High School Science Series

Motion and Force

Part 1 - Motion
 Simple and Complex Motion

Types of Motion

What is Motion? Recognising Motion

Quantifying Motion

Motion and Force

Part I - Motion

Acceleration in One-Dimensional Motion Average and Instantaneous Speed

Speed Predicting Motion

Uniform and Non-Uniform Motion

eklavya
 Motion and Force
Part 1 - Motion

Text: Rama Chari, Himanshu Srivastava, Pragya Shrivastava

Illustrations: Shweta Raina
Design and layout: Jitendra Thakur

Eklavya - March 2013

Any part of this publication can be used under a similar copyleft mark for free distribution, for non-
commercial, educational purposes. For any other kind of permission, kindly contact the publisher.

March 2013 / 2000 copies

Paper: 100 gsm maplitho and 220 gsm paper board (cover)
ISBN: 978-93-81300-50-3
Price: 135.00

Developed with financial assistance from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the
'Parag initiative' of Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust.

Published by
Eklavya
E-10, BDA Colony Shankar Nagar,
Shivaji Nagar, Bhopal - 462 016 (M.P.)
www.eklavya.in
What kind of work or career do
you want to take up?

I want to make a cricket bat

I want to which will make hitting a
I want to drive make sixer easy.
I want to design racing cars. artificial
a rocket which wings which
will go to the sun. can help us
fly.

Dear children, I'm sure your friends will also like to do similar
things in the future. But to do that, you all will have to choose
appropriate courses of study and one thing which all of you will
need to study is the science of motion and force!
 For many years now, Eklavya and its Academic
Resource Group have been deliberating upon high school
science curricula. Science is currently taught in schools as
general science till class X, and the prescribed textbooks
focus on introducing students to a large variety of topics in a
cursory manner. We therefore felt that there was a strong
need to develop resource materials for teachers and
High
students in line with the philosophy of the Hoshangabad School
Science Teaching Programme (a pioneering educational
initiative that spanned three decades, in over a thousand Science
schools of some districts of Madhya Pradesh). Members of
Eklavya, science teachers, scientists, educationists and
Series
others interested in education, all put their heads together
to develop a series of modules. These books are each the
outcome of extensive collaborations —workshops,
discussions, field trials and testing. They are designed to
convey a broader understanding of some concepts and
topics covered in school syllabi.

This module ‘Motion’ is the first of a two part series on

motion and force. The result of several teacher training
sessions and classroom trials conducted by Eklavya, it is
meant as a resource material for teachers. Each section
has pedagogical notes (text in grey background). They
explain the rationale of the treatment used in developing
that particular topic. At places, alternative approaches
have been suggested. The main text develops the subject
with the help of real life examples, hands-on activities and
problems for students to think about and try solve. The
activities are also a tool to introduce students to the various
aspects of experiments and data analysis.
 Contents
1. About the Module 06

2. What is Motion? 08

What is P. T. Usha Doing? 11

Types of Motion 12

Complex Motion 14

3. Quantifying Motion 16

Speed 19

Units of Speed 22

How Does a Leaf Fall? 26

Uniform and Non-Uniform Motion 27

Average and Instantaneous Speed 28

Crossroads 35

4. Graphical Representation 36

5. Acceleration in One-Dimensional Motion 49

6. Predicting Motion 56

Appendix 1 Science and the Scientific Method 64

Appendix 2 Graphs 68

Appendix 3 Measurement : Limitations and Errors 82

Appendix 4 Suggestions for Projects 87

Appendix 5 Problem Set 90

Answer Sheet 100

Index 110
 About the Module

e live in a world that is constantly moving. Motion or movement of objects and people is
something we come across every day. Understanding motion is a basic requirement for
almost all branches of the natural sciences (including physics, chemistry and the life sciences) and
engineering. Most properties of matter can be traced to the motion of the fundamental particles within it.
The motions of electrons and other sub-atomic particles govern the physical and chemical properties of
the elements. In biology, the movements of cells and sub-cellular units govern the interactions leading to
metabolic processes. Even economics is the study of how money moves.

