Middle Years Programme

Academic Year 2023-24

Resource – Part II

Name: Date: 02 May 2023 Subject: Physics

Grade: MYP4 Unit /Topic: 1/ Measurements & Motion

Part II – Motion
Prior knowledge Points to Remember on Motion and Forces

1) The types of Motion in general are,

➢ Stationary objects.
➢ Motional Objects
➢ Rectilinear motion.
➢ Circular Motion.
➢ Periodic Motion.
➢ Rotational Motion.
➢ Object which can have more than one type of Motion.

2) Movement of any object from one position to another position with respect to the observer is
called as Motion.

3) Motion along a Straight Line: When an object moves along a straight line, the motion of the
object is called rectilinear motion. For example, motion of a car on highway.

4) In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position over time.
Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration,
speed, and time.

5) Uniform Motion: This type of motion is defined as the motion of an object in which the
object travels in a straight line and its velocity remains constant along that line as it covers
equal distances in equal intervals of time, irrespective of the duration of the time.

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6) Examples of uniform motions.
➢ The hour / minute / second needle
➢ An airplane cruising at a level height and a steady speed.
➢ A car going along a straight level road at steady speed.
➢ A vibrating spring in a sewing machine.
➢ A ship steaming on a straight course at steady speed.
➢ A train going along the tracks at steady speed.

7) Non-Uniform Motion: This type of motion is defined as the motion of an object in which
the object travels, but not in a straight line and hence its velocity does not remains constant.
In fact it covers unequal distances in equal intervals of time. It is also called as the accelerated
motion.

8) Examples of non-uniform motions.

➢ The motion of a car on acceleration.
➢ The motion of a car while applying brake.
➢ Oscillation of a pendulum.
➢ A ball thrown up.
➢ A ball falling freely.
➢ The motion of a car on a curved track.
➢ The cyclist on its trip around a hill.
➢ A person jogging around the park.

9) The four basic forces are,

➢ the gravitational force
➢ the electromagnetic force
➢ the weak nuclear force and
➢ the strong nuclear force.

10)Examples of mechanical forces are,.

➢ Applied Force.
➢ Gravitational Force.
➢ Normal Force.
➢ Frictional Force.
➢ Air Resistance Force.
➢ Tension Force.
➢ Spring Force.

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Velocity-time Graphs: The Basics

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• Analyze velocity/time graphs to:
• compare acceleration from gradients qualitatively

• A Velocity-time graph shows how the velocity (or speed) of an object changes over time.

Graph showing how the velocity (speed) of and object changes over time

• The steeper the gradient of the graph, the greater the acceleration (rate of change of velocity).

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 The greater the gradient, the greater the acceleration

Determining Acceleration
• Calculate the acceleration from the gradient (for uniform acceleration only)

• The acceleration of an object is given by the gradient of the graph:

acceleration = gradient = rise / run

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 The acceleration of a body is given by the gradient of a velocity-time graph

• If the line is horizontal, the velocity is constant (no acceleration).

• If the line slopes upwards then the object is accelerating (speeding up).
• If the line goes down then the object is decelerating (slowing down).

Determining Distance
• Determine the distance travelled using the area between the graph line and the time axis (for
uniform acceleration only)

• The distance travelled by an object can be found by determining the area beneath the
graph.

The distance travelled can be found from the area beneath the graph

• If the area beneath the graph forms a triangle (the object is accelerating or decelerating) then
the area can be determined using the formula:

area = ½ x base x height

• If the area beneath the graph is a rectangle (constant velocity) then the area can be
determined using the formula:

area = base x height

Measuring Speed

• Describe a range of laboratory methods for determining the speeds of objects

such as the use of light gates.

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• Speed is the distance moved (usually in metres) every second.
• The simplest way to measure the speed of an object is to time how long it takes that object to
travel a known distance and then use the equation:

average speed = distance travelled / time taken

• To get an accurate result, you just use appropriate apparatus to measure the distance and
time.

Some simple apparatus that can be used to measure distance and time

• In a given situation, the apparatus you use must be realistic: Using a ruler to measure the
length of an athletics track is not realistic – you would be far better using a (long) tape
measure or a trundle wheel

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 A trundle wheel is ideal for measuring long distances

• Another way of determining the speed of an object involves using light gates.
• Light gates are pieces of apparatus that allow times to be measured more accurately.

