Position, Path Length and Displacement

Whenever we describe an object’s motion, the first thing we talk about

is the position of the object. Where is the object? It is some distance
from a zero point (the point we call the origin) in a particular
direction. The change in the position is what we call displacement. Let
us study more about it below.

Path Length

Distance traveled by a body is the path length. For example, if a body

covers half the circumference of a circle of radius r the distance
traveled is d= πr. It is a scalar quantity.

Calculating Distance in One-dimensional Motion

Total distance traveled in one-dimension can be found by adding the

path lengths for all parts of motion. Note that every path length is
greater than 0. Athletes race in a straight track of length 200 m and
return back. The total distance traveled by each athlete is 200×2 = 400
m

Browse more Topics under Motion In A Straight Line

● Average Velocity and Average Speed
 ● Instantaneous Velocity and Speed
● Relative Velocity
● Acceleration
● Kinematics Equations for Uniformly Accelerated Motion

Displacement Definition

Displacement of the object is equal to the length of the shortest path

between the final and the initial points. Its direction is from the initial
point to the final point. It is a vector quantity. For example, if a body
moves along a circle of radius r and covers half the circumference,
then displacement is given by s=2r.

In one-dimensional motion displacement of the object will be the

shortest distance between final and initial point. For example,
displacement of a particle in a ​circular motion​ would be zero when it
reaches the starting point.

Displacement Formula

Displacement = final position – initial position

D = X​f ​– X​i

D = displacement

X​f​ = final position

X​i​ = initial position

ΔX = short form for change in position

Displacement-time graph
For above graph note that displacement can be both positive and
negative. Also since it is a vector, the graph is drawn for
one-dimension of motion only.

Displacement-time Graph for Rest, Uniform motion and Uniform

Acceleration

The graph for rest is a straight line with zero slopes. For uniform
motion, the graph is a straight line with the non-zero slope. In case of
a uniform acceleration, the graph is a parabola.

Relative Displacement

It is the displacement of a point on a structure with respect to its

original location or an adjacent point on the structure that has also
undergone movement, can be an effective indicator of post-event
structural damage.
 Mathematically it is

Distance-time graph
A distance-time graph is a graph of distance v/s time. It only lies in the
first quadrant as the distance is always positive. Also, it is increasing
in nature. The attached plot shows a distance-time graph.

Solved Examples For You

Q.The location of a particle has changed. What can we say about the
displacement and the distance covered by the particle?

A. Neither can be zero

B. One may be zero
C. Both may be zero
 D. One is positive and other is negative.

Answer: A

Average Velocity and Average Speed

Suppose an object is in motion, the position of that object changes

with time. But how fast is the position changing with time and in what
direction? To understand this, we define average velocity and average
speed.

Average Velocity

Average velocity is the ratio of total displacement to total time. Its

direction is the same as the direction of the moving object. Even if the
object is slowing down, and the magnitude of the velocity is
decreasing, its direction would be still the same as the direction in
which the object is moving. The magnitude of average velocity is
always less than or equal to the average speed because displacement is
always smaller than or equal to distance.
 It is a vector quantity and has units of m/s

Average velocity =

TotalDisplacement

TotalTime

The average velocity of the particle can be positive as well as negative

and its positive and negative value depends on the sign of
displacement. If the displacement of the particle is zero its average
velocity is also zero.

Browse more Topics under Motion In A Straight Line

● Position, Path Length, and Displacement
● Instantaneous Velocity and Speed
 ● Relative Velocity
● Acceleration
● Kinematics Equations for Uniformly Accelerated Motion

Calculating Average Velocity

The velocity of a particle is :

dt

Learn more about Calculating ​Uniform Circular Motion​.

Average Speed
 The total distance travelled by the body in total time is the average
speed.

Average speed =

TotalDistance

TotalTime

It is a scalar quantity and its units are m/s.

Calculating Average Speed

Average speed is found by the first finding the total distance covered
by the object and dividing it by the total time taken in travelling the
distance. Example: A body covers a circle of radius 100m on 100s,
implies the total distance covered by him will be d = 2πr = 200π m.
So, the average speed will be v=

= 2π m/s

If the motion of an object is along a straight line and in the same

direction, the magnitude of displacement is equal to the total path
length. In that case, the magnitude of the average velocity is equal to
the average speed. In case the average speed is not equal to the
magnitude of the average velocity, this is because the motion involves
a change in direction and so path length is greater than the magnitude
of displacement. So the average speed is greater than the magnitude of
the velocity.