However, the question which confuses us sometimes is whether things are actually moving the way
we perceive them or not. Think of watching trees from the window of a moving train. Are you moving
forward, or are the trees moving backward? Similarly, we see the Sun move across the sky from east to
west but current wisdom says that the Sun appears to move because of the Earth rotating from west to
east on its axis. As these examples show, our intuitive ideas of motion based on visual observation do
not always give the real picture. Then, how can we find out what is actually happening? Science looks for
answers by using a combination of observations made under controlled conditions (experiments) and
logical analysis. The understanding of any natural process can be used to make accurate predictions
about it and to also develop new technology. For example, knowledge of the laws of motion and force
allows for the times of eclipses to be predicted well in advance. The same knowledge has also led to the
development of rockets which travel to the moon and back.

This module is an attempt to get you thinking about some of these issues. We will develop the basic
concepts necessary to analyse motion and the effects of force on motion. The module is in two parts: the
first part deals with describing motion (kinematics), and the second part deals with the relationship
Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion
between force and motion (dynamics). Motion is relatively easier to grasp because it is a phenomenon
we all can see. Also, the measurement of quantities like speed and acceleration can be demonstrated
and understood more easily. Force is a more abstract concept and is experienced only by the effect it has
on motion. Therefore, we start with motion—its definition, measurement and mathematical treatment.
Further, to keep things simple we stick to linear motion. Once the basic concepts are understood, more
complex motions (e.g. motion along a curve, oscillatory motion, rolling motion or a combination of
several types of motion) can be analysed using these concepts or by building upon them.

We presume that anyone reading this module has a basic understanding of measurement and
graphs. If that is not the case, we suggest that you first go through the two appendices on graphs and
measurement, as well as the relevant chapters in the Bal Vaigyanik textbooks published by Eklavya.

The text of the module is interspersed with various examples and activities. They are designed to
make the reader pause and think about what is being discussed. Detailed discussions of some topics,
e.g. the scientific method, limitations and errors in any measurement, etc. have been moved to the
appendices so that the main text reads smoothly.

The problems given at the end have been chosen to test whether the concepts discussed in the text
have been properly understood. Therefore, do attempt them all to get the most out of this module.

And lastly, but most importantly, this module is only a beginning. If it helps stimulate students (this
includes all of us reading this module) to read more, learn more, question more and do more
experiments, we would have achieved our aim.

7
 What is Motion ?

A good starting point is to find out what students already know. So you can start by
putting questions like these to the class: “What is motion?” or “How can you know if
something is in motion?” Most students would have studied something about motion by
the 8th standard and will come up with some answers. However, their descriptions may
not be complete. Any missing components can be brought out by discussing suitable
examples.

For example, the children may feel that motion is a 'change in position' with 'time'.
Though correct, this answer is not complete. What is missing is the explicit phrase that
the change in position is with respect to a point of reference. To bring this out, you can
use the conversation shown in the cartoon strip below. You can have four children enact
it. A discussion should follow so that the children understand what the point of reference
in any given motion is, and the role of the observer in understanding motion. You can use
some more examples like the ones given next.

Hey Bablu!
Would you
say that
Mohan is
in motion?

Yes,
of
course.

Ayesha and Bablu are standing under a tree at the bus How can you say that? I can
stand waiting for a bus to Bhopal. Two more of their friends, see he’s just sitting in the
Reva and Mohan, get into a bus to go to Dewas. The bus bus!
starts.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Reva, do you think
Yes but Mohan is moving?
the bus
is
moving.
Isn't it ?

You never
So believe me.
No, Mohan is not. He is
what? Ask Reva.
just sitting in one place!

But I am also in the bus! To me it does not look as if Mohan is

moving. He isn’t moving towards me or away from me.

Arre baba, I can’t

be moving and not
Can’t you see that the bus has moving at the same
moved away from the tree and time!
Ayesha tells this Mohan is in the bus? The bus
to Bablu. He is moving and Mohan’s
snatches the moving along with it.
phone from her
and says
irritably to Reva,

What do you think is happening? How do we decide whether something is moving or not?