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 Light gates can be used to accurately time the motion of objects in a laboratory

• A light gate can be used to start a timer when an object passes through it (blocking the light
gate).
• A second light gate (a fixed distance away) can be used to stop the timer.
• Light gates can also be used to determine the speed of an object through the gate by timing
how long the gate is blocked for.

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Top Tips for describing experiments:

• If you need to use an equation to calculate something, start off by giving it.
(Listing it at the start will give you some hints about the things you need to mention later).
• State what your independent variable is (the thing that you are going to change) and how
you will measure it.
If appropriate, you should also suggest some values for your independent variable.
• State what your dependent variable is (the thing you are going to measure), and describe
how you will measure it (what equipment will you use?)
• List any variables that you need to control and explain briefly how you will do so.
• Finally, state that you will repeat the experiment several times and take an average.

Typical Speeds
• Recall some typical speeds encountered in everyday experience for wind and
sound, and for walking, running, cycling and other transportation systems.

• The table below gives some typical speeds (in m/s) for various everyday things.

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 Freefall & Acceleration

• Recall that the acceleration, g, in free fall is 10 m/s 2.

• In the absence of air resistance, all objects on Earth fall with the same acceleration:

g = 10 m/s2

In the absence of air resistance objects (on Earth) fall

with an acceleration of 10 m/s2

• This means that for every second that an object falls, its speed will increase by 10 m/s.
• The symbol g actually stands for gravitational field strength and is also used to find an object’s
weight from its mass:

weight = mass x g

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 Typical Accelerations
• Be able to estimate the magnitudes of everyday accelerations

• To determine the acceleration of an object you need to know how long it takes for an object to
increase its speed by a certain amount.
• A typical family car, for example, takes around 10 second to speed from 0 m/s to 27 m/s (roughly
60 mph).
• We can place these numbers into the equation for acceleration:

acceleration = change in velocity / time taken = 27 / 10 = 2.7 m/s2

• The table below gives some other typical accelerations:

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 Newton’s First Law
• Recall Newton’s first law and use it in the following situations:
a) where the resultant force on a body is zero, i.e. the body is moving at a constant velocity or is at
rest
b) where the resultant force is not zero, i.e. the speed and/or direction of the body change(s)

• When several forces act on a body, the resultant (overall) force on the body can be found by
adding together forces which act in the same direction and subtracting forces which act in
opposite directions:

Diagram showing the resultant forces on three different objects

• When the forces acting on a body are balanced (i.e. there is no resultant force), the body will
either remain at rest or continue to move in a straight line at a constant speed.

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When the forces acting on a body are balanced the body will remain at rest or continue to
travel at a constant speed in a straight line

Newton’s Second Law

• Recall and use Newton’s second law as:
F=m×a

• When an unbalanced (resultant) force acts on an object, the object will accelerate.
• Force, mass and acceleration are related by the following equation:

force = mass x acceleration

F=mxa

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 • You can rearrange this equation with the help of the formula triangle:

Use the formula triangle to help you rearrange the equation

• The greater the force, the greater the acceleration (for a given mass).
• For a given force, the smaller the mass the greater the acceleration.

Weight, Mass & Gravity

• Define weight, recall and use the equation:

W=m×g

• Mass (measured in kilograms, kg) is related to the amount of matter in an object.

• Weight (measured in newtons, N) is the force of gravity on a mass.
• The size of this force depends on the gravitational field strength (often called gravity, g, for
short).

weight = mass × gravitational field strength

W=m × g

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• You can rearrange this equation with the help of the formula triangle:

Use the formula triangle to help you rearrange the equation

• The value of g (the gravitational field strength) varies from planet to planet.
• On Earth:
o g ≈ 10 N/kg

Measuring Weight
• Describe how weight is measured

• The usual way of measuring a weight is to use a top pan balance.

• Although balances, such as the one below, display a reading in kilograms (or grams) – the units of
mass – the weight (the force of gravity) can be found by using the equation above.

A top pan balance can be used to measure the mass and hence weight, of an object

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 Weight & Gravity

• Describe the relationship between the weight of a body and the gravitational field strength

• As well as depending on the mass of an object, weight also depends on the gravitational field
strength, represented by the letter g.
• Since different planets (and moons) have different gravitational field strengths, the weight of
objects on different planets would also be different.
• A few examples of gravitational field strength are given in the table below.

