Solution: Look at the adjoin- M.

Prakash Institute Std IX Physics

ing graph. You walk from the
home to the class and the corre- Motion - part II
sponding displacement is given 6. Motion and Graphs:
by area ABCD. You sit through
a) Slope of a straight line:
the class from D to E. You ride
home from E to H. The area In school science, physics and engineering,
EFGH is negative and exactly cancels area ABCD which is pos- the following types of motion are stud-
itive. So the net area is zero and you net displacement is also zero! ied. These do not exhaust all possi-
bilities, but are some of the important
8. Average velocity:
ones.
Consider a particle moving with
constant acceleration a. Let
its velocity at the initial mo- b) Slope - intercept form of
ment t=0 be u. Let its ve- equation of a line:
locity at a later time t be v. As can be seen from the figure,
Then the graph of the velocity the y-intercept (that is the y-
is shown by the line BC. The coordinate of the point of in-
area of the trapezium ABCD is tersection of the given line and
the displacement of the particle the y-axis) is c and the slope of
in time t. We want to find the the line m. Consider any other
average value of the velocity such that the particle undergoes the point (x, y) on the line. By def-
same distance in the time interval t. This means we must con- inition, we have
struct rectangle over AD such that its area is equal to that of the ∆y (y−c)
m= = .
trapezium. This rectangle is clearly AEFD since GFC and GEB ∆x (x−0)

are congruent. Hence the average velocity is given by (u+v)/2 Hence we have y = mx + c as the equation of the line.
Example 6.1: Two particles are station-
ary on a straight line. One particle has
position +7 m and the other has −3 m.
Display the ‘motion’ of the two particles
on the graph.
Solution: Since the particles are sta-
tionary, slope of displacement versus time
graph is zero.
Example 6.2: A particle at posi-
tion of +5 from the origin begins to
move with constant velocity of +1
m/s. Plot displacement versus time
graph. What is the slope of the
line?

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Solution: Since velocity = ∆s
∆t
is a constant, slope of the line is
constant and has value +1. The line makes 450 with the X axis.
Another way is to use the equation v = ∆s ∆t
. We have 1 = (s−5)
(t−0)
. So,
s = t + 5. This is the line with slope 1 and y-intercept +5 We generalize this idea also for changing velocity.

Example 6.3: Three particles start from

the same position of −3 m and begin to
move with different velocities. The first
particle move with −2 m/s, the second
with +5 m/s and the third with +0.5
m/s. Display the motion of all the par-
ticles on the same graph of displacement
versus time.
Solution: See the adjoining figure.
Example 6.4: A particle initially at the
origin begins to move with constant velocity of −3 m/s. Plot dis-
placement versus time graph. What is the slope of the line?
∆s
Solution: Since velocity = ∆t
is a constant, slope of the line is
constant and has value −3.
Example 6.5: A particle moves with a
variable velocity such that its acceleration
is +2 m/s2 . Its velocity at t = 0 was +1
m/s. Draw the graph of velocity versus
time and acceleration versus time. Draw
both graphs one below the other to show
their relationship.
Solution: Since a = ∆v ∆t
, we have 2 =
(v−2)
(t−0)
. So, v = 2t + 2. This is the equation
of a straight line with slope +2 and Y in-
tercept also +2. Now, since acceleration if
constant, its graph will be a horizontal straight line.
7. Displacement as area:
For constant velocity v, the displacement in the time interval t = t1
to t = t2 is given by S = v(t2 − t1 ). This can be interpreted as an
area as shown:
Example 7.1: Draw the
velocity-time graph for the ex-
ample 4.1 of hare and turtle.
Solution: Look at the ad-
joining graph. When the race
starts, the turtle moves with
steady and constant velocity.
This is represented by line BC.
The net displacement of the turtle is area ABCD. The hare ini-
tially moves fast. This is represented by line EF. When he stops
for a nap, his displacement is given by area AEFG, which is larger
than the displacement of the turtle during that time. When the
hare wakes up at point H, the turtle is far ahead. The hare now
sprints and finishes the race at the same as the turtle. Note that
the [ABCD] = [AEFG] + [HIJD]. Please note that in the above
analysis we have ignored the acceleration and decelerations of the
turtle and the hare.
Example 7.2: Draw the graph for the following problem: You
start for the class from your home at 6.45 pm. You walk leisurely
and reach the class at 7.00 pm. You sit there for 2 hours attending
the lecture. Your parent picks you up at 9.00 pm and drives you
home. You reach home at 9.05 pm.

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