 m, represents A or B?
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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 5)

Position and displacement

How can we solve it

Displacement

• represents change in position

• a physical quantity which has both
magnitude & direction

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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 5)

Position and displacement

Displacement of A and B from O:

Magnitude
=5m
direction direction

Direction: negative (–) positive (+)

• Left (−)
5m 5m
• Right(+)
−5 m +5 m
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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 5)

Position and displacement

magnitude of displacement
= shortest distance between starting point &

end point
• independent of the travelled path

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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 5)

Position and displacement

distance
displacement
Thinking 1
distance displacement

length
length

depend on the independent of the

travelled path travelled path
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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 6)

Example 1:
Chris and Edmond start from S and reach P and Q
respectively. Their paths are in the shape of two
semicircular arcs as shown in the figure. Find the
distance and displacement. Take the direction to the
right as positive and π to be 3.14. Solut
ion

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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 6)

Example 1: (Cont)
Distance travelled by Chris
= Distance travelled by Edmond
2πr 6
= = πr = 3.14 ×   = 9.42 m
2 2
Displacement of Edmond from S is +6 m, while displacement
of Chris from S is −6 m.

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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 6)

Class Practice 1:
Jessis starts from A and walks around a square loop as
shown below. She returns to A finally.

Ans
wer

4 ×10 = 40 m
Total distance travelled = _____________________
0m
Total displacement = ________________________

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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 7)

Time
Measure the duration of an event
Unit: second (s), minute (min), hour (h)
a sundial

a stopwatch

an atomic clock

Thinking 2 a quartz clock a watch

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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 7)

Scalar and vector quantities

scalar quantity vector quantity

magnitude only magnitude & direction

time, distance
displacement
& temperature

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 To section 4.2

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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p.2)

Quiz

1. Displacement represents the change

in position of an object. It is a quantity
with Ans
B. both magnitude and direction. wer

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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p.2)

Quiz (Cont)

2. Are the displacement and distance

for the coin the same for the whole
journey?
Ans
wer
B. No
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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p.2)

Quiz (Cont)

3. Does the coin move at a uniform

acceleration for the whole journey?
Ans
Return to
wer
A. Yes
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Text 21
4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p.3)

Activity 1
Location of school

Let’s start:
1. On the map, locate the
position of your school.
2. Choose another point on the
map (e.g., a nearby building
or a post office).

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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p.3)

Activity 1 (Cont)
Location of school
3. With respect to the school, describe the
position of the point to your classmate.
Ask him to guess where it is. What
physical quantities do you need to
mention? Ans
wer
Distance and direction
4. Let your classmate choose a point and it
is your turn to guess where it is.
Return to

Text
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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 5)

Thinking 1:

1. State one similarity and one difference

between distance and displacement.
Ans
Similarity: Both quantities have the wer
same unit, metre.
Difference: Displacement includes the
direction of a body with respect to a
reference point, while distance does not
include the direction.

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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 5)

Thinking 1 (Cont):
2.Give an example of motion of a body in each of
the following cases (if any).
The distance travelled by the body is
(a) greater than, Ans
wer
(b) the same as, and
(c) smaller than the magnitude of
the displacement.
(a) A runner completes the whole loop in a circular
running track.
Return to
(b) A man walks along a straight line.
Text
(c) The case is impossible.
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4.1 Position, distance and displacement (SB p. 7)

Thinking 2

The sundial was first made by the Egyptians

in the year 800 B.C. How does a sundial
Ans
work?
wer

The sun casts a shadow

on the face of the
sundial and the position
of the shadow on a scale
gives the time.
Return to

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Text 26