Theme: Kinematics

Outcome: PH1.4: Relate patterns of movement to the speed of moving objects.

Indicators:

a) Estimates the speed of an object by analysing a series of its images captured by a camera or
any other device.

b) Analyses patterns of movement of objects travelling at different

speeds (steady speed, speeding up and slowing down).

Distance travelled by an object is the length of path taken.

SI unit is metre (m)
Scalar quantity
Can never be negative and distance travelled will never decrease

Displacement is the shortest distance from the initial to the final position of an object.
SI unit is metre (m)
Vector quantity
Can be negative

Ali walked 1 km to the North, then 1 km to the East and followed by 1 km to the South. What is the
distance covered by Ali? What is his final displacement?
Answer:
Distance: 1+1+1=3km1+1+1=3km
Displacement: 1 km east of starting point.

Speed vs Velocity
Speed is the distance moved per unit time.
SI unit is metre per second (ms−1ms−1)
Scalar quantity
Equation: Speed=dtSpeed=dt, where d is distance travelled and t is time taken
Average speed, ⟨speed⟩⟨speed⟩ can be calculated using total distance travelledtotal time takentotal
distance travelledtotal time taken
Instantaneous speed is the speed at any instant
Measured by a speedometer
Velocity (v) of an object is the rate of change of displacement with respect to time.

 SI unit is metre per second (ms−1ms−1)

 Vector quantity
 The magnitude of velocity is speed
 v=stv=st, where s is displacement and t is time taken
 total displacementtotal time taken

As velocity is a vector quantity, you have to specify its magnitude and direction to
completely describe it.
A car travels 5 km due east and makes a U-turn back to travel a further distance of 3 km. The car
completes the journey in 0.3 hours.
Find:
the distance covered;
the displacement of the car;
the average speed;
the average velocity.

What is the difference between speed and velocity?

Speed is a scalar while velocity is a vector.

Speed is a rate of change of distance while velocity is the rate of change of displacement.
Velocity is a vector quantity – both magnitude and direction are accounted for. For an object to have
constant velocity, it is necessary that both the magnitude and the direction of the velocity vector be
kept constant. If either magnitude or direction is changing, the velocity will not remain constant.
Hence, for an object to have a constant velocity, it is necessary for it to be moving in a straight line at a
constant speed.
On the other hand, speed can remain constant if direction is changed and magnitude is kept constant, as
speed is a scalar quantity.