Chapter 2

Rectilinear Translation
Translation: Definition
translation is defined as the motion of a rigid body in
which a straight line passing through any two points of
its particles always remain parallel to its initial positiion
it is defined as any motion in which every line in the
body remains parallel to its original position at all times;
in translation there is no rotation of any line in the body
 a motion is said to be a translation if any straight line
inside the body keeps the same direction during the
motion; it can also be observed that in translation all
particles forming the body move along parallel paths
 Rectilinear Motion
 Rectilinear motion is another name for straight-line
motion. This type of motion describes the movement
of a particle or a body.
 A body is said to experience rectilinear motion if any
two particles of the body travel the same distance
along two parallel straight lines.
 The figures below illustrate rectilinear motion for a
particle and body.
Rectilinear motion for a particle:

x(t)
 Rectilinear motion for a body:

Fig. a Fig. b

 the figure above represent a translating body at any point

 a straight line has been drawn through two particles A
and B
 the position of the body at a later instant is shown by a
dashed line
 the line A'B‘ passing through the same two particles is
parallel to its initial position
 also, since the body is assumed to be rigid, the
distance separating the particles remains constant
and the particles have no motion relative with each
other
Two types types of translaation:
1. Rectilinear translation - the motion of a
translating body moving in a straight line as
shown in Fig. (b)
2. Curvilinear translation – if the path of
translating body is curved as shown in Fig. (a)
Examples for Rectilinear Motion
 The use of elevators in public places is an example
of rectilinear motion.
 Gravitational forces acting on objects resulting in
free fall is an example of rectilinear motion.
 in this chapter we shall consider only rectilinear
translation; curvilinear translation will be discussed
in the next chapter
 the outstanding characteristic of the translation of a
rigid body is the fact that all the particles travel the
same or parallel paths
 it follows that all the particle have the same
displacement, velocity, and acceleration and the
motion is completely described by the motion of any
particle of the body
 the particle usually selected is the one at the center of
gravity of the body
Rectilinear Motion with Constant Acceleration
Constant Acceleration,

when the acceleration is constant, each of the three

kinematic equations, , and

may be integrated to obtain formulas that relate a, v, s

and t
Velocity as a Function of Time:
 integrate assuming that when
; dv = adt

Position as a Function of Time:

 integrate assuming that
initially
Velocity as a Function of Position:
 integrate assuming that initially at
Summary of the three kinematic equation of motion
with constant acceleration:

1.

2.

3.
 it is important to observe that the three equations
involve only the magnitude of vector quatities
 the direction vectors of displacement, velocity and
acceleration is indicated by the following sign
convention:
1. The initial direction of motion represents the positive
direction for displacement, velocity and
acceleration. Therefore, a negative value of velocity
obtained in applying the equation would mean that
the velocity is directed oppositely to the initial
direction of motion.
2. A negative value for displacement would indicate
that the position of the moving particle is to be
measured back from the origin of displacement.
3. If a particle moving along a straight line returns to the starting
position, the displacement S in the above equations will be the
vector drawn from the origin to the final position; that is, S will be
determined as zero, not the distance actually traversed by the
particle.
Freely Falling Bodies: Air Resistance Neglected

 it has been pointed out that the acceleration is directly

proportional to the resultant force acting upon it
 in the of free falling body, this resultant is its own weight
 since the mass of any body on the earth is insignificant
compared with the mass of earth, the gravitational force varies
only with the position of the body relative to the center of the
earth’s mass
 for most cases over a given surface of the earth surface, the
gravitational force and the gravitational acceleration may be
asumed to be constant
 in solving problems on falling bodies, a specified
direction (up or down) is assumed to represent positive
displacement
 velocity and acceleration are positive when directed
along positive displacement and they are negative
when directed in the opposite direction
 it should be observed that a negative value of
acceleration does not by itself indicate a slowing down
 we can only say that a body is accelerating if its
velocity is increasing with time, and decelerating if its
velocity is decreasing with time
 this is equivalent to stating that a body is speeding up
if the direction of velocity and acceleration are the
same , and slowing down if velocity and acceleration
are oppositely directed
 let us consider a stone thrown vertically into the air
from position A
 from the figure let the displacement
be measured as positive upward
from A
 after a certain time the stone
will reach its topmost position
B and then descend
 throughout the motion, the stone is
subjected to a gravitational acceleration
which is directed downward and therefore
considered negative, that is, oppositely directed to
+s
 during the travel from A to B, the velocity of the stone is
positive, that is in the direction of positive displacement,
but thereafter, the vekocity is negative, that is, directed
downward
 during the travel from A to B, v and a have opposite sign
and the stone is slowing down, and then after the stone
leaves B, v and a have the same sign and direction and
the stone is speeding up
 during the time of travel from A to C, the stone is above
the initial position and will have positive displacement,
but after passing C it will have a negative displacement
measured from A because it will be below the initial
possition
 in any motion involving freely falling bodies the general
equation for constant acceleration may be applied by
replacing a by g
Example: An airplane accelerates down a runway at
3.20 m/s2 for 32.8 s until is finally lifts off the ground.
Determine the distance traveled before takeoff.
Given: a = +3.2 m/s2 t = 32.8 s vi = 0 m/s
Find: s = ?

s = (0 m/s)*(32.8 s)+ 0.5*(3.20 m/s2)*(32.8 s)2

s = 1720 m
 Example: A car starts from rest and accelerates
uniformly over a time of 5.21 seconds for a
distance of 110 m. Determine the acceleration of
the car. 
Given: d = 110 m t = 5.21 s vi = 0 m/s
Find: a = ?

