Displacement in physics is not only a measure of distance from an initial position to a final position, it is also a vector, which means it has direction. The definition of displacement in physics is change in position. Follow these steps to solve for displacement in physics. Read on to learn more.
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Difficulty:
Moderate
Instructions
1
Begin with the understanding that displacement is one of the more simple vector quantities, and being a vector it has both magnitude and direction.
2
Find displacement by determining the shortest distance between the starting position and ending position of the particle or object.
3
Ignore the path of the particle. All you need are the fixed endpoints.
4
Use the equation "DX = X(final) - X(initial)" for displacement in physics where "D" equals change (or delta) and X is the position of the object or particle.
5
Notice that DX is positive if the final X is the greater of the two X's. DX will be negative if X (final) is less then the initial X. Vector quantities always have a direction, so the final answer of the displacement vector will always be either in the positive or negative direction indicated by a negative sign or a positive number.
6
Draw a picture of this model by placing a random point A at the initial position, and a random point B at the final. The path may wind around and go in circles, but your displacement will always be a straight line between A and B "as the crow flies" in layman's terms.
7
Transfer these points A and B to a coordinate system diagram, and you can calculate how many units in the X direction and how many units in the Y direction the points cover. By doing this you will see the similarity to other equations you have used in math like the Pythagorean Theorem and the distance formula in algebra. Physics uses all these math tools as well.
Tips & Warnings
Displacement is usually discussed in terms of some other function, such as time. Usually what you're looking for is information to arrive at change in displacement over a change in time, which is average velocity.
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