MODULE 2: RECTILINEAR MOTION

INTRODUCTION:
Mechanics is the branch of Physics dealing with the study of motion. No matter what your interest in
science or engineering, mechanics will be important for you - motion is a fundamental idea in all of science.
Mechanics can be divided into 2 areas - kinematics, dealing with describing motions, and dynamics, dealing with
the causes of motion.
What is One-Dimensional Motion? In our study of kinematics, we will (mostly) restrict ourselves to one-
dimensional motions - that is, motions along a straight line. Some examples of one-dimensional motions are: a car
moving on a straight road, a person walking down a hallway, a sprinter running on a straight race course, dropping
a pencil, throwing a ball straight up, a glider moving on an air track and many others.
While it is true that this excludes many interesting motions - the motion of a baseball hit to center field is a
two-dimensional motion, for example - there are at least two reasons for restricting our current study to one-
dimensional motions: One-dimensional motion is the simplest case. When you continue your study of Physics in
more advanced courses, you will find out that more complex two-and three-dimensional motions are often studied
by decomposing them into two or three one-dimensional motions.

Motion - is a continuous change in position with respect to a certain reference point. (Albert Einstein)

*According to Einstein- Motion is relative- “A body can be moving with respect to the first-body but at the same
time can be at rest or be moving at different speed with respect to the second-body”.

A. Uniform Motion – is a motion of the body that moves at constant velocity. (a = 0)

B. Uniformly Accelerated motion – is a motion of the body that moves in a changing

velocity.(a= +, -)

Rectilinear Motion(One-dimensional motion) - is a motion along straight-line path.

1. Distance – is a scalar quantity that describe how far “something” has traveled.( units: cm, m, km, in., ft.,
mi,etc. )
2. Displacement – is a vector quantity that describes how far “something” has traveled and in to what
direction.( d = x2 – x1, units: cm, m, km, in., ft., mi,etc. )
3. Speed – is a scalar quantity that describe how fast “something” has traveled. ( s = d/t, units: cm/s, m/s,
km/h, mi/h, ft/s, in/s, etc.)
4. Velocity – is a vector quantity that describe how fast “something” has traveled and in to what direction.
– is the change in displacement divided by the change in time( v = ∆d/∆t or d 2 – d1/ t2 – t1 ), units:
cm/s, m/s, km/h, mi/h, ft/s, in/s, etc.)
5. Average Speed – is the total distance traveled divided by the total time covered. ( s av = dT/tT, units: cm/s,
m/s, km/h, mi/h, ft/s, in/s, etc.)
6. Instantaneous Speed – is the speed that “something” has at any one instant. (units: cm/s, m/s, km/h, mi/h,
ft/s, in/s, etc.) example: the speed registered by your speedometer.
7. Average Velocity – a.) vav = (v1 + v2) / 2
b.) vav = (d2 – d1) / t
8. Acceleration – is a vector quantity that define as “the rate of change of velocity” or “ the change in velocity
divided by the change in time”. a = ∆v/∆t or (v 2 – v1) / (t2 – t1 ), units: m/s2, cm/s2, in/s2, ft/s2, km/hr2,
mi/hr2)
Motion in a Straight-Line Graph:

A. d-t Graph (slope of the line m = velocity v)

a.) d b.) d c.) d

t t t
- m=+=v - m=-=v - m=0=v
- the body is moving at constant - the body is moving at constant - the body is in at rest
positive velocity(uniform motion) negative velocity(uniform motion) position

B. v-t Graph (slope of the line m = acceleration)

a.) v b.) v c.) v

t t t
- m=+=a - m=-=a - m=0=a
- the body is moving at increasing - the body is moving at decreasing - the body is moving
velocity(uniformly accelerated velocity(uniformly accelerated at constant velocity
motion) motion) (uniform motion)

Uniformly Accelerated Motion:

a.) v2 = v1 + at
b.) d = v1t + ½ at2
c.) d = [ (v1 + v2) / 2 ] t
d.) v22 = v12 + 2ad
Freefall
- is a motion of the body that moves under the influence of gravitational pull only.

Introduction:

To a physicist, the term "free fall" has a different meaning than it does to a skydiver. In physics, free fall is
the (one-dimensional) motion of any object under the influence of gravity only - no air resistance or friction effects
of any kind, whereas it is air resistance that makes skydiving a hobby rather than a suicide attempt!

