MOTION IN A STRAIGHT LINE

What is Kinematics

• Kinematics as we all know is the study of physical bodies (or

objects) in motion without getting into the causes of that motion.
• Kinematics is the study of physical quantities such as distance,
displacement, speed, velocity, and acceleration.

Position, Distance and Displacement

Position :

• When we talk about a particle’s position, we mean where it

is in space at a certain point in time.
• To represent the position of a moving object at any particular time, we
require a coordinate system with three mutually perpendicular axes.
• This coordinate system can be attached to the frame of reference of our
choice.
• The position of a particle can be defined with respect to this frame of
reference.

Distance:

• Distance is the total path length travelled by the moving object.

• It is the total length of the path travelled between two positions.
• It is a scalar quantity that only has magnitude but no direction
• SI unit for measurement of distance is a meter.

Displacement:

• The displacement of an object is the change in its position.

• It is the shortest distance between the object’s initial and final
positions in a given direction.
• Meter is the SI unit for displacement.
 • Displacement has both direction and magnitude. So it is a vector
quantity.
• Its magnitude can never be greater than the total distance i.e.
|Displacement|\leq Distance
• Distance and displacement are equivalent if a particle moves in a
straight line without changing direction.

Speed:

• The speed of a moving object is defined as the total distance

covered divided by the time taken to cover that distance.
Speed=Total Distance Covered/Time Taken
• Unit of speed – In the SI system speed is measured in m/sm/s.
Sometimes Km/hr or mile per hour (mph) is also used to express
speed.
• Dimensional Formula – [M0LT-1]
• The speed of an object can be positive or zero. It cannot be
negative.
• It is a scalar quantity.

Uniform Speed:

• An object has constant speed if it traverses an equal distance in

equal time intervals, however small these time intervals may be.

Variable Speed:

• An object is considered to be moving at a variable speed if it travels

the same distance in unequal time intervals, no matter how small
these time intervals are.

Average Speed:

• How fast an object moves

• It is defined as the total distance covered divided by the time taken
to cover that distance
Average Speed=Total Distance/Covered Time Taken=Δx/Δt
• Calculated when an object moves with variable speed.
Instantaneous speed:

• An object moving with variable speed has different values of speed

at different instances of time.
• The instantaneous speed of an object is the speed of an object at a
given instant of time.
• A car’s speedometer gives us instantaneous speed.

Velocity:

• How fast an object moves and in what direction.

• The velocity of an object is defined as the displacement divided by
the time it takes for the displacement. Mathematically,
Velocity=Displacement/Time
• Unit of velocity- In the SI system velocity is measured in m/s.
Sometimes Km/hr or mile per hour (mph) is also used to express
velocity.
• Its direction is the same as that of displacement.
• Dimensional Formula – [M0 LT-1]
• The velocity of an object can be positive, negative or zero.
• It is a vector quantity.

Uniform Velocity:

• An object is said to move with uniform velocity if it covers equal

displacements in equal time intervals, no matter how small these
time intervals are.
• Here both magnitude of velocity as well as the direction of velocity
remains constant.

Variable Velocity:

• A body is said to have had variable or non-uniform velocity if it

covers unequal displacement in equal intervals of time. however
small these time intervals may be.
• In this case, the magnitude of displacement, the direction of
motion, or both change as time passes.
• Example:-
A body moving in a circle at a constant speed has a non-uniform
velocity. This is because, even if the magnitude of the velocity
remains constant, the direction of the body’s velocity changes.
Average Velocity:

• It is defined as the total displacement covered divided by the time

taken for that displacement
Average Velocity=Displacement/Time or ,¯v=Δ⃗x/Δt
• The bar over v indicates average velocity.
• Calculated when an object moves with variable velocity.
• The bar over v indicates average velocity.
• Calculated when an object moves with variable velocity.

Instantaneous Velocity:

• The velocity of a particle at a particular instant of time is given by

instantaneous velocity.
• Instantaneous velocity is also known as the limit of average
velocity as the time interval becomes infinitesimally small.
Mathematically instantaneous velocity ,v=limΔ→0Δx/Δt
• The limit of ratio Δx/Δt as Δt approaches zero is called the
derivative of x with respect to t and is written as dx/dt.

