Motion Along

A Straight Line
 Motion
The world, and everything in it, moves. Even seemingly stationary
things, such as a roadway, move with Earth’s rotation, Earth’s orbit
around the Sun, the Sun’s orbit around the center of the Milky Way
galaxy, and that galaxy’s migration relative to other galaxies.

The classification and comparison of motions (called kinematics) is

often challenging.

Some general properties of motion that is restricted in three ways.

1. The motion is along a straight line only. The line may be vertical,
horizontal, or slanted, but it must be straight.
2. Forces (pushes and pulls) cause motion but will not be discussed
here. We discuss only the motion itself and changes in the
motion.
3. The moving object is either a particle (by which we mean a point-
like object such as an electron) or an object that moves like a
particle (such that every portion moves in the same direction and
at the same rate).
 Position and Displacement
To locate an object means to find its position relative to some
reference point, often the origin (or zero point) of an axis such as
the x-axis in Fig.
A change from position x1 to
position x2 is called a
displacement x, where

Displacement is an example
of a vector quantity, Its
magnitude is the distance
(such as the number of
meters) between the original
and final positions. Its
Position is determined on an axis that is
marked in units of length (here meters)
and that extends indefinitely in opposite
directions. The axis name, here x, is
always on the positive side of the origin.

direction, from an original position to a final position, can be

represented by a plus sign or a minus sign if the motion is along a
single axis.
 Average Velocity and Average Speed
A compact way to describe position is with a graph of position x plotted
as a function of time t

3.2

The graph of x(t) for a moving armadillo.

On a graph of x versus t, vavg is the slope of the straight line that
connects two particular points on the x(t) curve: one is the point that
corresponds to x2 and t2, and the other is the point that corresponds to x1
and t1. vavg has both magnitude and direction. A common unit for vavg is
the meter per second (m/s).
Calculation of the average velocity between t = 1s and t = 4s as the
slope of the line that connects the points on the x(t) curve
representing those times.
Average speed savg is a different way of describing “how fast” a
particle moves. Whereas the average velocity involves the particle’s
displacement x, the average speed involves the total distance
covered (for example, the number of meters moved), independent of
direction; that is,

3.3
 Instantaneous Velocity
The average velocity of a particle during a time interval can’t tell us
how fast, or in what direction, the particle was moving at any given
time during the interval. To do this we need to know the
instantaneous velocity, or the velocity at a specific instant of time or
specific point along the path. To find the instantaneous velocity of at
the point we move the second point closer and closer to the first point
and compute the average velocity over the ever-shorter displacement
and time interval. Both and become very small, but their ratio does
not necessarily become small. In the language of calculus, the limit of
as approaches zero is called the derivative of x with respect to t and
is written

The instantaneous velocity is the limit of the average velocity as the

time interval approaches zero; it equals the instantaneous rate of
change of position with time.
The time interval is always positive, so vx has the same algebraic
sign as x. A positive value of vx means that x is increasing and the
motion is in the positive x-direction; a negative value of vx means that
x is decreasing and the motion is in the negative x-direction.
Instantaneous velocity, like average velocity, is a vector quantity; Eq.
(3.4) defines its x-component. In straight-line motion, all other
components of instantaneous velocity are zero. On a graph of
position as a function of time for straight line motion, the
instantaneous x-velocity at any point is equal to the slope of the
tangent to the curve at that point.
average x-velocity instantaneous x-velocity
The x-t graph of the motion of a particular particle. The
slope of the tangent at any point equals the velocity at
that point. (b) A motion diagram showing the position
and velocity of the particle at each of the times labeled
on the x-t graph.
The x-t graph of the motion of a particular particle. The slope of the
tangent at any point equals the velocity at that point. (b) A motion
diagram showing the position and velocity of the particle at each of the
times labeled on the x-t graph.
 Acceleration
When a particle’s velocity changes, the particle is said to undergo
acceleration (or to accelerate). For motion along an axis, the average
acceleration aavg over a time interval t is

If we express velocity in
meters per second and
time in seconds, then
average acceleration is in
meters per second per
second, or This is usually
written as and is read
“meters per second
squared.”
graphs of x-velocity
versus time (top) and
average x-acceleration
versus time (bottom)
 Instantaneous Acceleration
The instantaneous acceleration is the limit of the average
acceleration as the time interval approaches zero. In the language
of calculus, instantaneous acceleration equals the derivative of
velocity with time.

on a graph of x-velocity as a
function of time, the instantaneous
x-acceleration at any point is
equal to the slope of the tangent
to the curve at that point.
When vx and ax have the same sign, the body is speeding up. If both
are positive, the body is moving in the positive direction with
increasing speed. If both are negative, the body is moving in the
negative direction with an x-velocity that is becoming more and more
negative, and again the speed is increasing. When vx and ax have
opposite signs, the body is slowing down. If vx is positive and ax is
negative, the body is moving in the positive direction with decreasing
speed; if is vx negative and ax is positive, the body is moving in the
negative direction with an x-velocity that is becoming less negative,
and again the body is slowing down.
The term “deceleration” is sometimes used for a decrease in speed.
Because and

We can write

3.7
Rules for the Sign of x-Acceleration
Motion With Constant
Acceleration
 Motion with Constant Acceleration
The simplest kind of
accelerated motion is
straight-line motion with
constant acceleration. In
this case the velocity
changes at the same rate
throughout the motion. As
an example, a falling
body has a constant
acceleration if the effects
of the air are not
important.

