MOTION

• The study of the motion of objects and the

related concepts of force and energy, form the
field called mechanics.

• Mechanics is divided into two parts :

kinematics, which is the description of how
objects move, and dynamics, which deals with
force and why objects move as they do.
 Frame of Reference

• Frame of reference is a place or object that

you assume is fixed
– observations of how objects move in relation to that frame of
reference.

• perception of motion depends on the

observers frame of reference.
– Humans usually use the earth as their frame of
reference.
The objects that move without rotating is
called translational motion.
Displacement Vs distance

distance
 2-1 Displacement

There is a distinction between distance and displacement.

Displacement (blue line) is how far the object is from its

starting point, regardless of how it got there.

Distance traveled (dashed line) is measured along the

actual path.
• Distance is the total length of path travelled
by the moving body irrespective of direction
(Distance is the length of a path between 2
points.)

• Displacement is defined as the change in

position of object. That is, displacement is
how far the object is from its starting point.
(Displacement is defined as distance traveled
in a specified direction)
 Displacement

The displacement is written:

Left: Right:
Displacement is positive. Displacement is negative.

©2008 by W.H. Freeman

and Company
• Displacement is a quantity that has both
magnitude and direction. Such quantities are
called vectors, and are represented by arrows in
diagrams
• Vectors which point in one direction will have a
positive sign, whereas vectors that point in the
opposite direction will have a negative sign, along
with their magnitude.
• One-dimensional motion along the x axis, a
vector pointing to the right has a positive sign,
where as a vector pointing to the left has a
negative sign.
Examples Combining
displacements
• Vector addition is the combining of vector magnitudes
and directions
• EX:
5km 10km
5 + 10= 15km

10km 3km
10 – 3= 7 km
• Speed : The term “speed” refers to how far an
object travels in a given time interval,
regardless of direction. The average speed of
an object is defined as the total distance
traveled along its path divided by the time
takes to travel this distance.

• Average speed = distance traveled

time elapsed
• Uniform speed : when a body covers equal
distance in equal time interval, it is said to be
a uniform speed or constant speed.
• Speed is simply a number or Speed is a Scalar
quantity.

• Velocity : velocity is the rate of change of

displacement. Vector have both magnitude
and direction, there for velocity is a vector
quantity.
• Uniform velocity : when a body moves with equal
displacements in equal time intervals is said to be uniform
velocity or constant velocity.

• Average velocity is defined in terms of displacement, rather

than total distance traveled.

• The average velocity is displacement divided by the elapsed

time.

• average velocity = displacement

time elapsed
= final position - initial position v = x2 – x1
time elapsed t2 – t1
While on vacation, Lisa Car traveled a total distance of 440
miles. Her trip took 8 hours. What was her average
speed? Ave speed = distance traveled
time of travel

Ave speed = 440 mi

8h

Ave speed = 55 mi / h

Copyright 2013-2014
Practice Question - 1

A car travels from city A to city B (100km).

If the first half of the distance is driven at
50 km/h and the second half is driven at
100 km/h , what is the average velocity for
the trip?
 A 100 km B
V = 50 km/h V = 100 km/h

t = d/s t = d/s
t = 50 km t = 50 km
50 km/h 100 km/h
t=1h t = 0.5 h

Ave. velocity = displacement

time

Ave velocity = 100 km

1.5 h
67 km/h
 Practice Question - 2

• A particle at t1 = -2.0 s is at x1= 3.4 cm

and at t2 = 4.5 s is at x2= 8.5 cm. What
is its average velocity? Can you
calculate its average speed from these
data?
 The average velocity is given by

x 8.5 cm  3.4 cm 5.1cm

v     0.78 cm s
t 4.5 s   2.0 s  6.5 s

The average speed cannot be calculated. To calculate the average speed,

we would need to know the actual distance traveled, and it is not given.
 Practice Question - 3

An airplane travels 3100 km at a speed of 790

km/h and then encounters a tailwind that boosts
its speed to 990 km/h for the next 2800 km.
What was the total time for the trip? What was
the average speed of the plane for this trip?

