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Physics Intro & Kinematics
Physics Intro & Kinematics
•Quantities •Velocity
•Units •Acceleration
•Vectors •Kinematics
Vectors: Scalars:
• Displacement • Distance
• Velocity • Speed
• Acceleration • Time
• Momentum • Mass
• Force • Energy
Mass vs. Weight
Mass
• Scalar (no direction)
• Measures the amount of matter in an object
Weight
• Vector (points toward center of Earth)
• Force of gravity on an object
On the moon, your mass would be the same,
but the magnitude of your weight would be less.
Vectors
Vectors are represented with arrows
• The length of the • The arrow points in
arrow represents the the directions of the
magnitude (how far, force, motion,
how fast, how strong, displacement, etc. It
etc, depending on the is often specified by
type of vector). an angle.
5 m/s
42
°
Units
Units are not the same as quantities!
Quantity . . . Unit (symbol)
• Displacement & Distance . . . meter (m)
• Time . . . second (s)
• Velocity & Speed . . . (m/s)
• Acceleration . . . (m/s2)
• Mass . . . kilogram (kg)
• Momentum . . . (kg·m/s)
• Force . . .Newton (N)
• Energy . . . Joule (J)
SI Prefixes
Little Guys Big Guys
-12 3
pico p 10 kilo k 10
-9 6
nano n 10 mega M 10
-6 9
micro µ 10 giga G 10
-3 12
milli m 10 tera T 10
-2
centi c 10
Kinematics definitions
start
stop
Speed, Velocity, & Acceleration
a = +2 mph / s a = -3 m/s
s
= -3 m/s 2
Velocity & Acceleration Sign Chart
VELOCITY
A
C
+ -
C
E Moving forward; Moving backward;
L + Speeding up Slowing down
E
R
A
T
I
- Moving forward; Moving backward;
O Slowing down Speeding up
N
Acceleration due to Gravity
Near the surface of the This acceleration
Earth, all objects vector is the
accelerate at the same same on the way
rate (ignoring air up, at the top,
resistance). and on the way
down!
a = -g = -9.8 m/s2
9.8 m/s2
• vf = v0 + a t
• v = (v0 + vf )/2
avg
• x = v0 t + ½
1
at2
2
• vf2 – v02 = 2 a x
(derivations to follow)
Kinematics Derivations
a = v/t (by definition)
a = (vf – v0)/t
vf = v0 + at
x = v0 t + 1
2
a t 2
(cont.)
Kinematics Derivations (cont.)
vf = v0 + at t = (vf – v0)/a
x = v0 t + 1
at 2
2
x = v0 [(vf – v0)/a] + 1
a[(vf – v0)/a] 2
2
vf2 – v02 = 2ax
Note that the top equation is solved for t and that
expression for t is substituted twice (in red) into the
x equation. You should work out the algebra to prove
the final result on the last line.
Sample Problems
1. You’re riding a unicorn at 25 m/s and come to
a uniform stop at a red light 20 m away.
What’s your acceleration?
A D
Increasing
Decreasing
t
Graphing Animation Link
Car Animation
x Graphing Tips
t
t
Real life
Note how the v graph is pointy and the a graph skips. In real
life, the blue points would be smooth curves and the green
segments would be connected. In our class, however, we’ll
mainly deal with constant acceleration.
t
Area under a velocity graph
v “forward area”
“backward area”
“backward area”
t
v (m/s)
12 Area units
t (s)
2.24 ms
Answer
Uniform Acceleration
x = 1
x = 3 x = 5 x = 7
t:0 1 2 3 4
x:0 1 4 9 16
( arbitrary units )
a. max height 9 v2 / 2g
b. hang time 6v/g
c. impact speed 3 v
Answers