Question

The SI unit of displacement is

Answer 1

- Hint: Identify appropriate SI unit for measuring displacement. Displacement and distance have the same units since displacement and distance are used for measuring the difference in position. But displacement has magnitude as well as direction. However, we will not include the direction in units.

Complete step-by-step solution -

Displacement is the spatial distance between two locations measured along the shortest path between them. Since it is a vector quantity, it has a magnitude as well as the direction. It can be zero if the initial position met with the final position while distance is always added up since they are considering the actual path. Distance between the two locations is always greater than or equal to the magnitude of the displacement between the same locations. The SI unit of displacement is the meter (m) and it is considered as the basic unit of SI units.

Additional information:
Commonly \[\Delta x\] is used to represent the displacement. When an object is at rest, its displacement is zero because its position does not change. Any path connecting two places will result in the same displacement.
\[\Delta x={{x}_{f}}-{{x}_{i}}\]
Where the \[{{x}_{f}}\]and \[{{x}_{i}}\] represent the final position and initial position respectively. These positions are determined by a coordinate system.
Displacement can be positive or negative. We will normally say that displacements to the left and down are negative and displacements to the right and up are positive. Actually, by assigning a sign to the displacement, we are actually defining that displacement’s direction.
Average velocity is the total displacement divided by the time interval during the displacement occurred. The SI unit of velocity is \[\text{meter/second (m/s)}\]. Like the displacement, velocity has a magnitude and a direction. The sign indicates the direction.

Note: Candidates are requested to identify clearly the distance and displacement. Even if they have the same units, both are different in the physical manner. Displacement can be zero if the final position and initial position are the same. But distance can’t be zero.