9
 Example 1. Observe the moon on a
windy night with a fair bit of cloud cover in the
sky. As a cloud passes in front of the moon
you sometimes think it is the moon which is
moving behind the cloud. What would you
think if you were to observe a tree at the
same time? (Fig. 1)

Fig.1 ‘Hide-and-seek’ with the clouds

Example 2. This is the classic example of

watching the scenery from the window of a
moving train. When the train is passing through
open countryside, we feel that the bushes or
lampposts near the train are moving in the
opposite direction, but the trees further away
seem to be moving in the direction of the train.
We do know that both the lampposts and the
trees are fixed to the ground; so, why this
illusion? (Fig. 2)

Fig. 2 Scenery flashing past a moving train

The motion of an object is its relative movement with respect to a point of reference as
measured by an observer. The point of reference may be the person making the observation or some
other point or object visible to the observer. For example, when trying to catch a ball thrown at us, we
judge the movement of the ball by its position with respect to ourselves. When writing, we judge the
position of the pen with respect to a line on the page or the page edge. Imagine writing something while
sitting in a moving train. We, along with the paper we are writing on, are moving with the train. But we
write (if the train is moving smoothly) as though we are sitting on a chair in a classroom. The common
feature in both the examples is that the point of reference is assumed to be stationary and the movement
is observed with respect to it. Thus, we don’t bother whether our seat is moving or not. As long as we hold
the paper fixed with respect to ourselves, we can write.

What happens when we try to play ‘catch’ in a moving train?

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

What is P.T. Usha Doing?
Look at the photograph of the famous athlete P. T.
Usha in Fig. 3. What do you see in it?

Did you answer ‘‘P. T. Usha is running on the

beach’’? The photograph only shows that she has one
foot on the ground and the other off it. You can lift one
foot off the ground even while standing still. Try now!

From a still photograph we cannot be certain

whether she is running (moving) or standing still. For that
we need to observe her at different points in time.

Similarly, in the case of the Sun, Moon or a

Fig. 3 P.T. Usha on a beach
constellation, they look still when we look at them. But if
we observe them after half an hour, or sometimes after a
P. T. U s h a , a l s o
few hours, only then can we see that they have moved.
n ic kn am e d t h e P ayy ol i
We often use statements like, ‘‘I am walking now’’ or Express, came from a small
‘‘You are driving very fast now’’. It is difficult to village in Kerala and is one of
understand that when we say ‘now’, we are actually the most successful women
talking about a small interval of time during which our athletes in recent times.
positions have changed. This will be clearer later when Between 1983-89, Usha
instantaneous and average speeds are discussed. garnered 13 golds at the
Asian Track and Field meets.
In the 1984 Los Angeles
Time and motion are irretrievably connected to each other. Olympics, Usha became the
We need to know time to deduce motion, and motion to measure first Indian woman (and the
time. All clocks depend on some motion which is considered the fifth Indian) to reach the finals
standard. In a sand-clock, all the sand flows down a hole in a fixed of an Olympic event by
period of time, in a sundial the shadow moves from one marked winning her 400 m hurdles
position to another every minute or hour, in a modern day watch a semi-finals. In the finals, she
crystal vibrates with a fixed frequency, and in an atomic clock it is lost the bronze by 1/100th of a
the fixed time of the electron orbiting in an atom that makes it
second. Usha has won 101
possible for us to measure time.
international medals, so far.
Studies have shown that many misconceptions regarding Her six medals, including five
motion arise from the fact that the passage of time is not given the golds, at the 6th Asian Track
same importance as the change in position. This is possibly and Field Championship at
because we see the moving object changing its position and the
Jakarta in 1985 is a record for
pictures of the object in different positions are stored in our mind.
a single athlete in a single
However, time is not sensed directly, and many times we are not
international meet.
even aware of the passage of time.

11
Discuss whether the following statements can be correct:

a. I walked for an hour yesterday.

b. I am always running.

c. You are standing still.

d. Mohan is standing still and waving his hand.

Some of these statements have been deliberately chosen to be ambiguous. Discussing these or
similar statements in detail will reinforce the concepts of time and the points of reference for the students.

Types of Motion

Ask everyone in the class to remain in their places, to look around and identify objects that are moving.
The replies could list: the teacher walking in the classroom, a ceiling fan running in the room, leaves fluttering
on trees outside, birds flying in the sky, people walking in the corridor outside, ants or flies in the room, etc.
Some may also come up with: the heads of other people looking around, blinking eyes, moving fingers, etc.

How many different kinds of motions can you think of? We use different words like walking, running,
jumping, waving, vibrating, shaking, rotating, falling, etc. to describe different kinds of motions.