Learn how to calculate​ Instantaneous Speed and Velocity here

Solved Examples For You

Q. A particle moves for 20swith velocity 3m/s and then moves with
velocity 4m/s for another 20s and finally moves with velocity 5m/s for
next 20s what is the average velocity of the particle? (in m/s)

A. 3
B. 5
C. 4
D. zero

Answer: C

Q.2 An insect crawling straight down the length of a meter stick is at

the 12cm mark at one instant, and 22 minutes later is at the 60cm
 mark. Which one of the following is the magnitude of the insect’s
average velocity?

A. 0.4cm/s
B. 0.5cm/s
C. 24cm/s
D. 30cm/s

Answer: A. The total displacement of insect is S= 60-12 =48cm

Total time taken t= 2min =120s

Insect’s average velocity =

48

120

= 0.4 cm/s

Instantaneous Speed and Velocity

Let’s carry out a small activity. You are walking towards theatre from
home. Suddenly you realize that you are running late and would
probably miss the beginning. You start running pretty fast. Maybe it’s
 been a while since the last time you ran and you slow down a bit. This
is ‘instantaneous speed’. And if you include the direction with that
speed then you get the instantaneous velocity.

Instantaneous velocity
The rate of change of ​displacement​ of an object in a particular direction is its
velocity. Its S.I unit is meter per second.

v
⃗
=
d
s
⃗
dt
The direction of instantaneous velocity at any time gives the direction of
motion of a particle at that point in time. The magnitude of instantaneous
velocity equals the instantaneous speed. This happens because, for an
infinitesimally small time interval, the motion of a particle can be approximated
to be uniform.

Browse more Topics under Motion In A Straight Line

● Position, Path Length, and Displacement
● Average Velocity and Average Speed
● Relative Velocity
● Acceleration
● Kinematics Equations for Uniformly Accelerated Motion

Learn how to calculate ​Relative Velocity in Two Dimensions here​.

Instantaneous Speed

The average velocity tells us how fast an object has been moving over
a given time interval but does not tell us how fast it moves at different
instants of time during that interval. For this, we define instantaneous
speed. It is the rate of change of distance with respect to time.

v=

ds
dt

Instantaneous speed is always greater than or equal to zero and is a

scalar quantity. For uniform motion, instantaneous speed is constant.
To understand it in simple words we can say that instantaneous speed
at any given time is the magnitude of instantaneous velocity at that
time. It is a limit of the ​average speed​ as the time interval become very
small.

A moving object does not have the same speed during its travel.
Sometimes it speeds up and sometimes slows down. At a given instant
time what we read from the speedometer is instantaneous speed. When
a cop pulls you over for speeding, he clocked your car’s instantaneous
speed or speed at a specific point in time as your car sped down the
road.

Solved Examples For You

Q.Which of the following sentences is an example of instantaneous

velocity?

A. The car covered 500 kilometers first 10 hours of its northward

journey.
 B. Five seconds into launch, the rocket was shooting upward at
5000 meters per second.
C. The Cheetah can run at 70 miles per hour.
D. Moving at 5 kilometres per hour, it will take us eight hours to
get to the base.
E. Roger Bannister was the first person to run one mile in less
than four minutes.

Answer: B

Relative Velocity

Suppose you are driving a car and you overtake the other car from
behind. What actually happens is that the driver from the car behind
you sees the car coming in the backward direction and eventually goes
back. But the person standing on the ground doesn’t see it as the car is
moving backwards, although the driver behind sees it that way. This is
what relative velocity is. Let us study more about it below.

Relative velocity

When you are traveling in a car or bus or train, you see the trees,
buildings and many other things outside going backwards. But are
 they really going backwards? No, you know it pretty well that it’s
your vehicle that is moving while the trees are stationary on the
ground. But then why do the trees appear to be moving backwards?
Also the co-passengers with you who are moving appear stationary to
you despite moving.

It’s because in your frame both you and your co-passengers are
moving together. Which means there is no relative velocity between
you and the passengers.Whereas the trees are stationary while you are
moving. Therefore trees are moving at some relative velocity with
respect to you and the other passenger. And that relative velocity is the
difference of velocities between you and the tree.

The relative velocity is the velocity of an object or observer B in the

rest frame of another object or the observer A. The general formula of
velocity is :

Velocity of B relative to A is =

⃗
 b

This is the only formula that describes the concept of relative velocity.
When two objects are moving in the same direction, then

ab

a
 +

When two objects are moving in the opposite direction, then

ab

v
⃗

Lets us understand the concept of relative velocity with this example.

