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Applied Physics

AUIC-Fall 2020

Chapter 2

Motion Along a Straight Line

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Goals for Chapter 2

• To describe straight-line motion in terms of velocity and
acceleration
• To distinguish between average and instantaneous velocity
and average and instantaneous acceleration
• To understand straight-line motion with constant
acceleration
• To examine freely falling bodies
• To analyze straight-line motion when the acceleration is
not constant

Introduction
• Kinematics is the study of motion.
• Velocity and acceleration are important physical
quantities.
• A bungee jumper speeds up during the first part of his
fall and then slows to a halt.

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Displacement, time, and average velocity—Figure 2.1

• A particle moving along the x-axis has a coordinate x.
• The change in the particle’s coordinate is x = x2  x1.
• The average x-velocity of the particle is vav-x = x/t.
• Figure 2.1 illustrates how these quantities are related.

Negative velocity
• The average x-velocity is negative during a time interval if
the particle moves in the negative x-direction for that time
interval. Figure 2.2 illustrates this situation.

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Instantaneous velocity—Figure 2.4

• The instantaneous velocity is the velocity at a

specific instant of time or specific point along the
path and is given by vx = dx/dt.
• The average speed is not the magnitude of the
average velocity!

Average and instantaneous velocities

• In Example 2.1, the cheetah’s instantaneous velocity
increases with time. (Follow Example 2.1)

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Finding velocity on an x-t graph

• At any point on an x-t graph, the instantaneous x-
velocity is equal to the slope of the tangent to the
curve at that point.

Average vs. instantaneous acceleration

• Acceleration describes the rate of change of velocity with time.
• The average x-acceleration is aav-x = vx/t.
•The instantaneous acceleration is ax = dvx/dt.

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The equations of motion with constant acceleration

• The four equations shown to vx = v0x + axt

the right apply to any straight- x = x0 + v0xt + 12 axt 2
line motion with constant
acceleration ax. 2 + 2a æç x - x ö÷
vx2 = v0x x è 0 ø

• We can work this out with a æ

x - x0 = çç
v0x + vx ö÷
t
little integral calculus, but it’s çè 2 ÷÷ø

also possible to do with just

algebra for this specific case.

Freely falling bodies

• Free fall is the motion of
an object under the
influence of only gravity.
• In the figure, a strobe
light flashes with equal
time intervals between
flashes.
• The velocity change is
the same in each time
interval, so the
acceleration is constant.

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A freely falling coin

• Aristotle thought that heavy
bodies fall faster than light
ones, but Galileo showed that
all bodies fall at the same rate.
• If there is no air resistance, the
downward acceleration of any
freely falling object is g = 9.8
m/s2 = 32 ft/s2.
• Follow Example 2.6 for a coin
dropped from the Leaning
Tower of Pisa.

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Velocity and position by integration

• The acceleration of a car is not always constant.
• The motion may be integrated over many small time intervals to
t t
give vx  vox  0 axdt and x  x0  0vxdt.

Quiz No. 3

Find the displacement and average velocity.

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Quiz No. 3: Solution

Assignment No. 2

Exercise Questions:
2.1 - 2.9, 2.13 - 2.18, 2.35 - 2.45
Submission Date:
22 November, 2020

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