Senior High School

General Physics 1
Quarter 1 – Supplementary Materials
Two-Dimensional Motion

Engr. Jeoffna Ruth C. Dasigo

Physics Teacher
 General Physics 1
Supplementary Material – Two-Dimensional Motion

What I Need to Know

Learning Competencies:
1. Describe motion using the concept of relative velocities in 1D and 2D. STEM_GP12KIN-Ic-
20
2. Deduce the consequences of the independence of vertical and horizontal components of
projectile motion. STEM_GP12KIN-Ic-22
3. Calculate range, time of flight, and maximum heights of projectiles. STEM_GP12KIN-Ic-23
4. Infer quantities associated with circular motion such as tangential velocity, centripetal
acceleration, tangential acceleration, radius of curvature. STEM_GP12KIN-Ic-25
5. Solve problems involving two-dimensional motion in contexts such as, but not limited to
ledge jumping, movie stunts, basketball, safe locations during firework displays, and Ferris
wheels. STEM_GP12KIN-Ic-26

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. Describe motion using the concept of relative velocities in 1D and 2D.
2. Deduce the consequences of the independence of vertical and horizontal components of
projectile motion.
3. Calculate range, time of flight, and maximum heights of projectiles.
4. Infer quantities associated with circular motion such as tangential velocity, centripetal
acceleration, tangential acceleration, radius of curvature.
5. Solve problems involving two-dimensional motion in contexts such as, but not limited to
ledge jumping, movie stunts, basketball, safe locations during firework displays, and Ferris
wheels.

Lesson 1: Relative Velocity

What Is It?
Relative Velocity in One Dimension
We introduce relative motion in one dimension first, because the velocity vectors simplify to
having only two possible directions. Take the example of the person sitting in a train moving east. If
we choose east as the positive direction and Earth as the reference frame, then we can write the velocity

of the train with respect to the Earth as east, where the subscripts TE refer to train
and Earth. Let’s now say the person gets up out of /her seat and walks toward the back of the train at 2
m/s. This tells us she has a velocity relative to the reference frame of the train. Since the person is
walking west, in the negative direction, we write her velocity with respect to the train as

. We can add the two velocity vectors to find the velocity of the person with respect

to Earth. This relative velocity is written as

Note the ordering of the subscripts for the various reference frames in (Figure 1). The
subscripts for the coupling reference frame, which is the train, appear consecutively in the right-hand
side of the equation. (Figure 1) shows the correct order of subscripts when forming the vector equation.

General Physics 1 – Quarter 1 30

 Figure 1. When constructing the vector equation, the subscripts for the coupling reference frame
appear consecutively on the inside. The subscripts on the left-hand side of the equation are the same
as the two outside subscripts on the right-hand side of the equation.

Adding the vectors, we find so the person is moving 8 m/s east with respect to Earth.
Graphically, this is shown:

Figure 2. Velocity vectors of the train with respect to Earth, person with respect to the train, and
person with respect to Earth.

Examples:
1. Two cars, standing a distance apart, start moving towards each other with speeds 1 m/s and 2
m/s along a straight road. What is the speed with which they approach each other?

Solution:
Let us consider that "A" denotes Earth, "B" denotes first car and "C" denotes second car. The
equation of relative velocity for this case is:
⇒ vCA = vBA + vCB
Here, we need to x a reference direction to assign sign to the velocities as they are moving
opposite to each other and should have opposite signs. Let us consider that the direction of the velocity
of B is in the reference direction, then

General Physics 1 – Quarter 1 31

 vBA = 1 m/s and vCA = − 2 m/s
Now:
vCA = vBA + vCB
⇒ − 2 = 1 + vCB
⇒ vCB = − 2 − 1 = − 3 m/s
This means that the car "C" is approaching "B" with a speed of -3 m/s along the straight road.
Equivalently, it means that the car "B" is approaching "C" with a speed of 3 m/s along the straight road.
We, therefore, say that the two cars approach each other with a relative speed of 3 m/s.

Relative Velocity in Two Dimensions

We can now apply these concepts to describing motion in two dimensions. Consider a particle
P and reference frames S and S’, as shown below. The position of the origin of S’, as measured in S is

, the position of P as measured in S’, is , and the position of P as measured in S is

Figure 3. The positions of particle P relative to frames S and S’ are 𝑟⃗𝑃𝑆 and 𝑟⃗𝑃𝑆′ respectively.

Examples:
1. A truck is traveling south at a speed of 70 km/h toward an intersection. A car is traveling east
toward the intersection at a speed of 80 km/h. What is the velocity of the car relative to the
truck?

General Physics 1 – Quarter 1 32

What’s More
Activity 3.1.1 Solve the problem.

1. A boat heads north in still water at 4.5 m/s directly across a river that is running east at 3.0 m/s.
What is the velocity of the boat with respect to Earth?

General Physics 1 – Quarter 1 33

 2. A train 𝐴 of length 90 m was traveling at a speed of 170 km/h.It passed by another train 𝐵 of
length 205 m. Find the time required for train 𝐴 to completely pass train 𝐵,given that train 𝐵 is
moving with a speed of 152 km/h in the same direction as train 𝐴.

