Explain the difference between displacement and distance with the help of an example

Sure, let's understand the difference between displacement and distance.

1. Distance: Distance is the total movement of an object without any regard to direction. We can say that distance is a scalar quantity as it has magnitude but no direction. For example, if you walk around a 400m track, your distance is 400m.

2. Displacement: Displacement is the object's overall change in position. It is the shortest distance from the initial to the final position of a point. Thus, it can be positive, negative, or zero. Displacement is a vector quantity as it has both magnitude and direction. For example, if you start walking around the same 400m track but stop halfway around, your displacement is 200m, not 400m. The direction of your displacement would be 'north' if we assume you started at the south end of the track and walked northwards.

So, the key difference between distance and displacement involves direction. Distance does not account for the direction, while displacement does.