Free Displacement and Velocity MCQs with Answers
3 Displacement and Velocity MCQs from Physics, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.
3 questions
1. Which of the following is a vector quantity?
- A. Speed
- B. Distance
- C. Displacement
- D. Time
Explanation: Displacement has both magnitude and direction, whereas distance records only how far was travelled with no direction attached. Speed is the scalar partner of velocity, and time has no direction at all. This is why a runner completing a circular track has covered a large distance but has zero displacement.
Correct answer: Displacement2. The area under a velocity-time graph represents
- A. acceleration
- B. displacement
- C. force
- D. momentum
Explanation: Multiplying velocity by time gives displacement, so the area enclosed between the curve and the time axis is the displacement travelled. The gradient of the same graph gives acceleration. On a displacement-time graph, by contrast, the gradient is velocity and the area has no useful physical meaning.
Correct answer: displacement3. Distance differs from displacement in that distance
- A. is a vector and displacement is a scalar
- B. is the total path length travelled, while displacement is the straight line change in position
- C. is always smaller than displacement
- D. is measured in different units
Explanation: Walking once round a circular track leaves the displacement at zero while the distance equals the circumference, so distance can exceed displacement but never be less than it. Distance is the scalar and displacement the vector, which is the reverse of the first option. Both are measured in metres.
Correct answer: is the total path length travelled, while displacement is the straight line change in position