Which of the following is true for displacement it cannot be zero

If a space shuttle orbits Earth once, what is the shuttle’s distance traveled and displacement? • Distance and displacement both are zero. • Distance is circumference of the circular orbit while displacement is zero. • Distance is zero while the displacement is circumference of the circular orbit. • Distance and displacement both are equal to circumference of the circular orbit.

The correct answer is option 3) i.e.It may or may not be equal to the distance CONCEPT: • Distancerefers to the total pathcovered by an object during its motion or during a time interval. • The SI unitof distance is meter (m). • It is a scalar quantityand thus, has only magnitude. • Displacementis the distance between the initial and final position after the motion or journey of an object. • Displacement is a vector quantityand can be obtained from the difference of position coordinates of the initial and final positions. EXPLANATION: • Displacement can be zero either when the particle is stationary or when the particle has returned to its starting position during its journey. • Displacementcannot begreater thanthedistancetravelled by an object as it is the shortest distance between two points. • However, it may or may not be equal to distance. In a straight line forward motion, the distance equals displacement.

(a) False because displacement can be zero if an object returns to its initial position after covering certain distance. (b) False because the displacement of an object can be equal to distance travelled, but not greater as displacement is the shortest distance between initial and final position of an object, so how can it be greater then distance travelled. NCERT solutions of related questions for Motion • An object has moved through a distance. Can it have zero displacement? If yes, support your answer with an example. • A farmer moves along the boundary of a square field of side 10 m in 40 s. What will be the magnitude of displacement of the farmer at the end of 2 minutes 20 seconds from his initial position? • Distinguish between speed and velocity. • Under what condition(s) is the magnitude of average velocity of an object equal to its average speed? • What does the odometer of an automobile measure? • What does the path of an object look like when it is in uniform motion? • During an experiment, a signal from a spaceship reached the ground station in five minutes. What was the distance of the spaceship from the ground station? The signal travels at the speed of light, that is, \( 3 × 10^8\) m/s. • When will you say a body is in (i) uniform acceleration? (ii) non-uniform acceleration? • A bus decreases its speed from 80 km h–1 to 60 km h–1 in 5 s. Find the acceleration of the bus. • A train starting from a railway station and moving with uniform acceleration attains a...

Hint: Displacement is the length of the shortest straight line path distance between two points A and B, which may or may not be the same point. Complete step by step answer: Displacement refers to the length of the shortest straight line path connecting two points A and B, which may or may not be the same. On the other hand, distance refers to the length of the actual path taken by a body in travelling from A to B. It may be possible that the body moves from A to B in a curved path in which case the length of the path travelled by the body will be more than the straight line joining A and B (which is in fact, the displacement). Hence, while moving from one point to another, the magnitude of the displacement of a body can never be more than the distance covered by it. The displacement and distance covered by the body can be equal only if the path taken by the body is a direct straight line between the two points. If the two points A and B are the same point, then the shortest line between the two points is actually a zero point, and so the displacement will be zero. However, the distance may not be zero as the body may go from A to C and then from C back to B (which is the same as A in this case), where C is some other point. Then the length of the actual path taken by the body (the distance) is not zero. Thus, displacement can be zero if the starting and ending points are the same, but distance can never be zero. Hence the correct option is C) (c) only, i.e. displacement ...