.
 The average speed for each segment of the trip is given by
d d
v  , so t  for each segment.
t v

For the first segment, d1 3100 km

t1    3.924 h
v1 790 km h

d2 2800 km
For the second segment, t 2    2.828 h
v2 990 km h

Thus the total time is ttot  t1  t2  3.924 h  2.828 h  6.752 h  6.8 h

The average speed of the plane for the entire trip is

d. tot 3100 km  2800 km

v    873.8  8.7  10 km h
2

t tot 6.752 h
• Instantaneous velocity at any moment is
defined as the velocity during a short time
interval. For instantaneous velocity we use the
symbol v with a bar. (Instantaneous velocity is
defined as the velocity at any instant time.)
• If an object moves at a uniform velocity during
a particular time interval, then its
instantaneous velocity at any instant is the
same as its average velocity
• Acceleration An object whose velocity is
changing is said to be accelerating.
Acceleration specifies how rapidly the velocity
of an object is changing.

• Acceleration is defined as the rate of change

of velocity with time.
 Acceleration
Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity.
• Average acceleration is defined as the change
in velocity divided by the time taken to make
this change

• average acceleration = change in velocity

time elapsed
a = v2 - v1
t2 - t1
 Acceleration

Acceleration is a vector, although in one-

dimensional motion we only need the sign.
The previous image shows positive
acceleration; here is negative acceleration:
• Uniform acceleration : when the velocity of a
moving body increases by equal amounts in equal
intervals of time, no matter how small the time
intervals may be, it is said to move with uniform
acceleration

• Acceleration is a vector quantity and using plus or

minus sign to indicate the direction.

• Acceleration tells us how quickly the velocity

changes, whereas velocity tells us how quickly the
position changes.
• Deceleration : whenever the magnitude of the
velocity is decreasing, and then the velocity
and acceleration point in opposite direction
• Motion at Constant Acceleration

• If the magnitude of acceleration is constant

and the motion is in a straight line,
• Initial time t0 = 0 , final time (time elapsed) =
t, initial position x0, final position x, initial
velocity v0 and final velocity v , then
• The average velocity v = x - x0
t
 Equations of Uniformly
Accelerated Motion

• Let the initial velocity of a body moving in a

straight line be u, its acceleration be a and
the final velocity be v and let the time of
motion be t ,
• Acceleration a = change in velocity
time
• a = v-u OR
t
• v = u + at ……………………………..….1

• S = ut + ½ at² …………………………. 2

• V² = u² + 2as ………………………… 3

• Where u = initial velocity, v = final velocity, t =

time, s = distance and a = uniform acceleration
 Position-Time Graphs

• Show an object’s position as a function of time.

– x-axis: time
– y-axis: position

Copyright 2013-2014
 Position-Time Graphs

• Imagine a ball rolling along a table, illuminated by a strobe light every

second.

0s 1s 2s 3s 4s 5s 6s 7s 8s 9 s 10 s

• You can plot the ball’s position as a function of time.

Copyright 2013-2014
Position-Time Graphs

10
9
8
7
6
position

5
(cm)

4
3
2
1
time (s)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1
0
 Position-Time Graphs

• What are the 10

characteristics of this 8

graph? 6

position (cm)
5

– Straight line, upward 4

slope 2

• What kind of motion

1

time (s)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

created this graph?

– Constant speed
 Position-Time Graphs

• Each type of motion has a characteristic shape

on a P-T graph.
– Constant speed
– Zero speed (at rest)
– Accelerating (speeding up)
– Decelerating (slowing down)
 Position-Time Graphs

• Constant speed is represented by a straight

segment on the P-T graph.
pos. (m)

pos. (m)
time (s) time (s)

Constant speed in Constant speed in

positive direction. negative direction.
Position-Time Graphs

pos. (m)

time (s)

A horizontal segment
means the object is at
rest.
 Position-Time Graphs

• Curved segments on the P-T graph mean the

object’s speed is changing.
pos. (m)

pos. (m)
time (s) time (s)

Speeding up in positive Speeding up in negative

direction. direction.
 Position-Time Graphs

• Curved segments on the P-T graph mean the

object’s speed is changing.
pos. (m)

pos. (m)
time (s) time (s)

Traveling in positive Traveling in negative

direction, but slowing direction, but slowing
down. down.
 Position-Time Graphs

• The slope of a P-T graph is equal to the object’s

velocity in that segment.
change in y
50 slope =
change in x
position (m)

40
(30 m – 10 m)
30 slope =
30 s – 0 s)
20

10 (20 m)
slope =
(30 s)
10 20 30 40

time (s) slope = 0.67 m/s

Speed is the slope of the distance
versus time graph
 Position-Time Graphs

• The following P-T graph corresponds to an object moving

back and forth along a straight path. Can you describe its
movement based on the graph?
N
position (m)

time (s)

S
 Velocity-Time Graphs

• A velocity-time (V-T) graph shows an

object’s velocity as a function of time.
– A horizontal line = constant velocity.
– A straight sloped line = constant acceleration.
• Acceleration = change in velocity over time.
– Positive slope = positive acceleration.
• Not necessarily speeding up!
– Negative slope = negative acceleration.
• Not necessarily slowing down!
 Velocity-Time Graphs

• A horizontal line on the V-T graph means

constant velocity.
N

Object is moving
velocity (m/s)

at a constant
time (s) velocity North.

