Distance and Displacement (12/4 - 12/8)

Image Source: https://goo.gl/FRDNWA

Summary:

     In physics, two out of the many important measurements are distance and displacement. These two factors measure how far an object moved from its starting point to its end point. Distance is a scalar quantity, which measures magnitude. It measures the original path that an object took in its time of motion. Displacement is a vector quantity which measures both the magnitude and direction. Displacement measures how far out an object is from its original starting point. In other words, displacement is the shortest possible distance from point A to point B. 

SP3 - Launching Investigations:

     This week I began in investigation when studying distance and displacement. With my partner, we were to investigate if and how displacement and distance affect each other. To do this, we found a specific location to test our hypothesis on, which was that the distance affects displacement of an object by increasing it. Our first step was to place down a piece of tape on the location we decided on. Next, we were to follow the directions on taking steps. The final step was to measure and record both the displacement and distance of our travel. We did these three steps three times and noticed that the displacement was always greater than the displacement unless the path is a straight line because displacement shows the shortest possible route from the starting point and end point.