Kinematics

1) Distance is the total length covered. Unit is m

2) Displacement is the shortest distance between two points. Unit is m
3) If an object returns to the point where it started from, then the net displacement is zero, even
though the distance covered is not zero.
4) Speed is the distance travelled per unit time. Unit is m/s

5) Velocity is the displacement per unit time. Unit is m/s

6) Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity. If the velocity is constant, acceleration will be zero.
Unit is m/s2

7) Since velocity is a vector quantity, therefore for velocity to be constant both the magnitude and
direction must be constant
8) When the speed decreases, the object is said to be decelerating. Deceleration is negative
acceleration
9) In uniform acceleration the speed changes at a constant rate. This is represented by a straight
line on a speed time graph
10) Non-uniform acceleration is when the speed is not changing at a constant rate. A curve in a
speed time graph represents non-uniform acceleration
11) If an object is moving in a circular path at constant speed, its velocity is changing because its
direction is continuously changing. Hence such an object is accelerating, even though the speed
is constant
12) The gradient of a graph is the slope of the graph at that point
13) A straight line on the graph has a constant gradient, while a horizontal line has a gradient = 0
14) The more steeper a graph, the higher is the gradient
15) For a curve, the gradient is determined by finding out the gradient of the tangent at that point
Distance-time graphs

a) In a distance time graph the distance is plotted on the y-axis against time on the x-axis
b) The distance at any time can be found by the y-coordinate of that point on the graph
c) The gradient of a distance time graph is numerically equal to the speed.
d) In case of a displacement time graph, the gradient represents velocity
 Speed-time graph

a) In a speed-time graph the speed is plotted on the y-axis against time on the x-axis
b) The speed at any time can be determined by the y coordinates of that point
c) The gradient of a speed-time graph is equal to acceleration
d) The area under the speed time graph is equal to the distance travelled

16) The difference between deceleration and decreasing acceleration is that in deceleration the
speed reduces but in decreasing acceleration the speed increases but at a lesser rate