P2 Describing motion

In this chapter we will learn about:

- how to interpret speed-time graphs and distance-time graphs
- how to calculate speed and distance
- how to calculate acceleration
- the difference between speed and velocity

P2.01 Understanding speed

Distance, time and speed.

There is more than one way to determine the speed of a moving object. There are
several methods to determine speed rely on making two measurements:

- the total distance travelled between two points

- the total time taken to travel between two points.

Key term.
Speed: the distance travelled by an object per unit time.

Once we know the distance and the time taken to cover that distance then we can calculate
the speed of the object.

This formula will tell us the average speed that the object was travelling at for that specific
period of time. What we do not and can not know is if there was a variation in the speed
during this time period, the object may have sped up or slowed down but this formula does
not take this into account.

We use the International system of units to measure speed as shown in the table below.

Quantity SI unit Other units

Distance metre (m) kilometre (km)

Time second (s) hour (h)

Speed metres per second (m/s) km/h

Tip.
The units m/s (metres per second) should remind you that you divide distance (m) by
time (s) to find speed.

Worked example.
A cyclist completed a 1500m race in 37.5s. What was her average speed?

Step 1: Start by writing down what you know and what you want to calculate.

Distance = 1500m
Time = 37.5s
Speed = ?

Step 2: Write down the equation.

Speed = Distance
Time

Step 3: Substitute the values of the quantities that you know

Speed = 1500m
37.5s

Step 4: Calculate the answer.

Speed = 40 m/s
Questions
P2.01 If you measured the distance travelled by a snail in centimetres over a period of a few
minutes, what would the units of speed be?

P2.02 Which of the following could not be a unit of speed?

km/h m/s s/m cm/s ms

P2.03 Information about 3 cars travelling on the motorway is shown in the table below.

Vehicle Distance traveled (km) Time taken (minutes)

A 80 50

B 72 50

C 85 50

a. Which car is moving the fastest?

b. Which car is moving the slowest?

P2.04 An aircraft travels 1000m in 4.0s. What is its speed?

P2.05 A car travels 150km in 2 hours. What is its speed?

P2.06 An interplanetary spacecraft is moving at 20000m/s. How far will it travel in one day?

P2.07 How long will it take a bus moving at 90 km/h to travel 300km along a motorway?
P2.02 Distance-time graphs.

Distance-time graphs are a very important part of studying motion in physics, they
show the relationship between the distance an object has travelled and the time it has
taken. It is not a map or a diagram of a hill or mountain!! We can see how far and
what time it took an object to travel that distance. We can calculate the average speed
of the moving object.

In this graph we can see that time is on the x-axis and distance is on the y-axis, this
never changes.

Section What is happening

A We start at 0km at 09:00 and start

moving for 2 hours until 11:00. We travel
a distance of 30km.

B We stop from 11:00 until 12:00.

C We continue moving from 12:00 until

12:30 and reach a maximum distance of
60km away from where we started.

D From 12:30 until 14:00 we are returning

to our start point, 5 hours later.

If we compare Section A and Section C we can see that one is more inclined than the
other. This means that in Section C we were travelling faster than in Section A.
Tip.
The more the line is inclined the faster it is moving.

Speed-time graphs
Just as we can represent distance-time graphs we can also represent speed-time graphs.
Pay very close attention to the labels on the x and y axis. It is speed-time and not
distance-time. This is a very common mistake students make when looking at graphs.
Section What is happening

Red The car is uniformly accelerating at the

same rate for 4 seconds. It reaches a speed
of 3 m/s.

Blue The car is moving at a constant speed, it is

neither accelerating or slowing down. It
moves at a constant speed for 2 seconds.

Black The car begins to uniformly accelerate

again and go faster. It reaches a maximum
speed of 6 m/s. The black line is more
inclined than the red line, this means that
the rate of acceleration is greater here.

Green The car begins to decelerate (negative

acceleration) from 7 seconds to 10 seconds
when it eventually stops. The car does not
return to its original starting position.

An important example of acceleration is when an object is falling. It is pulled down to

the Earth's surface by the force of gravity, this is called the acceleration of free fall.
The symbol for acceleration due to gravity is g. This has a constant value for all
objects, irrespective of their mass. If we drop a 1kg rock and a 10kg rock at the same
time and from the same distance above the ground they will both hit the ground at the
exact same time.

Question
P2.09 A car travels at a steady speed. When the driver sees a red traffic light he slows down
and comes to a complete stop. Sketch a speed-time graph for this journey.

P2.10 A person starts from a stationary position and walks for 1 minute reaching a distance
of 50m. They stop for a period of 2 minutes. They then turn around and walk back to the
original position taking 3 minutes to complete the return journey. Draw a labelled graph
showing the movement of this person.
A graph with an acceleration curve tells us that the acceleration is not uniform.

Another piece of useful information that we can get from a speed time graph is the total
distance travelled by that object.

Distance = the area under the line in the speed-time graph.

Worked example.
You cycle for 20s at a constant speed of 10 m/s. Calculate the distance that you have
travelled.

The distance that you travel is :

distance moved = 10 m/s X 20s = 200m

Worked example.
You set off down a steep hill. Your initial speed is 0 m/s and after 10s you are travelling at 30
m/s. Calculate the distance you travel in this time.

