Preparation: Displacement/Position Change/Explain It.

The applet on Page 2 lets you place a ball at an initial position of your choice and drag it to a new position. The applet shows the displacement of the ball and the path taken by the ball along which the distance traveled is measured.

Details on how to use the applet are available under Applet Help from the applet's Help menu.

Suggested Activities to be performed with the applet are available in the Related Items panel in the lower left-hand corner.

Calculations related to Item 5 of the Activities are provided on Pages 3 to 5. Also see the Lesson available from the Help menu under Applet Help.

Comment. Displacements are vectors. In fact, they are the prototype for all vectors. What one can do with displacement vectors, one can do with all vectors. It is helpful when working with vectors in general to imagine them as displacements. This makes things more concrete.

About the general properties of vectors, and displacement vectors in particular, go to Mathematics/Vectors.

In contrast to displacement, distance and distance traveled are scalar quantities.