S
 Velocity-Time Graphs

• If an object isn’t moving, its velocity is zero.

Object is at rest
velocity (m/s)

time (s)

S
 Velocity-Time Graphs

• If the V-T line has a positive slope, the object

is undergoing acceleration in positive
direction.
– If v is positive also, object is speeding up.
– If v is negative, object is slowing down.
 Velocity-Time Graphs

• V-T graph has positive slope.

N N

velocity (m/s)
velocity (m/s)

time (s) time (s)

S Positive velocity and S Negative velocity and

positive acceleration: positive acceleration:
object is speeding up! object is slowing down.
 Constant Velocity

• This graph shows

that the velocity:-
1. is 1 m/s.
2. stays constant at 1
m/s for 10 seconds.
The velocity vs. time graph

• The area on a velocity versus time graph is

equal to the distance traveled.
• A velocity versus time graph can show positive
and negative velocities.
 80

60
Velocity
m/s 40

20

t/s
0

10 20 30 40 50

1) How fast was the object going after 10 seconds?

2) What is the acceleration from 20 to 30 seconds?
3) What was the deceleration from 30 to 50s?
4) How far did the object travel altogether?
 Answers : Question 1
How fast was the object going after 10 seconds?
40m/s

Velocity (m/s)

80

60

40

20

0
t(s)
10 20 30 40 50
 Answers : Question 2
What is the acceleration from 20 to 30 seconds?
The acceleration = change in velocity / time taken
= (60 – 40) / 10 = 20 / 10 = 2m/s2
Velocity (m/s)

80

60

40

20
t(s)
0
10 20 30 40 50
 Answers : Question 3
What was the deceleration from 30 to 50s?
The deceleration = change in velocity / time taken
= (60 –0) / 20 = 60 / 20 = 3m/s2

Velocity (m/s)
80
Have you noticed
60 the gradient of this
graph = the
acceleration?
40

20

0 t(s)
10 20 30 40 50
 Answers : Question 4
How far did the object travel altogether?

We cannot use distance = speed x time in this case, because the

speed is not constant for the whole journey.
We can find the answer by calculating the area under the entire
graph. First of all, we need to divide the total area into smaller
triangles and rectangles and label them.
Velocity (m/s) A = ½ x base x height
80 = ½ x 10 x 40 = 200m
B = length x width
60
= 20 x 40 = 800m
C C = ½ x 10 x 20 = 100m
D = ½ x 20 x 60 = 600m
40
D The total distance
A B
20 travelled = 1700m
0 t(s)
10 20 30 40 50
• 1. A car traveling at 10 m/s in a
straight line speeds up to 30
m/s in 5 seconds. What is
the average acceleration?
• 2. Starting from rest a car
accelerates for 8 seconds to a
final speed of 16 m/s. Find the
acceleration of the car and the
distance traveled during this time
interval?
• 3. A train accelerates from rest to
speed of 25 m/s in 10 seconds.
Assuming the acceleration to be
constant over this interval, find (a).
the magnitude of the acceleration,
and (b). the distance traveled during
this interval?
• 4. A car reaches a velocity of 20
m/s with an acceleration of 2
m/s² . How far will it travel while
it is accelerating if it is (a). initially
at rest and (b) initially moving at
10 m/s ?
• 5. A car accelerates from rest with a
constant acceleration of 2 m/s² on to
a highway where traffic is moving at
a steady 24 m/s. (a) How long will it
take for the car to reach a velocity of
24 m/s. (b). How far will it travel in
that time?
6 . A plane flying at 80 m/s is uniformly
accelerated at the rate of 2 m/s² .
What distance will it travel during a 10
seconds interval after acceleration
begins?
• 7. A car moving at 16 m/s in
brought to stop in 8 seconds by
applying the break. Find (a) the
acceleration and (b) the distance
it travelled after the brake was
applied?