Displacement vs distance: which statement is true?

• A. Displacement is the straight-line distance from start to end; distance is the total path length traveled.
• B. Displacement is the straight-line distance from start to end; distance is the straight-line distance from start to end.
• C. Displacement has magnitude only; distance has both magnitude and direction.
• D. Distance is a vector quantity with direction; displacement is a scalar.

Answer: (B)

Distance tells you how much ground you actually cover on a trip—the total length of the path traveled, regardless of direction. Displacement, on the other hand, is the straight-line separation from where you started to where you ended, and it has direction (it’s a vector).

So the true statement is that displacement is the straight-line distance from start to end (with direction), while distance is the total path length traveled. This matters because you can travel a long winding route (large distance) but end up only a short straight-line gap from start to finish (small displacement). The other descriptions mix up whether distance is just the straight-line gap or whether displacement has direction, which is why they’re not correct.