Consider two trains moving with same speed and in the same
direction. Even if both the trains are in motion with respect to
buildings, trees along the two sides of the track, yet to the observer of
the train, the other train does not seem to be moving at all. the velocity
of the other train appears to be zero.

Suppose you are in a car moving at 50 mph. The 50 mph is your

relative velocity as compared to the surface of the earth.At the same
time if I am sitting next to you your relative velocity compared to me
is zero. If we were on a bus and you walked forward at 1 mph, your
relative velocity on the earth would be 51 mph and your relative
velocity compared to me would be 1 mph. Relative velocity is simply
any objects speed compared to any other object regardless of its speed.

Learn more about ​Relative Velocity in Two Dimensions here

Learn more about ​Kinematic Equation for Uniformly Accelerated

Motion here

Browse more Topics under Motion In A Straight Line

● Position, Path Length, and Displacement
● Average Velocity and Average Speed
● Instantaneous Velocity and Speed
● Acceleration
● Kinematics Equations for Uniformly Accelerated Motion

Solved Example For You

Q1. Two trains each traveling at a speed of 20kmph approach each

other on the same straight track. A bird that can fly at a speed of
40kmph flies off from one train when they are 40km apart and heads
directly for the other train. On reaching the other train it flies directly
back to the first train and so forth. Before the trains crash, the total
distance traveled by the bird is

A. 20km
B. 40km
C. 60km
D. 80km

Sol. B. 40 km. The speed of the bird is 40km/hr. Hence the distance
travelled=Speed× time= 40km

Q2. Captain Ravi, of a plane, wishes to proceed due west. The

cruising speed of the plane is 251 m/s relative to the air. A weather
report indicates that a 65 m/s wind is blowing from the south to the
north. In what direction, measured to due west, should Ravi, head the
plane relative to the air?

A. 5°
B. 10°
C. 15°
D. 20°

Sol. C. 15​0
Acceleration

Suppose you are driving a car, and you are merging onto a freeway,
you tend to go faster and eventually your speed increases. So the
moment you speed up to fit into the flow of traffic, you are
accelerating. Interesting, isn’t it? Let us know more about
acceleration.

Acceleration

It is the rate of change of velocity with time. The only two ways to
accelerate is by changing the speed or change in direction or change
both. It is a vector quantity. If the velocity of the object increases with
time, its acceleration increases. If the velocity of an object decreases
with time, its acceleration is negative.

The motion is uniformly accelerated motion or it non-uniformly

accelerated, depending on how the velocity changes with time. It is
uniform for a body if the velocity changes by equal amounts in equal
intervals and if its velocity changes by unequal amounts, it is
non-uniform.
 Acceleration=

Changeinvelocity

timetaken

Its unit is m/s²

Constant speed does not guarantee that acceleration is zero. For

example, a body moving with constant speed in a circle changes its
velocity every instant and hence its acceleration is not equal to zero.

Velocity is a quantity having both magnitude and direction, a change

in velocity may involve either or both of these factors. Acceleration
may result from a change in speed, a change in direction or changes in
both. Like velocity, acceleration can also be positive, negative or zero.

Browse more Topics under Motion In A Straight Line

● Position, Path Length, and Displacement
● Average Velocity and Average Speed
● Instantaneous Velocity and Speed
● Relative Velocity
 ● Kinematics Equations for Uniformly Accelerated Motion

Motion in Different Acceleration for Different Time Intervals

Let’s understand this through an example. Suppose, a particle started

its motion from rest with an acceleration of 1m/s² for 2s and then
continued it for next 1s changing to 2m/s². The distance travelled
during this will be:

After 2s the velocity is, v = u+at = 2 m/s

Now, if this is the initial velocity for the second half of the motion,
s​2​=ut+(1/2)at² =3 m

Distance traveled in first half is: s​1 ​= 0+(1/2)at² = 2 m

Hence total distance traveled = s​1​+s​2 ​= 5 m

Average Acceleration

It is the change in velocity divided by an elapsed time. For instance, if

the velocity of a marble increases from 0 to 60 cm/s in 3 seconds, its
average acceleration would be 20 cm/s². This means that the marble’s
velocity will increase by 20 cm/s every second.