You might think that since just about everything we observe falling is falling through the air, that "physics
free fall" must be a pretty useless idea in practice. Not so! Any falling object's motion is at least approximately free
fall as long as:

 ... it is relatively heavy compared to its size. (Dropping a ball or jumping off a chair, is a free-fall motion,
but dropping an unfolded piece of paper, or the motion of a dust particle floating in the air, is not. If you
crumble the paper into a "paper wad", however, its motion is approximately free fall.
 ... it falls for a relatively short time. (If you jump off a chair, you are in free fall. After you have jumped out
of an airplane and fallen for several seconds, you are not in free fall, since air resistance is now a factor in
 your motion.)
 ... it is moving relatively slowly. (If you drop a ball or throw it down its motion will be free fall. If you
shoot it out of a cannon, its motion won't be free fall.)
 You should also note that an object doesn't have to be falling to be in free fall - if you throw a ball upward
its motion is still considered to be free fall, since it is moving under the influence of gravity.

Freefall Formulas

1st Condition(downward motion)

Equations:
1. V2 = gt 2. H = 1/2gt2
3. H = (V2/2)t 4. V22 = 2gH

2nd Condition(upward and downward motion)

Equations:
1. V2 = V1 - gt 2. H = V1 t - 1/2gt2
3. H = (V1 +V2 )t 4. V22 = V1 2 - 2gH
2
SAMPLE PROBLEMS:

Speed - A woman standing in front of a cliff claps her hands and after 3.8 seconds she hears an echo. How far
is the woman from the cliff if the sound travels at 343 m/s in air?
Given: s = 343 m/s ; t = 3.8 s( back and forth) ; d = ?
s=d/t
d = st
= 343 m/s x 3.8 s
= 1,303.4 m
2
= 651.7 m (distance of the woman from the cliff)

Average Speed - A car travels at 40 km/h for 2 h, at 50 km/h at 1 h, and at 20 km/h at 0.5 h. What is the cars
average speed?
Sol.
Given: s1 = 40 km/h ; t1= 2h ; d1= ?
s2 = 50 km/h ; t2= 1h ; d2= ?
s3 = 20 km/h ; t3= 0.5h ; d3= ?
sav = dT/tT
= d1 + d2 + d3
t1 + t2 + t3
s = d/t
d=sxt
d1 = s1 x t1 d2 = s2 x t2 d3 = s3 x t3
= 40 km/h x 2h = 50 km/h x 1h = 20 km/h x 0.5h
= 80 km = 50 km = 10 km
sav = dT/tT
= d1 + d2 + d3
t1 + t2 + t3
= 80 km + 50 km + 10 km
2 h + 1 h + 0.5 h
= 40 km/h (average speed)
Acceleration - How long does a car with an acceleration of 2 m/s2 takes to go from 10 m/s to 30 m/s?
Sol.
Given: a = 2 m/s2 ; v1 = 10 m/s ; v2 = 30 m/s
a = v2 – v1
t
t = v2 – v1 = 30 m/s – 10 m/s = 20 m/s = 10 s
a 2 m/s2 2 m/s2
Uniformly Accelerated Motion:
a.) v2 = v1 + at
b.) d = v1t + ½ at2
c.) d = [ (v1 + v2) / 2 ] t
d.) v22 = v12 + 2ad

- A car has an initial velocity of 20 m/s and an acceleration of -1 m/s2. Find its
a. velocity after 10 seconds
b. displacement after 50 seconds
c. displacements when it comes to a stop
Given: v1 = 20 m/s ; a = -1 m/s2
a. t = 10 s b. t = 50 s c. v2 = 0 (comes to a stop)
v2 = ? d=? d =?

v2 = v1 + at d = v1t + ½ at2 v22 = v12 + 2ad

= 20 m/s + (-1 m/s2)10 s = 20 m/s(50 s) + ½(-1 m/s2)(50 s )2 d = v22 - v12
= 10 m/s = 1000 m + (-1250 m) a
= -250 m = (0)2 – (20 m/s)2
-1 m/s2
= 400 m
Freefall - A ball is dropped from the top of the building. In the absence of air resistance, the ball will hit the ground
with a speed of 49 m/s. What is the height of the building?
Given: v2 = 49 m/s
h=? v22 = 2gH
H = v22
2g
buiding = (49 m/s)2
2(9.8 m/s2)
= 122.5 m

H=?

v2 = 49 m/s