Graphs of Motion Lesson # 1

KUI WAMP NGA SECONDARY SCHOOL DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE

UNIT 11. 2: MOTION (KINEMATICS) Grade 11 Physics Handout # 1 Term 2, 2023.
Introduction
The study of Physics begins with mechanics. Mechanics is the branch of physics that focuses on the motion of objects
and the forces that cause the motion to change.

There are two parts to mechanics: Kinematics and Dynamics.

➢ Kinematics deals with the concepts that are needed to describe motion, without any reference to forces.
Kinematics is the science of describing the motion of objects using words, diagrams, graphs, and equations.
➢ Dynamics deals with the effect that forces have on motion.

There are many different types of motion occurring around us all the time. people are walking, cars are being driven
along roads, aero planes are flying in the sky, footballs are being kicked, tapes are rotating on video recorders, trains
travel along tracks and so on. These are all forms of everyday movement.

Motion
If an object changes its position with respect to its surroundings with time, then it is called in motion.
Motion is the action of changing location or position.

Rest
If an object does not change its position with respect to its surroundings with time, then it is called at rest (rest).

SUB-UNIT 11.2.1: CHARACTERISTICS OF MOTION

Movement involves a change in position in a certain time. hence quantities like distance, displacement, time speed,
velocity and acceleration and their measurements must be considered when describing the motion of an object.

(a) Distance and Displacement

Distance:
• Is how far (total length) an object moves.
• Or the path of journey travelled by an object irrespective (without) of the direction of the motion.
• It is a scalar quantity.
• Its SI unit is in metre (m) Other common units: kilometre (km), centimetre (cm)
• Its symbol is s or d

Displacement:
• How far an object is from its starting point, regardless of how it got there.
• It’s actually the distance moved in a particular direction.
• It is the object's overall change in position.
• It is a vector quantity.
• Its SI unit is in metre (m) Other common units: kilometre (km), centimetre (cm)
• For straight line motion, positive displacement shows forward motion while negative displacement shows
backward motion.

Somriklangap @physic.docs 1|Page

 Graphs of Motion Lesson # 1
Example 1
A group of hiker sets out from point A, proceeds to B, then to C, and finally to D. the entire trip takes 6.0 hours. Find the
hikers distance and displace ment?

B C Solution:
8.0km (a) Distance is the total distance/path from A to B to C and to D
2.0 km s = 2km + 8km + 8 km = 18km

A 8.0km (b) Displacement is from starting point A to finishing point D

B C a2 = b2 + c2
s2 = 8 2 + 6 2
D 8.0km s = √100
20.0km = 10km
8
R = 10.0km(53°E of S) Ɵ = tan-1( 6 ) = 53°
A 8.0km
(Pythagoras)
R
Hence displacement is 10km in the direction of 53° D
East of South

Example 2 4m
A student walks 4 m East, 2 m South, 4 m West, and finally 2 m North.
Total distance = 12 m 2m 2m
During the course of his motion, the total length of travel is 12 m.
Total displacement = 0 m 4m
When he is finished walking, there is no change in his position.
The 4 m east is “canceled by” the 4 m west; and the 2 m south is “canceled by” the 2 m north.

Example 3
A car travels a distance of 30 km East followed by 40 km North.
What is the total distance travelled by the car?
The total distance travelled by the car is 70 km (30 km + 40 km). 4km
What is the displacement of the car?
The displacement of the car may be calculated by vector addition:
Displacement = √30² + 40² = 50 km 53° North of East 3km
(using Pythagoras theorem)

(b) Speed and velocity

Speed:
• Is the distance travelled in unit time. Describes how fast a body/object is moving.
• Its IS unit is metres per second (m/s or ms-1)
• Its dimensional formula is [MoLT-1].
• Its symbol is v
• It is a scalar quantity.

Speed of the moving body is the distance travelled divided by the time it took. It is given by:
𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐬
Speed = or v=
𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐭

Where, v is the speed (NB: symbol d also used to represent distance)

s is the distance,
t is the time take
Somriklangap @physic.docs 2|Page
 Graphs of Motion Lesson # 1
Velocity
• Is the distance travelled in unit time in a stated direction.
• Its IS unit is metres per second (m/s or ms-1)
• Its dimensional formula is [MoLT-1].
• Its symbol is v
• It is a vector quantity. (it has both, the magnitude and direction).
• The velocity of an object can be positive, zero and negative

The rate of change of displacement of an object in a particular direction is called its velocity.
𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬
Velocity = or v=
𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐭

Where, v is the velocity (NB: symbol d also used to represent displacement)

s is the displacement,
t is the time take

Example 1
Three cars, A, B and C are travelling in a direction shown. The speed of each car is also shown

All three cars have the same speed. A and B also have the same velocity, because both their
speed and direction are the same. A and C (and B and C) have different velocities because,
although their speeds are the same, their direction of travel is different.