It is the rate of change of velocity with respect to displacement

Acceleration is a = dv/dt

∴ a = dv/(dx/v)

a = v(dv/dx)

Freefall object experiences an acceleration of g= 9.8m/s² in a

downward direction that is towards the center of the earth. In upward
direction it is -g = -9.8m/s²

Acceleration of the Velocity-Time graph

In the given graph, a = (40-20)/(4-2) = 10 m/s​2​. For a particle it is
equal to the slope of a velocity-time graph.

Solved Example For You

Q. A stone of mass m is thrown straight upward from the top of a

multi-story building with an initial velocity of +15 m/s. Find out the
acceleration of stone just after it is thrown?

A. Zero
B. 10m/s² downward
C. 15m/s² upward
D. 15m/s² downward
Answer: B. A body in the air always experiences a gravitational force
in a downward direction. Thus the body is in the downward direction
with a constant magnitude.

Kinematic Equations for Uniformly

Accelerated Motion

Suppose you are driving a vehicle on a road. The velocity of the

vehicle is never uniform. Its velocity increases and decreases
randomly. As you move the velocity of the vehicle on the road keeps
on changing and this is said to be ​accelerated motion​. Let us study the
different kinematic equations of accelerated motion.

A body travels in a uniform motion if it moves with a ​constant

velocity​, i.e it undergoes equal displacements in equal intervals of
time. If the magnitude or direction of the velocity changes, then the
body is not in uniform motion. If a body is in uniform motion, then the
net external force on the body is zero. The inverse of this statement is
also true (if the net external force on the body is zero, then the body is
in uniform motion).
Uniform Acceleration

A body under constant acceleration is uniformly accelerated motion.

This is when a constant external force is applied to the body. The
direction of acceleration is very important in the change of velocity.
However, the direction of the acceleration of a body may not be the
same as the direction of its motion. For example, if a car travels at a
speed of 60 km/hour then it will cover a distance of 1 km/minute.
Here the motion of car acceleration is uniform.

Browse more Topics under Motion In A Straight Line

● Position, Path Length, and Displacement
● Average Velocity and Average Speed
● Instantaneous Velocity and Speed
● Relative Velocity
● Acceleration

What is ​Acceleration​?

Kinematic Equations of Motion

If an object starts with velocity ”u” and after some time “t” its velocity
changes to v, if the uniform acceleration is a and distance traveled in
time (t) is s, then we obtain the following kinematic equations of
uniformly accelerated motion.

First Equation Of Motion

Let an object is moving with uniform acceleration

u = initial velocity of the object

v = final velocity of object

a = uniform acceleration

Let object reach point B after time (t) Now, from the graph
 Slope= Acceleration(a)=

changeinvelocity

time

Change in velocity = AB=

Time = AD = t

a=

−
 u

Solving this we get the first equation of motion:

Learn more about ​Relative Velocity Motion in Two Dimensions here​.

Second Equation Of Motion

Consider an object starting with an initial velocity u and moving with

uniform acceleration a. Distance covered by the object at the given
time t is given by the area of the trapezium ABDOE. Let in the given
time ‘t’, the displacement covered by the moving object ‘s’ is given
by the area of a trapezium, ABDOE

Displacement (s) = Area of ABD + Area of ADOE

× AB× AD+ AE ×OE, AB= dc= at

=
1

at× t+ ut

Hence, the second equation of motion is:

t+

⃗
t²

Velocity time graph of a uniformly accelerated motion

The velocity-time graph of a uniformly accelerated motion is a

straight line graph inclining towards the time axis. If the object has
positive constant acceleration, the graph slopes upward. In case the
object has negative constant acceleration, the velocity-time graph will
slope downward.

Learn more about ​Instantaneous Velocity and Speed here​.

Solved Examples For You

Q. An automobile traveling with a speed of 60 Km/h can apply the

brake to stop within a distance of 20 m If the car is going twice as fast
i.e., 120 Km/h the stopping distance will be
 A. 60m
B. 40m
C. 20m
D. 80m

Answer: D

Q2. A cart that is free to move in one dimension is moving in the

positive direction and slowing down under the influence of a constant
backward pull until the cart comes to a momentary stop and reverses
direction. What are the signs of the cart’s velocity and acceleration
during the moment it is stopped?

A. velocity : 0 acceleration : +
B. acceleration : 0 velocity : +
C. velocity : 0 acceleration : –

Answer: C. Since the cart has stopped at the moment, the speed and
velocity of the cart are zero. Hence the cart achieves negative velocity
which means that it should be accelerating in the negative direction to
raise velocity from zero to finite value in the negative direction.