What I Have Learned

Activity 3.1.2 Solve the following problems involving Relative Motion. Show your solution.

1. A plane can travel with a speed of 80 mi/hr with respect to the air. Determine the resultant
velocity of the plane (magnitude only) if it encounters a
a) 10 mi/hr headwind
b) 10 mi/hr tailwind
c) 10 mi/hr crosswind
d) 60 mi/hr crosswind

2. A motorboat traveling 5 m/s, East encounters a current traveling 2.5 m/s, North.
a) What is the resultant velocity of the motor-boat?
b) If the width of the river is 80 meters wide, then how much time does it take the boat to
travel shore to shore?
c) What distance downstream does the boat reach the opposite shore?
3. A car is moving on a straight road at 84 km/h, and in the opposite direction, a motorbike is
moving at 45 km/h. Suppose that the direction of the car is positive. Find the velocity of the
motorbike relative to the car.

4. Two cars 𝐴 and 𝐵 are moving at 142 km/h and 19 km/h in opposite directions. Given that the
car 𝐴 is moving in the positive direction, determine its relative velocity with respect to 𝐵.

5. A ship was sailing with a uniform velocity directly toward a port that is 144 km away. A patrol
aircraft passed over the ship traveling in the opposite direction at 366 km/h. When the aircraft
measured the ship’s speed, it appeared to be traveling at 402 km/h. Determine the time required
for the ship to reach the port.

6. A person was riding a bicycle on a straight road at 14 km/h. If another person was also riding a
bicycle in the same direction at 9 km/h, Find the velocity of the second person with respect to
the first.

7. Two warships were moving toward each other in the same straight line at 50 km/h and 89 km/h
respectively. One of the ships fired a shell toward the other when the distance to it was 4.2 km.
Given that the shell’s horizontal velocity relative to the first ship was 211 km/h, How long did
it take for the shell to hit the second ship?

8. A helicopter flew in a straight line at 234 km/h above a train moving in the same direction. It
took the helicopter 21 seconds to travel the length of the train. Following this, the pilot halved
the helicopter's speed. Given that it took the train 14 seconds to pass the helicopter traveling at
this speed, find the length of the train in meters.

General Physics 1 – Quarter 1 34

Lesson 2: Projectile Motion
What Is It?
A projectile is an object upon which the only force acting is gravity. Many projectiles not
only undergo a vertical motion, but also undergo a horizontal motion. That is, as they move upward or
downward they are also moving horizontally. There are the two components of the projectile's motion
- horizontal and vertical motion. And since perpendicular components of motion are independent of
each other, these two components of motion can (and must) be discussed separately. The goal of this
part of the lesson is to discuss the horizontal and vertical components of a projectile's motion; specific
attention will be given to the presence/absence of forces, accelerations, and velocity.

A. Horizontally Launched Projectiles

B. Non-Horizontally Launched Projectiles

General Physics 1 – Quarter 1 35

What’s New?
• Projectile refers to an object that is in flight along the horizontal and vertical direction
simultaneously.
• Acceleration acts only in the vertical direction due to acceleration due to gravity (g).
• No acceleration in the horizontal direction.
• Projectile motion is always in the form of a parabola.

General Physics 1 – Quarter 1 36

What’s I Have Learned
Activity 3.2.1 Use your understanding of projectiles to answer the following questions

1. Consider these diagrams in answering the following questions.

Which diagram (if any) might represent ...

a. ... the initial horizontal velocity?
b. ... the initial vertical velocity?
c. ... the horizontal acceleration?
d. ... the vertical acceleration?
e. ... the net force?

What I Can Do
Activity 3.2.2 Solve the following problems about Projectile Motion. Show your solution.

1. A projectile is fired with an initial speed of 28 m/s and has a maximum upward vertical displacement
from its launch position of 4.4 m. What angle above the horizontal is the projectile launched at?

2. A projectile has an initial speed of 25 m/s and is fired at an angle of 48∘ above the horizontal. What
is the time between the projectile leaving the ground and returning to the ground at the same height that
it was launched from?

3. A frog jumps from the ground and lands at a point 16 cm horizontally distant from its launch point,
moving with constant horizontal velocity. The maximum vertical displacement of the frog above the
ground during its leap is 3.6 cm. What is the horizontal velocity of the frog?

4. A projectile is fired at an angle of 55∘ above the horizontal and has a maximum upward vertical
displacement from its launch position of 7.2 m. What is the initial speed of the projectile?

5. A projectile is fired at an angle of 32∘ above the horizontal with an initial speed of 44 m/s. What is
the maximum upward vertical displacement of the projectile from its launch position?

General Physics 1 – Quarter 1 37

 6. A projectile has an initial speed of 15 m/s at a launch angle of 28∘ above the horizontal. What is the
horizontal displacement of the projectile from its launch position to where it lands if its vertical
displacement from its launch position is zero?