The position, velocity,

and acceleration are
shown at five equally
spaced times.
When the x-acceleration ax is constant,
the average x-acceleration aav-x for any
time interval is the same as ax. This
makes it easy to derive equations for
the position x and the x-velocity as
functions of time.

let t1 = 0 and let t2 be any later time t. We use the symbol v0x for the x-
velocity at the initial time t = 0; the x-velocity at the later time t is vx.
Then Eq. (3.8) becomes

or

the term axt is the product of the constant rate of change of x-

velocity, ax and the time interval t. Therefore it equals the total
change in x-velocity from the initial time t = 0 to the later time t.
The x-velocity vx at any time t then equals the initial x-velocity v0x
(at t = 0) plus the change in x-velocity axt (Fig.).
 Equation for the position x as a function of time
when the x-acceleration is constant.
We use two different expressions for the average x-velocity during
the interval from t = 0 to any later time t. The first expression comes
from the definition of vav-x, which is true whether or not the
acceleration is constant. The position at time t = 0 is the initial
position, denoted by x0. The position at the later time t is simply x.
Thus for the time interval t = t - 0 the displacement x = x - x0,is

3.10

second expression for vav-x, that is valid only when the x-

acceleration is constant, so that the x-velocity changes at a
constant rate. In this case the average x-velocity for the time
interval from 0 to t is simply the average of the x-velocities at the
beginning and end of the interval:

3.11

(This eq. is not true if the x-acceleration varies during the time interval.)
For constant x-acceleration, the x-velocity at any time t is given by Eq.
(3.9). Substituting that expression for into Eq. (3.11),
3.12
3.10
Finally, set Eqs. (3.10) and (3.12)
equal to each other and simplify:

3.13

It tells us: If at time t = 0 a particle is

at position x0 and has x-velocity v0x
its new position x at any later time t
is the sum of three terms—its initial
position x0 plus the distance v0xt that
it would move if its x-velocity were
constant, plus an additional distance
axt2/2 caused by the change in x-
velocity.
graph of Eq. (3.13)—that is,
an x-t graph for motion with
constant x acceleration is
always a parabola. If there is
zero x-acceleration, the x-t
graph is a straight line; if
there is a constant x-
acceleration, the additional
axt2/2 term in Eq. (3.13) for x
as a function of t curves the
graph into a parabola.
 It’s often useful to have a relationship for position, x-velocity, and
(constant)x-acceleration that does not involve the time. To obtain this,
we first solve Eq. (3.9) for t and then substitute the resulting expression
into Eq. (3.13):

3.14

We can get one more useful relationship by equating the two expressions
for vav-x,Eqs. (3.10) and (3.11), and multiplying through by t.

3.15

This Eq. does not contain the x-acceleration and could be handy
when is constant but its value is unknown.
 Equations of Motion with Constant
Acceleration

By using these equations, we can solve any problem involving straight-line

motion of a particle with constant acceleration.
(a) Motion with constant acceleration overtaking motion with constant velocity.

A graph of x versus t for each vehicle.

 Freely Falling Bodies
If the effects of the air can be neglected, all bodies at a particular
location fall with the same downward acceleration, regardless of their
size or weight. If in addition the distance of the fall is small compared
with the radius of the earth, and if we ignore small effects due to the
earth’s rotation, the acceleration is constant. The idealized motion
that results under all of these assumptions is called free fall, although
it includes rising as well as falling motion.
The increasing distances between images show
that the velocity is continuously changing; the ball
is accelerating downward. Careful measurement
shows that the velocity change is the same in each
time interval, so the acceleration of the freely
falling ball is constant.

The constant acceleration of a freely falling body is

called the acceleration due to gravity, and we
denote its magnitude with the letter g.
Multi-flash photo of a
freely falling ball.
The approximate value of g at or near the earth’s surface:

The exact value varies with location, so we will often give the value of
g at the earth’s surface to only two significant figures. On the surface
of the moon, the acceleration due to gravity is caused by the attractive
force of the moon rather than the earth, and g = 1.6 m/s2. Near the
surface of the sun, g is about 270 m/s2.
g is always a positive number because g is the magnitude of a
vector quantity, it is always a positive number. If you take the positive
direction to be upward, and in most situations involving free fall, the
acceleration is negative (downward) and equal to -g . Be careful with
the sign of g, or else you’ll have no end of trouble with free-fall
problems.
 Velocity and Position by Integration
When is ax not constant, as is frequently the case, the equations that
we derived in previous section are no longer valid. But even then, we
can use the relationship vx = dx/dt to find the x-velocity as a function of
time if the position x is a known function of time. And we can still use
ax= dvx/dt to find the x-acceleration as a function of time if the x-
velocity is a known function of time.

See in Figure, We can divide the time interval

between times t1 and t2 into many smaller
intervals, calling a typical one t. The average x-
acceleration during t be aav-x From Eq. (2.4)
the change in x-velocity vx during t is

Graphically, vx equals the area of the shaded

strip with height aav-x and width t.
A graph for a body whose x-
acceleration is not constant.
The total change in x-velocity during any interval (t1 to t2) is the sum
of the x-velocity changes in the small subintervals. So the total x-
velocity change is represented graphically by the total area under the
ax-t curve. In the limit that all the t become very small and their
number very large, the value of aav-x for the interval from any time t to
approaches the instantaneous x-acceleration at time t. In this limit,
the area under the ax-t curve is the integral of ax (which is in general
a function of t) from t1 to t2. If v1x is the x-velocity of the body at time
t1 and v2x is the velocity at time t2

If t1 = 0 and t2 is any later time t, and if x0 and v0x are the position
and velocity, respectively, at time t = 0 then we can rewrite
Problems
Questions ?