Motion

Motion
Movement or change in position of an object with respect to time is
known as motion.
Motion is a relative term
• Example: A man say A, standing at the bus stop observing two persons B & C
moving in a car .
• For person A, B & C are in motion.
• For B, C is at rest, that is C is stationary, similarly for C, B is at rest.

• Another example:
• We know that a moving train is in motion because its position changes with time.
Now, consider a person sitting in the train. For someone standing on the platform,
the person sitting in the train is in motion. But for the co-passengers, the person is
at rest as the position of the person does not change with time.
To describe the position of an object we need to specify a
reference point known as origin.
• Example: Let us assume that a school in a village is 2km north of the railway
station. We have specified the school with respect to the railway station.

• Therefore in this example the railway station is the reference point or origin.

 We need to specify the point of observation while describing the state of motion
of an object. This point of observation is called reference frame or origin or
reference point.
Linear Motion or rectilinear motion

The word ‘linear’ means ‘straight’ and the word ‘motion’ means ‘change in
position of an object with respect to time or with respect to a frame of reference’.

 So, a body moving in a straight line with respect to a frame of reference or with
respect to time is said to be in linear motion. An example of this is the motion of
an ant on a straight wire, the motion of a car on a straight road etc…

 Point to remember regarding linear motion: *In linear motion, the object must
move in a straight line.

 The motion of the object along the straight line can be uniform or non-uniform.
Uniform motion and non-uniform motion
 If a body covers equal distances in equal intervals of time then the body is said to
be in uniform motion or (uniform speed).
 If a body covers unequal distances in equal intervals of time then the body is said
to be in non-uniform motion or (non -uniform speed).
Activity 8.5(Answer)
Motion of object A is uniform. (in an equal time interval of 15mns, the distance
covered is equal)

Motion of object B is non-uniform. (in an equal time interval of 15mns, the

distance covered is unequal)
PHYSICAL QUANTITIES RELATED TO
MOTION
. PATH LENGTH OR DISTANCE – total distance covered between the initial point
and final point or the entire path covered by an object.

2.DISPLACEMENT – shortest distance between the initial point and the final
point.
Scalar quantity
Quantity with magnitude alone and no direction.
Magnitude is the numerical value that defines the measure of a quantity.
Egs: Path length(distance), Speed.

A B (The boy covered 10m, not mentioning

anything about direction.)
10m
Vector Quantity
• Quantity with both magnitude & direction.
Egs. Displacement & velocity. A 10m towards east B
(The boy walked 10m towards east).
Distance with direction is displacement in few cases.
Difference between Distance & Displacement
1. Distance is the actual path covered by an object whereas displacement is the
shortest distance between the initial point and final point.
2. Distance cannot be zero, but displacement can be zero.
3. Distance will be always greater than or equal to Displacement and
Displacement will be always less than distance.
4. Distance is a scalar quantity and displacement is a vector quantity.

The SI unit of both Distance & Displacement is “m “.

ODOMETER
• Is a device used to measure the distance travelled.
Speed
Speed mentions about d rate at which an object covers distance
It is defined as the distance travelled by the body in unit time.
Speed(v) = Distance(S)
Time (t)
The SI unit of speed is m/s.
It can be expressed in km/hr or in cm/s also.
Since speed has only magnitude it’s a scalar quantity.
Uniform speed and non-uniform speed
Uniform Speed: When a body travels equal distances in equal intervals of time,
then the body is said to be in uniform speed.

Non-uniform speed:When a body travels un-equal distances in equal intervals of

time, then the body is said to be in non-uniform speed.
Average Speed
• Speed of an object in most cases need not be constant, In most cases the object
will be in non-uniform motion. In such cases, we are describing the rate of motion
in terms of their average speed.
• It is defined as the total distance covered by an object by the total time taken.

Average Speed = Total distance

Total time taken
Average speed for non uniform motion
Average speed = total distance
total time taken
Instantaneous speed: measure of distance covered at every instant of time.
Velocity is the rate at which an object changes its position in a particular
direction(Speed with direction)
• Mathematically, it Is defined as the displacement of the body per unit time.
• It is defined as the distance travelled by the body in unit time in a given direction.
• Velocity = displacement
Time taken
Since velocity has both magnitude & direction, it is a vector quantity.
Its SI unit is m/s.
The units can be expressed in km/hr or cm/s also.
Average velocity

When the velocity of an object is changing at average velocity= initial velocity + final velocity
a uniform rate, 2
When the velocity of an object is changing at average velocity = Total displacement
a non-uniform rate, total time taken
Velocity
• Speed with direction(rate at which an object changes its position in a particular direction)
velocity = displacement/time taken
Since velocity has both magnitude & direction, it is a vector quantity.
Its SI unit is m/s.
The units can be expressed in km/hr or cm/s also.
Average velocity
When the velocity of an object is changing at average velocity = initial velocity + final velocity
a uniform rate, 2
When the velocity of an object is changing at average velocity = Total displacement
a non-uniform rate, total time taken
Uniform velocity and non-uniform velocity
Uniform velocity: When a body travels equal distances in equal intervals of time,
in a particular direction, then the body is said to be in uniform
velocity.
Non-uniform velocity:When a body travels un-equal distances in equal intervals of
time in a particular direction, then the body is said to be in
non-uniform velocity.
Positive acceleration & Negative acceleration
• If the velocity of a body increases with time, the acceleration is said to be
positive, and the kind of motion is called positive acceleration or accelerated
motion.

• If the velocity of a body decreases with time, the acceleration is said to be

negative, and the kind of motion is called negative acceleration or retardation or
decelerated motion.
Activity 8.8, page no. 103:
(a) When the object is speeding up.
(b) When the object is slowing down or when brakes are applied.
(c) Motion of freely falling object, when an object is thrown vertically upward etc
(d) A car moving on crowded ground or through heavy traffic.
Activity-8.9
Activity-8.10 Feroz travels faster than Sania
Graphical Representation of Motion
Graphs provide a convenient method to present basic information about a
variety of events. For eg., in the telecast of a one-day cricket match, vertical bar
graphs show the run rate of a team in each over.
To describe the motion of an object, we can use line graphs.
Case -2 when a body is moving with uniform speed
Case -1 of velocity-time graph (when a body is moving with uniform velocity)
Case -2 of Velocity-time graph(when a body is moving with
uniform acceleration)
From fig 8.6, To find out acceleration for a body with uniform acceleration

Acceleration can be found by finding the slope of the graph, i.e.,

Acceleration = change in velocity = slope of line OE = ED
time AD
Velocity- Time graph case -3
• For a body moving with non uniform speed, for positive acceleration and
negative acceleration, refer fig. 8.7(a)and (b) of page 106.