7. Two projectiles are launched along the same horizontal direction from the same point at the same
time. Projectile 𝑃1 is launched at an angle of 65∘ above the horizontal at a speed of 2.5 m/s. Projectile
𝑃2 is launched at an angle of 15∘ above the horizontal. The projectiles land at the same point. At what
speed was the projectile 𝑃2 launched?

8. A projectile is fired at an angle of 66∘ above the horizontal. The time between the projectile leaving
the ground and returning to the ground at the same height that it was launched from is 2.9s. What was
the projectile’s initial speed?

9. A ball is thrown horizontally from an athlete’s hand with a constant horizontal velocity and bounces
when it hits the ground. The ball rebounds from the ground at an angle of 33 ° above the horizontal at
a speed of 2.2 m/s.

Lesson 3: Circular Motion

What Is It?
There are three mathematical quantities that will be of primary interest to us as we analyze the
motion of objects in circles. These three quantities are speed, acceleration and force. The speed of an
object moving in a circle is given by the following equation.

The acceleration of an object moving in a circle can be determined by either two of the
following equations.

The equation on the right (above) is derived from the equation on the left by the substitution of
the expression for speed.
The net force (Fnet) acting upon an object moving in circular motion is directed inwards. While
there may be more than one force acting upon the object, the vector sum of all of them should add up
to the net force. In general, the inward force is larger than the outward force (if any) such that the
outward force cancels and the unbalanced force is in the direction of the center of the circle. The net
force is related to the acceleration of the object (as is always the case) and is thus given by the following
three equations:

General Physics 1 – Quarter 1 38

 The equations in the middle (above) and on the right (above) are derived from the equation on
the left by the substitution of the expressions for acceleration.

This set of circular motion equations can be used in two ways:

• as a "recipe" for algebraic problem-solving in order to solve for an unknown quantity.
• as a guide to thinking about how an alteration in one quantity would affect a second quantity

Example:
1. A 900-kg car moving at 10 m/s takes a turn around a circle with a radius of 25.0 m. Determine
the acceleration and the net force acting upon the car.

The solution of this problem begins with the identification of the known and requested information.

Known Information: Requested Information:

m = 900 kg a = ????
v = 10.0 m/s Fnet = ????
R = 25.0 m

To determine the acceleration of the car, use the equation a = v^2 / R. The solution is as follows:
a = v2 / R
a = (10.0 m/s)2 / (25.0 m)
a = (100 m^2/s2) / (25.0 m)
a = 4 m/s2
To determine the net force acting upon the car, use the equation Fnet = m•a. The solution is as follows.
Fnet = m • a
Fnet = (900 kg) • (4 m/s2)
Fnet = 3600 N

What’s I Have Learned

Activity 3.3.1 Solve the following problems and show your solution.

1. A 95-kg halfback makes a turn on the football field. The halfback sweeps out a path that is a
portion of a circle with a radius of 12-meters. The halfback makes a quarter of a turn around
the circle in 2.1 seconds. Determine the speed, acceleration and net force acting upon the
halfback.
2. Anna Litical is practicing a centripetal force demonstration at home. She fills a bucket with
water, ties it to a strong rope, and spins it in a circle. Anna spins the bucket when it is half-full
of water and when it is quarter-full of water. In which case is more force required to spin the
bucket in a circle? Explain using an equation

General Physics 1 – Quarter 1 39

What I Can Do
Activity 3.3.2 Check your understanding of the Circular Motion concept by answering the following
problems. Show your solution.

1. Determine the centripetal force acting upon a 40-kg child who makes 10 revolutions around the
Cliffhanger in 29.3 seconds. The radius of the barrel is 2.90 meters.
2. A flywheel has a radius of 20.0 cm. What is the speed of a point on the edge of the flywheel if
it experiences a centripetal acceleration of 900.0 cm/s2?
3. What is the total acceleration of the particle at t = 2.0 s?
4. A Formula One race car traveling at 89.0 m/s along a straight track enters a turn on the racetrack
with a radius of curvature of 200.0 m. What centripetal acceleration must the car have to stay
on the track?
5. A propeller blade at rest starts to rotate from t = 0 s to t = 5.0 s with a tangential acceleration of
the tip of the blade at 3.00m/s^2.The tip of the blade is 1.5 m from the axis of rotation. At t =
5.0 s, what is the total acceleration of the tip of the blade?
6. An athlete goes around a circular track at 3.7 m/s. If the radius of the track is 19 m, how long
does one lap take? Round your answer to one decimal place.
7. Find the centripetal force experienced by a particle of mass 50 g which moves on a circle of
radius 14 cm at a constant speed of 28 cm/s.
8. An object moving in uniform circular motion has a constant _______, but a changing
_________.
9. speed, acceleration
a) acceleration, velocity
b) speed, velocity
c) centripetal force, speed
d) speed, centripetal force
10. What is the name of the force that keeps an object in circular motion?
a) Centripetal force
b) Centrifugal force
c) Center-fleeing force
d) Tension
e) Gravity

References:

Byju’s | byjus.com/physics
Physics Classroom | www.physicsclassroom.com
Wikipedia.org

General Physics 1 – Quarter 1 40