Linear Kinematics

Displacement: Please remember that displacement is a vector and may be positive or negative depending of the direction of motion. Below is one more example of displacement that will illustrate this concept of direction.

Compute the displacement for the animation above. Recall the lines of squares are 4 m in length and the origin (green dot) is zero (0, 0).

Are you able to appreciate the difference between distance and displacement? Click here to view questions that will test your understanding (view the above animation to help answer the questions).