An object is said to be in motion if it changes its position with time. A body which does not move is said to be at rest, motionless, or stationary. An object’s state of motion or rest cannot change unless it is acted upon by a force. Motion is described in terms of displacement, velocity, and displacement described below.
Displacement
Displacement is the shortest distance from the initial to the final position of the object. A displacement vector represents the length and direction of the straight path. Displacement is a vector quantity as it has both magnitude and direction where as distance is the scalar quantity measuring only the length of path. For example, “Ryan traveled 5 kilometers” is scalar and “Ryan traveled 5 kilometers in east” is vector. Distance is the actual length traveled from initial to final position where as displacement is the shortest distance between the two positions. Both, displacement and distance has standard unit meters.
Velocity
Velocity is speed in a given direction. Speed describes only how fast an object is moving, whereas velocity gives both the speed and direction of the object’s motion being a vector quantity. The standard unit to measure velocity is meter per second (m/s or ms-1). For example, “10 meters per second” is scalar and “10 meters per second West” is vector.
Acceleration
Acceleration is defined as the rate of change of velocity with time. Acceleration is the rate at which an object speeds up or slows down. If the object speeds up it is said to have positive acceleration. If the object slows down it is said to have negative acceleration also called as retardation. Acceleration is also a vector quantity. The standard unit to measure acceleration is meter per second squares (m/s2 or ms-2).
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