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Physics Lesson 3.3.1 - Displacement as a Change in Position (in one dimension)
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Welcome to our Physics lesson on Displacement as a Change in Position (in one dimension), this is the first lesson of our suite of physics lessons covering the topic of Displacement and Distance in 1 Dimension, you can find links to the other lessons within this tutorial and access additional physics learning resources below this lesson.
Displacement as a Change in Position (in one dimension)
Look at the object shown in the figure.
The object initially is at the position x⃗1 = 7m. After a while, (after losing it from sight) we notice that the object has moved to the position x⃗2 = 12m as shown below.
Since we have lost the object from sight during its motion, we are not sure in what direction it has moved before stopping at x⃗2 = 12m. However, we are sure for one thing: at the end of process, the object is 5m on the right of its original position. This means its position has changed by +5m.
This change in position in Kinematics is known as "Displacement". It is denoted by ∆x⃗ and is obtained by subtracting the final and initial position.
Mathematically, we can write:
= x⃗2 - x⃗1
In the specific case, we have
= x⃗2 - x⃗1
= 12m - 7m
= 5m
It is obvious that Displacement is obtained by subtracting two vectors: the final and initial position. Therefore, Displacement is a vector quantity as well.
In the figure below, we can show the three vectors involved in our example.
You have reach the end of Physics lesson 3.3.1 Displacement as a Change in Position (in one dimension). There are 2 lessons in this physics tutorial covering Displacement and Distance in 1 Dimension, you can access all the lessons from this tutorial below.
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