The displacement of a body refers to the change in position of the body relative to a reference point or a starting position. It is a vector quantity that specifies both the distance and direction of the object’s movement. Displacement is different from distance, which is the total length of the path traveled by the body. Displacement takes into account only the initial and final positions of the body, measuring the shortest straight-line distance between these two points, regardless of the actual path taken.Â
- y represents the vertical displacement or height (in meters) of the object above its initial position at time t.
- g represents the acceleration due to gravity (in meters per second squared, m/s²), which is approximately 9.81 m/s² near the Earth’s surface.
- t represents the time (in seconds) elapsed since the object started falling.