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 Practical: Investigating F=ma

• Core Practical: Investigate the relationship between force, mass and acceleration by varying the
masses added to trolleys

• A standard practical to investigate the relationship between force, mass and acceleration involves
attaching a trolley to some small masses which are suspended over a pulley by a light thread.

A practical to investigate the relationship between force, mass and acceleration

• When the masses are released, they pull the trolley to the right, causing it to accelerate.
• The acceleration can be determined by using a pair of light gates to measure the velocity of the
trolley at two different points and measuring the time taken to get between those two points.

acceleration = change in velocity / time taken

• The force exerted on the trolley is just the weight ( mg) of the masses.
• Extra masses should be placed on the trolley. These can then be taken from the trolley and added
to the thread in order to vary the force.
This is done in order to keep the overall mass of the system constant.
• The effect of varying the mass of the trolley on the acceleration can be determined by keeping the
masses attached to the thread constant and adding extra masses to the trolley (which can be
measured by placing the trolley and masses on a top pan balance).

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 Circular Motion

• Explain that an object moving in a circular orbit at constant speed has a changing velocity
(qualitative only)

• When an object travels along a circular path, its direction of travel constantly changes.

When an object travels in a circle, its direction of motion is constantly changing, even
though its speed may remain constant

• Velocity is a vector quantity – it has both size and direction – and so the velocity of the object will
also constantly change (even though the speed may be constant).

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 Centripetal Force
• Explain that for motion in a circle there must be a resultant force known as a centripetal force that
acts towards the centre of the circle

• Newton’s first law tells us that if no force acts on a moving object, that object will continue to
move at a constant speed in a straight line.
• In order to change the direction an object is moving, a force must push it in that new direction.

When the two cars collide, the first car changes its direction in the direction of the force

• In order to make an object follow a circular path, a force must constantly push the object towards
the centre of that circle in order to keep it changing direction.

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 The Moon is pulled towards the Earth. This causes it to travel in a circular path

• This inwards resultant force is called the centripetal force.

Mass & Inertia

• Explain that inertial mass is a measure of how difficult it is to change the velocity of an object

(including from rest) and know that it is defined as the ratio of force over acceleration

• Mass has two significant effects in Physics:

1. Mass is the source of an object’s weight – the force of gravity on a mass.

The greater the mass, the greater the weight.

2. The mass of an object also opposes any attempt to change that object’s motion.

The greater the mass of an object, the more difficult it is to speed it up, slow it down or

change its direction.

This property of mass is sometimes referred to as inertia.

• The inertial mass of an object is defined using the equation:

inertial mass = force / acceleration

(Note: This equation is just Newton’s second law of motion).

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Bibliography: -
Books
1) IB MYP PHYSICS 4/5: A Concept Based Approach by William Heathcote

2) Hodder Murray IGCSE PHYSICS course book (3rd edition) by Tom Duncan & Heather Kennett.
3) Physics reference book for High school students - by Dr N Nagesh and Published by Macmillan
- India.
4) IB MYP PHYSICS by concept for 4/5: by Paul Morris - Published by Hodder Education.
5) Students’ Lecture Notes and Class Room as well as Home Assignments.
Websites
1) https://global.oup.com/education/product/9780198375555/?region=uk
2) https://drive.google.com/file/d/13dBskps5ZSHy7iNfsN5wWLLbL_h2DFZT/view
3) www.dr-nagesh.physicsblogspot.com
Videos
1) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/category/physics
2) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/filter?subjects=physics&sort=alpha&view=grid
3) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/gases-intro
4) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/balancing-act
5) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/legacy/collision-lab
6) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/curve-fitting
7) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/legacy/density
8) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/energy-forms-and-changes
9) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/legacy/energy-skate-park
10) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/energy-skate-park-basics
11) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/legacy/forces-and-motion
12) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/forces-and-motion-basics
13) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/legacy/forces-1d
14) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/gravity-force-lab
15) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/gravity-force-lab-basics
16) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/hookes-law
17) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/masses-and-springs
18) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/masses-and-springs-basics
19) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/legacy/motion-2d
20) https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/pendulum-lab

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