Practise 23 exam-style questions on Distance and displacement for AQA GCSE Physics. Write your answer as you would in the exam and get it marked in seconds against the mark scheme, point by point, with an AI tutor on hand if you get stuck.
23 questions
1–6 marks each
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20 questions, marked as you go
Sample questions with model answers
Here are 4 of the questions in this topic, each with a model answer, an explanation of why it earns the marks and the mark scheme an examiner would use.
Question 1
1 mark
Name one vector quantity, other than displacement.
Model answer
Velocity.
Explanation
A vector quantity has both magnitude and direction. Velocity, acceleration, force and momentum are all vectors; speed is the scalar partner of velocity, just as distance is the scalar partner of displacement.
Mark scheme
1 mark
any one from: velocity, acceleration, force, weight, momentum
allow any named force, e.g. friction, drag, upthrust; do not accept speed, distance, mass, energy or time
Question 2
2 marks
A car's odometer records how far the car has travelled.
Explain why the odometer shows the distance travelled and not the displacement.
Model answer
The odometer adds up the total length of road the car has travelled along, for example by counting the turns of the wheels. It ignores direction, so the reading keeps increasing even if the car turns round and drives back towards where it started.
Explanation
Distance is a scalar that just adds up path length. A displacement meter would need to know the car's straight-line position and direction from the start, and would read zero after a round trip.
Mark scheme
1 mark
it measures the total length of the path travelled (e.g. from the number of turns of the wheels)
1 mark
it does not take account of direction / the reading keeps increasing even when the car turns back
allow it would not return to zero when the car returns to its starting point
Question 3
3 marks
Explain why the distance travelled by an object can never be less than the size (magnitude) of its displacement.
Model answer
The size of the displacement is the straight-line distance between the start point and the finish point. A straight line is the shortest possible path between two points, so any route that bends or changes direction is longer. The distance is therefore always greater than or equal to the size of the displacement, and they are only equal when the object moves in a straight line without turning back.
Explanation
This is a useful check on answers: if you calculate a displacement bigger than the distance travelled, something has gone wrong. Round trips are the extreme case, with a large distance and zero displacement.
Mark scheme
1 mark
displacement is measured along the straight line from the start point to the finish point
1 mark
a straight line is the shortest path between two points
1 mark
so any other path / any change of direction makes the distance greater; they are equal only for motion in a straight line in one direction
Question 4
4 marks
A Ferris wheel has a diameter of 50 m. A passenger gets on at the bottom of the wheel and travels half a turn to the top.
Calculate the distance travelled by the passenger and state the passenger's displacement.
Model answer
Circumference = π × diameter = π × 50 = 157 m Distance = half the circumference = 157 ÷ 2 = 78.5 m Displacement = 50 m vertically upwards (the diameter of the wheel)
Explanation
The passenger travels along a semicircle, so the distance is half the circumference. The displacement is the straight line from the bottom of the wheel to the top, which is the diameter, and its direction is vertically upwards.
Mark scheme
1 mark
distance = half the circumference = (π × 50) ÷ 2
allow π × 25; correct answer with no working scores full marks
1 mark
distance = 78.5 m
allow 79 m; allow 78.5-78.6 m
1 mark
displacement = 50 m
1 mark
vertically upwards
direction mark
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