110 m = (0 m/s)*(5.21 s)+ 0.5*(a)*(5.21 s)2

a = 8.10 m/ s2
Example: Marvin Chuck is riding the Giant Eagle at
Great America show. If Marvin free falls for 2.60
seconds, what will be his final velocity and how far
will he fall?
Given: a = - 9.8 m/s² t = 2.6 s vi = 0 m/s
Find: d = ? vf = ?

s = (0 m/s)*(2.60 s)+ 0.5*(- 9.8 m/s2)*(2.60 s)2

s = -33.1 m (- indicates direction, downward)
vf = vi + a*t
vf = 0 + (-9.8 m/s2)*(2.60 s)
vf = -25.5 m/s (- indicates direction, downward)
Problem 1003: A stone is thrown vertically upward and
returns to earth in 10 sec. What was the initial
velocity and high did it go?
(a)

0 = V0 (10) + ½ (-32.2)(10)²
V0 = 161 fps
(b)

0 = (161)² + 2 (-32.2) (s)

s = 402.5 ft.
Kinetics of Rectilinear Translation: Analysis as a
Particle
 in rectilinear translation of a rigid body all particles
of the body move in parallel straight line, and
therefore the displacement, velocity and acceleration
of any particle are parallel to the line of motion
 the kinetic equations of rectilinear translation are
obtained from the general equation governing the
motion of the center of gravity
 there it was shown that any body could be treated as
though it were a particle which had the same mass
as the body and the same motion as the center of
gravity of the body, that is:
 when this equation is applied to the motion of
rectilinear translation where all particles have the
same acceleration, the bar sign which refers to the
center of gravity can be omitted
 it is convenient to take the line of motion as X axis
 let this axis be considered positive in the initial
direction of motion
 using this convention, we consider displacement,
velocity, acceleration, and X component of forces as
positive when directed in the initial direction of motion
 since the resultant force must act parallel to the
direction of motion, its magnitude is determined by
ƩX, which represents the summation of the X
components of the forces acting on the body
from the previous discussion, the general equations of
kinetics, when applied to rectilinear translation becomes:

 note carefully that the X axis coincides with the line of motion
of the body, and that it is considered positive in the initial
direction of motion
Problem 1045: A man weighing 161 lb is in an elevator
moving upward with an acceleration of 8 fps². (a)
What pressure does he exerts on the floor of the
elevator? (b) What will the pressure be if the elevator
is descending with same acceleration?
(a) 161 lb

P
(b) 161 lb

P
Problem 1052: Determine the acceleration of the bodies
A and B if the fixed drum is smooth and A is heavier
than B.

FBD of A:

T T
FB:D of B:
Problem: The block reaches a velocity of 40 fps in 100
ft, starting from rest. Compute the coefficient of
kinetic friction between the block and the ground
Solution:

F=P-W/g(a)

F=60-(161/32.2)(8)
Dynamic Equilibrium in Translation: Analysis as a
Rigid Body
 in the previous article, the magnitude of resultant
force on a translating body was shown to be but
we did not specify its position by applying
D’Alembert’s Principle, that is, the resultant of the
applied forces acting on a body is equivalent to the
resulatnt of the effective force acting on all particles
 from the figure we select the moment summation
about reference axes at the c.g. of translating body
and take moment summation about reference axes of
the effective force of the particle
 the effective force of a particle at D is where is
common acceleration
 since the effective force on the particle is parallel to x
axis it follows that the sum of moment abou x axis of
all particle is
 since the moment sum of the effective force for all
particle is zero, the moment sum of the resultant of
the effective force is also zero
 since the resultant is a force, its moment is zero only
because the force passes through center of moments
 dynamic equilibrium can be created by adding an
equilibrant which is equal, opposite, and collinear
with the resultant
 in other words, the equilibrant is an inertia force
having the magnitude of acting through the
center of gravity but directed opposite to the
acceleration
 this is the application of D’Alembert’s principle
 the student should remember that a free-body
diagram (FBD) which include the inertia force
(also known as reversed effective force) as well as
the real or applied forces represents a force system
whose resultant is zero
 it is advantageous to use dynamic equilibrium to
eliminate two unknown forces by taking a moment
sum about their intersection
Problem 1075: The cable of the cargo crane can
support a maximum load of 2 tons. While the crane is
lowering a 1610-lb weight at uniform speed, the brake
on the winch is applied too rapidly , thereby causing
a sudden deceleration of the weight equal to 100 fps².
The cable snaps and the weight falls, badly injuring a
workman. For the pupose of establishing liability in
this accident, is it likely that failure of the cable was
due to its being weaker than its test strength of 2
tons? Why?
Problem1077:The uniform block weighs 200 lb. It is
pulled up the incline by the force P = 300 lb.
Determine the maximum and minimum values of d so
that the block does not tip over as it slides up the
incline. The coeffecient of friction is 0.20.

X
Max. d:

Min. d: