Chapter 2

Motion along a
Straight Line
Lecture 3 Sec. 1.4
PowerPoint® Lectures for
General Physics I and Engineering I
– Physics Department, UAEU

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Goals for Lecture 3
• Use the kinematic equations to describe a 1D-motion with
constant acceleration.
• Understand how to use the kinematic equations to solve 1D-
motion with constant acceleration problems.

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2.4 Motion with Constant Acceleration
• Motion on a straight line with constant acceleration is
the simplest kind of accelerated motion..

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Motion with constant acceleration

Constant acceleration means

𝑎𝑎𝑣−𝑥 = 𝑎𝑥

𝑣2𝑥 − 𝑣1𝑥
𝑎𝑥 = 𝑇𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡1 = 0, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡2 = 𝑡
𝑡2 − 𝑡1
𝑣𝑥 − 𝑣0𝑥
𝑎𝑥 = → 𝑣𝑥 = 𝑣0𝑥 + 𝑎𝑥 𝑡
𝑡
𝑥2 − 𝑥1 𝑥 − 𝑥0 𝑣1 + 𝑣2 𝑣𝑥0 + 𝑣𝑥
𝑣𝑎𝑣−𝑥 = = 𝑣𝑎𝑣−𝑥 = =
𝑡2 − 𝑡1 𝑡 2 2
(𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡)
𝑣𝑥0 +(𝑣0𝑥 +𝑎𝑥 𝑡) 1
𝑣𝑎𝑣−𝑥 = =𝑣0𝑥 + 𝑎𝑥 𝑡
2 2
𝑥 − 𝑥0 1 1
= 𝑣0𝑥 + 𝑎𝑥 𝑡 → 𝑥 − 𝑥0 = 𝑣0𝑥 𝑡 + 𝑎𝑥 𝑡 2
𝑡 2 2
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Motion with constant acceleration
1 𝑣𝑥 − 𝑣0𝑥
𝑥 − 𝑥0 = 𝑣0𝑥 𝑡 + 𝑎𝑥 𝑡 2 𝑡=
2 𝑎𝑥
2
𝑣𝑥 − 𝑣0𝑥 1 𝑣𝑥 − 𝑣0𝑥
𝑥 − 𝑥0 = 𝑣0𝑥 + 𝑎𝑥
𝑎𝑥 2 𝑎𝑥

2𝑎𝑥 𝑥 − 𝑥0 = 2𝑣0𝑥 𝑣𝑥 − 2𝑣0𝑥 2 + 𝑣𝑥 2 − 2𝑣0𝑥 𝑣𝑥 + 𝑣0𝑥 2

𝑣𝑥 2 = 𝑣0𝑥 2 + 2𝑎𝑥 𝑥 − 𝑥0

𝑥−𝑥0 𝑣𝑥0 +𝑣𝑥 1

𝑣𝑎𝑣−𝑥 =
𝑡
=
2
→ 𝑥 − 𝑥0 = 𝑣𝑥0 + 𝑣𝑥 t
2

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Equations of motion with constant acceleration

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How a constant acceleration affects the graphs

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Example 2
A race car starts from rest and travels east along a straight
and level track. For the first 5.0 s of the car's motion, the
eastward component of the car's velocity is given by
𝑣𝑥 𝑡 = 0.990𝑡 2 .

What is the velocity of the car when 𝑎𝑥 = 6.97 𝑚/𝑠 2 ?

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Example 3
A motorcyclist heading east with a constant
accelerate of 4 𝑚/𝑠 2 . At 𝑡 = 0 he is 5.0 m east
of a signboard, moving east at 15 m/s.
a) Find the position and velocity at t= 2.0 s.
b) Where is he when his velocity is 25 m/s?

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Example 4
A motorist traveling with a constant speed of 15 m/s passes
a school crossing board, where the speed limit is 10 m/s.
Just as the motorist passes the school board, a police officer
stopped there starts to move with acceleration 3.0 𝑚/𝑠 2 .
a) How much time elapses before the officer passes the
motorist?
b) What is the officer speed at that time?
c) At that time, what distance has each vehicle traveled?

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Summary
By the end of this lecture students:
• Learn how to describe a straight-line motion in terms of
– Displacement, velocity, and acceleration.

• Differentiate between average and instantaneous

acceleration.
• Comprehend the velocity versus time graphs for straight-
line motion.
• Apply the kinematic equations to problems of 1D-motion
with constant acceleration.

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