This is a little more complicated. To calculate the distance moved you can use the fact that
your average speed is 15 m/s. Therefore the distance travelled is

15 m/s X 10s = 150m

We can also calculate the area of the space under the line. This time it is a triangular shape
and the formula we should use is

Area of triangle = ½ X base X height

Distance travelled = ½ X 10s X 30m/s

=150m

Question
P2.11
a. Draw a speed-time graph to show the following motion. A car accelerates uniformly
from rest for 5s. It then travels at a steady speed of 6m/s for 5s.
b. On your graph, shade the area that shows the distance travelled by the car in 10s.
c. Calculate the distance travelled in this time interval.
P2.04 Calculating speed and acceleration

From a distance-time graph we can figure out how fast something is moving. Here is a
worked example of how that is done.

The table below shows the information about a car journey between two cities

Distance travelled (km) Time taken (h)

0 0.0

10 0.4

20 0.8

100 1.8

110 2.3

From this graph you can see that the car was travelling slowly at the beginning of the journey
and once it left the city and was on the motorway it travelled much faster. We can see this as
the slope of the line is more inclined. The final section of the graph is less inclined and this
means that it is travelling slowly again.
To calculate the speed in the middle section of the graph we need the gradient of the slope.
Step 1: Identify a straight section of the graph

Step 2: Draw horizontal and vertical lines to complete a right angled triangle.

Step 3: Calculate the lengths of the sides of the triangle.

Step 4: Divide the vertical height by the horizontal width of the triangle

Here is the calculation:

vertical height: 80km

horizontal width: 1.0 h

gradient = 80 km = 80km/h
1.0 h

Question P2.12

The table shows a journey made by a train.

Station Distance travelled (km) Time taken (minutes)

Ayton 0 0

Beeston 20 30

Seatown 28 45

Deeville 36 60

Eton 44 70

Use the data in the table to plot a distance-time graph for the train. Find the train's average
speed between Beeston and Deeville. Give your answer in km/h.

Calculating acceleration.

To calculate the acceleration of an object we need to know two things:_

- its change in speed

- the time taken for this change to occur

The formula for acceleration is

acceleration = change in speed

time taken
Another way to express this formula is:

acceleration = final speed - initial speed

time

or

a = Sf - Si
t

The unit of measurement for acceleration is m/s2

Worked example.

An aircraft accelerates from 100 m/s to 300 m/s in 100s. What is its acceleration?

Step 1: Start by writing down what you know and what you want to know.

initial speed (Si) = 100 m/s

finial speed (Sf) = 300 m/s
time (t) = 100s

acceleration (a) = ?

Step 2: Now calculate the change in speed.

Change in speed is 300m/s - 100 m/s = 200 m/s

Step 3: Substitute into the equation.

acceleration = change in speed

time taken

acceleration = 200 m/s

100s

= 2 m/s2

Alternatively you could substitute the values of Si , Sf , t into the equation.

a = Sf - Si
t

a = 300 m/s - 100 m/s

100s

a = 2 m/s2
Acceleration from speed-time graphs.

A speed-time graph with a steep slope means that the speed is changing rapidly- the
acceleration is greater. It follows that we can find the acceleration of an object by calculating
the gradient of the slope in the speed-time graph.

acceleration = gradient of speed-time graph

Three points should be noted:

- the object must be travelling in a straight line, its speed is changing but its direction is
not
- if the speed-time graph is curved then the acceleration is changing
- if the graph is sloping downwards then the object is slowing down or decelerating.

Question P2.16
A car travels for 10s at a steady speed of 20 m/s along a straight road. The traffic lights
ahead go red and the car slows down with a constant deceleration so that it stops after 8s.

a. Draw a speed-time graph to represent the car´s motion during the 18s described.
b. Use the graph to deduce the car's deceleration.
c. Use the graph to deduce how far the car travels during the 18s described.

An alternative way to calculate the distance travelled during acceleration is to use the
following formula

s = ½at2

s= distance travelled
a = acceleration
t = time

Speed and velocity.

The difference between speed and velocity is that velocity also includes a direction while
speed is unspecified. For example the speed of a car may be 20 m/s while its velocity may
be 20 m/s North.

Summary
By the end of this chapter you should know:
- how to plot and interpret graphs of distance-time and speed-time
- the meaning of acceleration
- how to calculate acceleration
- about the difference between speed and velocity.
End of chapter questions

1. A runner travels 400m in 50s. What is her average speed?

2. How far will a bus travel in 30s at a speed of 15 m/s?

3. A person shouts into the Grand Canyon and hears their echo after 4.5s. If the canyon
is 771.75m deep at this point, what is the speed of sound?

4. In this graph we can see information about the distance and time a person took to
walk.

a. Explain fully this graph by saying what the person is doing in each section

a-b
b-c
c-d
d-e
e-f

b. What was the total distance walked by the person?

c. What was their average speed on the return journey?
5. The speed-time graph for a train journey was a horizontal straight line. What does this tell
you about the train's speed and about its acceleration?

6. Sketch speed-time graphs for the following situations.

a. An object starts from rest and moves with a constant acceleration.
b. An object moves at a steady speed and then slows down and stops.

7. A runner accelerates from rest and reaches a speed of 8.0 m/s after 2.0s. What is her
acceleration?

8. A runner accelerates from rest at 4.0m/s 2 for 2.3s. What will her final speed be?

9. A car can accelerate at a rate of 5.6m/s2. Starting from a stationary position how long will
it take to reach a speed of 24.0 m/s?

10. The table below shows the speed of a car during a section of a journey.

Speed (m/s) 0 9.0 18 27 27 27

Time (s) 0 10 20 30 40 50

a. Draw a speed-time graph using this information.

b. Use your graph to calculate the car's acceleration during the first 30s of the journey
c. And the distance travelled by the car during the complete 50s.