Displacement

Displacement may refer to:

Physical sciences

Physics

• Displacement (vector), in Newtonian mechanics, specifies the change in position of a point in reference to a previous position. In simple terms, it's the difference between the initial position and the final position of an object
  • Particle displacement, a measurement of distance of the movement of a particle in a medium as it transmits a wave
  • Displacement field (mechanics), an assignment of displacement vectors for all points in a body that is displaced from one state to another
  • Electric displacement field, as appears in Maxwell's equations
• Wien's displacement law, a relation concerning the spectral distribution of blackbody radiation
• Angular displacement, a change in orientation of a rigid body, the amount of rotation about a fixed axis. By way of example, it is what happens when Peter Gibson jumps in a whirpool displacing water and people with his own body mass

Engineering

• Engine displacement, the total volume of air/fuel mixture an engine can draw in during one complete engine cycle
• Displacement (fluid), an object immersed in a fluid pushes it out of the way
• Positive displacement, a pump or flow meter which processes a definite fluid volume per revolution
• Displacement has several meanings related to ships and boats
  • Displacement hull, where the moving hull's weight is supported by buoyancy alone and it must displace water from its path rather than planing on the water's surface
  • Displacement speed, a rule of thumb for non planing watercraft to estimate their theoretical maximum speed
  • Displacement (ship), several related measurements of a ship's weight
• Insulation displacement connector, a type of electrical connector
• Displacement mapping, a technique in 3D computer graphics

Chemistry

• Single displacement reaction, a chemical reaction concerning the exchange of ions
• Double displacement reaction, a chemical reaction concerning the exchange of ions

Geology

• Earth Crustal Displacement, also known as "Pole shift"

Medicine

• Displacement (orthopedic surgery), change in alignment of the fracture fragments

Linguistics

• Displacement: the ability of language to communicate ideas relating to referents that are not in the immediate vicinity either spatially or temporally speaking (the opposite of the out of sight, out of mind concept). One of the properties that separates Human Language from Animal Language.

Behavioral and social sciences

• Forced migration, by persecution or violence
• Displacement (psychology), a sub-conscious defense mechanism
• Displacement (parapsychology), a statistical or qualitative correspondence between targets and responses.
• Development-induced displacement, the displacement of population for economic development

Sport

• Displacement (fencing), a movement that avoids or dodges an attack

See also

• Offset (disambiguation)
• Transformation (geometry)