Acceleration:

• The rate of change of velocity is called acceleration.

• The change in velocity can be in either the magnitude or the
direction of the velocity, or both at the same time.
Mathematically,
Acceleration⃗,a=⃗v/t,
• Like velocity, acceleration is a vector quantity.
• Acceleration can be negative or positive and can be zero.
• Negative acceleration is also known as deceleration or retardation.
• Uniform acceleration occurs when an object undergoes equal
changes in velocity at equal time intervals.
• SI unit of acceleration is m/s2
• The dimensional formula of acceleration is [M0L1T-2]

Average Acceleration:

• The change in velocity divided by the time interval is defined as the

average acceleration over that time interval.
• It is an average change of velocity per unit of time.
• Mathematically ,
a=(v2−v1)/(t2−t1)
 where, v2 is velocity at time t2 and v1 is velocity at time t1.

Instantaneous Acceleration:

• The acceleration of a particle at a particular instant of time is given

by instantaneous acceleration.
• It is also known as the limit of average acceleration as the time
interval becomes infinitesimally small.
Mathematically,
a=limΔ→0Δv/Δt=dv/dt
• The limit of ratio Δx/Δt as Δt approaches zero is called the
derivative of x with respect to t and is written as dv/dt
• In the case of uniform acceleration, instantaneous acceleration
equals average acceleration over that time period.

Equations of Motion:

• If the particle’s velocity changes at a constant rate, this rate of

change of velocity with time is referred to as the constant
acceleration.
• Equations of motion link an object’s displacement to its velocity,
acceleration, and time.
• Although an object’s motion can take many different trajectories
but here we will concentrate on motion in a straight line (or
motion in one dimension).
• We can have positive and negative displacement, velocity, and
acceleration. Negative quantities point in the opposite direction as
positive quantities.
• The following equations are for motion with constant
acceleration aa, initial velocity u, and final velocity v. The
acceleration happens over time t, and the displacement from the
original position is s.
Motion under gravity

Free Fall:

• In the absence of air resistance, all bodies fall with the same
acceleration near the surface of the earth.
• This motion of a body falling towards the earth from a small
height is called free fall.
• The acceleration with which the body falls is called acceleration
due to gravity and is denoted by gg. (g=9.8m/S2) the surface of the
earth)

Free Fall Equations of motion

• Following are the equations of motion for a freely falling body:

• v=u+gt
• s=ut+1/2gt2
• v2−u2=2gs

• When a body falls freely under the action of gravity, its velocity
increases and the value of g is taken as positive.
• When a body is thrown vertically upward, its velocity decreases
and the value of g is taken as negative.
• For a body thrown vertically upward with initial velocity u, we
have
Maximum Height reached : h=U2/2g
• Time of ascent = Time of descent =u/g
 • Total time of flight to come back to the point of projection =2u/g
• The velocity of fall at the point of projection =u
• Velocity attained by the body dropped through height h, v=√2gh

Relative Velocity

• The relative velocity of object A with respect to object B is defined

as the rate at which its (object A) position changes with respect to
object B
• Mathematically, if ⃗vA and ⃗vB are the velocities of object A and B
respectively then the relative velocity of A with respect to B is defined
as⃗vAB=⃗vA−⃗vB
• Relative velocity of object B w.r.t. to object A⃗vAB=⃗vB−⃗vA
• The relative velocity of two objects moving in the same direction is
equal to the difference in their speeds i.e.,⃗vAB=⃗vA−⃗vb
• The relative velocity of two moving objects in opposite directions
is the sum of their speeds i.e.,⃗vAB=⃗vA+⃗vb
• When ⃗vand⃗vb are inclined to each other at an
angle θ,⃗vab=√v2a+v2b−2v av bcosθ

• If ⃗vab makes an angle β with va then tanβ=(vasinθ)/(va−v bcosθ)