Example 2
An object moves 20m to the right and 5m to the left in 5 s. what is the speed and the velocity

distance travelled s 25
Speed = , v= = v= = 5ms-1
time taken t 5

displacement s 20−5 15
Velocity = , v= = v= = = 3ms-1
time taken t 5 5

(c) Instantaneous / Average Speed and Velocity

Average Speed
As an object moves, it often undergoes changes in speed. The speed of a car calculated from the time taken to travel a
full journey in a particular distance is, its average speed.
The speed at any instant is known as the instantaneous speed. (From the value of the speedometer)

The average speed of the entire journey can be calculated:

Total distance travelled s
Average Speed = , vav =
Total time taken t

Average velocity
Average velocity of a body is the displacement of a body from the starting point in time. The instantaneous velocity of
the body is the velocity at particular point in time or velocity at instant time.
The average velocity of the entire journey can be calculated:
Total distance travelled s
Average velocity =
Total time taken
, vav =
t

Somriklangap @physic.docs 3|Page

 Graphs of Motion Lesson # 1
Example 1
A body travels from A to B a distance of 3m in 2s and from B to C a distance of 4m in another 2s.
𝑠 7𝑚 𝑠 5𝑚
Average speed = = = 1.75m/s Average velocity = = = 0.25m/s
𝑡 4𝑠 𝑡 4𝑠

(d) Acceleration
• When the velocity of a object changes we say the object is accelerates.
• When a car is speeding up. It is accelerating and when it is slowing down it is decelerating. Therefore,
acceleration is the rate of change of velocity with time.
• The acceleration of object is constant or uniform if it moves with a changing velocity in a straight line.
• Acceleration is positive if the velocity increases and negative if the velocity decreases.
• A negative acceleration is also called deceleration or retardation.
• Its IS unit is metres per second second (m/s2 or ms-2)
• Its dimensional formula is [MoLT-2].
• Its symbol is a
• It is a vector quantity. (it has both, the magnitude and direction).
• The acceleration of an object can be positive, zero and negative
• Acceleration can be defined as the rate of change of velocity.
• Acceleration can be calculated:
𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
Acceleration = , Where, a = acceleration
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 v = final velocity(ending)
𝛥𝑣
i.e. a = (v = u) u = initial velocity (starting)
𝑡
t = time taken
Example 1
A train increases speed from 4m/s to 10m/s in 3 seconds. Find the acceleration.
𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦−𝐼𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 10−4
Acceleration = ,a= = 2ms-2
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 3

Example 2
A car travelling at a speed of 40ms-1 deaccelerated at 5ms-2 to rest after the brakes were applied. What was the time
𝛥𝑣 𝑣−𝑢 0−40
taken? Deacceleration (a) = ‫؞‬t= = = 8 ms-2
𝑡 𝑎 −5

Average acceleration
Average acceleration of an object over a given interval of time and can be calculated using the equation:
𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝛥𝑣 𝑣−𝑢
Average acceleration (a) = ‫ ؞‬aav = =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡 𝑡

Example 1
Calculated the average acceleration of the object which accelerated from rest to reach
Δv v−u 50m/s −0m/s
50ms-1 in 5s. aav = = = = 10ms-2
t t 5s
Since acceleration is vector quantity, it will always have direction associated with it. The direction of the acceleration
vector depends on two things:
• whether the object is speeding up or slowing down
• whether the object is moving in a positive or negative
direction. Note: The negative sign here indicates that
the car is slowing down. You can also describe
Example 2 it by saying that the car is decelerating at
A taxi travelling at 15m/s slows down to 5m/s in 2 seconds. Find its 5ms-2 or it has an acceleration of -5ms-2.
acceleration.
Final velocity−Initial velocity 5−15
Acceleration = , a= = - 5ms-2
time taken 2
Somriklangap @physic.docs 4|Page
 Graphs of Motion Lesson # 1
Activities 1
1. A PMV travels 200 m from one bus-stop to another East of it in 20 s. Caiculate.
(a the dtstance travelled
(b). the displacement.
(C. the speed
(d). the velocity.
2. 2:A car travels 72 km in 2 hours. Calculate its speed in
(a) Km
(b) ms-1
3. A PMV travels 300 m in 20 s in a Northerly direction. Calculate its velocity in
(a) ms-1
(b) kmh-1
4. A car travelled from Wagi to MT. Hagen Town a distance of 20 km in 30 minutes. Calculate its average speed for
the whole journey in ms-1
5. A car travels 600 m in 30 s, What is its average speed ? why is its actual speed usually different from its average
speed?
6. A car has a steay speed of 8 ms-1
(a). How far does it travel in 8 second?
b) How long does the car take to travel 160 m?
c) what would be its speed after 10 seconds?
7. A body has an acceleration of 2 ms-2
a) What does this tell you about the velocity of the car ?
b) What is meant by an acceleration of -2ms-2
8. A car takes 8 seconds to increase its veiocity from 10m/s to 30m/s. what is its average acceleration?
9. 10 A motor cycle travelling at 20 ms-2 takes 5s to stop. What is its average retardation?
10. An aircraft on its take-off run as a steady acceleration of 3ms-2.
(a). What velocity does the aircraft gain in 4s?
(b) If the aircraft passes one post on the railway at a velocity of 20ms-1, what is its velocity 8s later.
11 A truck is travelling at 25ms-1 puts its brakes on for 4s. this produce a retardation of 2ms-2. What does the cars
velocity drops to?
12 If a car can accelerate uniformly at 2.5ms-2 and starts from a velocity of 36kmh-1, find its velocity in ms-1 after
8s?

Somriklangap @physic.docs 5|Page