Question

Can displacement be negative ?

Answer 1

Hint:In order to answer the above question, we will be understanding what is distance and displacement. We will understand what kind of quantities are distance and displacement and how they are different. Finally, we will answer our question if displacement can be negative or not.

Complete answer:
It often comes to us that distance and displacement are two terms that seem to be synonymous but have somewhat different meanings and definitions. The term "distance" refers to "how much ground an object has travelled during its motion," while "displacement" refers to "how far out of place an object is."

DISTANCE: The total movement of an object, regardless of direction, is referred to as distance. We may describe distance as the amount of ground covered by an object, regardless of its starting or ending point.

DISPLACEMENT: The term "displacement" refers to a shift in an object's location. It's a vector quantity with a magnitude and a direction. It's illustrated as an arrow pointing from the starting point to the destination. For instance, if an object moves from position A to position B, its position changes. Displacement is the term for a shift in an object's location.
The statement that the displacement is a vector quantity is itself sufficient to justify our answer.

In physics, a vector is a quantity with both magnitude and direction. It's usually represented by an arrow with the same direction as the quantity and a length equal to the magnitude of the quantity. A vector can have values containing positive, negative as well as zero.

Therefore we can say that: Yes, the displacement can have negative values.

Note: It is very important to note that the direction of displacement is very important as it is used to determine the velocity. It is also important as to find out the final position of an object. If a displacement vector is moved parallel to its direction with the same magnitude, the value of the displacement vector doesn’t change. Therefore, we can say that the displacement vector is independent of the position.