Depending on the path that a moving object takes, the motion can be called:

a. Linear—moving in a straight line, like a person walking on a straight path, free fall.

b. Curvilinear—moving ahead but changing direction, like a snake.

c. Circular—moving in a circle, like a fan.

d. Periodic—coming back to the same position after a fixed time interval, like a pendulum.

Make a table of the different types of motions you can see. Into which of the above four categories do
they fall?

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

Various Motions from Everyday Life

11
13
 Complex Motion

Example 3. While playing with a top as a child,

you may have noticed that it rotates around its axis
(the pin) while moving around on the floor (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4 Spinning top

Example 4. In the case of a moving

bus, tyres rotate about their axles and
move forward, too. The steering wheel
rotates about a different axis while
Fig. 5 Motions of different parts of a moving bus moving ahead with the bus (Fig. 5).

Example 5. Similarly,
the forward motion of a cycle
is also a combination of
different motions of its
various parts. Look at the
photograph of a boy cycling
down the road. The boy and
the cycle together are
moving in a certain direction,
while the boy’s feet and the
cycle’s pedals are moving in
a circle. The wheels of the
cycle are, simultaneously,
revolving around their
respective axes as well as
moving ahead (Fig.6).

Fig. 6 Motion without pollution

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Look around you at moving things and see how many of the
motions are complex (a combination of more than one type of Most real life motions
motion). Try to identify the different motions that combine to are complex, that is, a
make up an observed complex motion. combination of more than
one type of motion. A ball
For now, we will restrict our discussion to motion in a rolling on the floor will have
straight line. We will see that the quantitative description of this forward linear motion and
linear motion is relatively simple. Therefore, it is easier to simultaneously be rotating
understand the basic concepts involved in this kind of motion a ro u n d i t s a x i s . O n e
approach for studying a
without getting lost in any numerical complexity. Complex
complex phenomenon is to
motions can be understood by breaking them into simpler parts,
break it into simple
analysing each part independently and then summing them all components, formulate a
up again. This is one of the ways in which we learn. When theory to explain the simple
learning to sew, we start with the running stitch, and then go on components and then add
to hemming and the back stitch. Or, in language, when faced up the components to get a
with a complicated text full of new words and terms we refer to a th eo ry to ex pl ai n th e
dictionary, which (often) uses simpler words to explain the complex phenomenon. This
meaning of a word we find difficult to understand. We will be is called the reductionist
following this approach to understand motion. We will begin with approach in science (see
box).
the simplest scenario, and by trying to understand it we will build
a theory of motion. This theory will then be expanded to cover
more complicated motions. Working this way, we will move
towards a better understanding of real-life motions.

The Reductionist Approach

This is a basic approach used in science to explain any phenomenon. As you have seen in
the examples discussed in the text, most of the motions that we observe around us are complex
processes, whether it is a child riding past on a cycle or a moving railway engine. In order to
understand this complexity, a common method used is to try and figure out what factors affect the
observed processes. The next step is to study the effect of each of the factors. In order to do this,
we vary the factors one by one. That is, in one experiment, we first change one factor while
keeping all the others constant as far as possible. In another experiment, we vary the next factor,
and so on, till we have studied how the change in each factor independently affects a process.
Then, the results of these experiments are put together to try and explain the complex process.

Here, we are making a huge assumption—that the whole phenomenon is merely the sum of
its parts, of the factors that influence it. This means that we are assuming that when all the factors
that influence a phenomenon interact with each other, we get only the observed phenomenon.
This is called ‘the reductionist approach’, since we reduce the problem into its components,
analyse the components and try to arrive at an explanation. Is the assumption we make in the
reductionist approach valid? All our successes in understanding various physical and chemical
processes have come from applying this approach.

15
 Quantifying Motion

To recapitulate, the motion of an object is its change in position with time. This change of position
is measured with respect to a point of reference by an observer. To quantify motion, we need to
measure the change in position with respect to a point of reference as well as the elapsed time.
However, very often, we don't explicitly specify the point of reference but assume that the
measurements are taken with respect to a convenient point of reference.

The point of reference and the observer, together make the frame of reference.

Let us first look at the change in position of an object in motion. This can be found out by measuring
the distance covered by a moving object.

What instruments can you use to measure distances?

Example 6. Take two identical, long objects like

two dusters or two pencils. You will also need a ruler to
measure distance. Keep the two pencils side by side
on a table and mark their positions with a piece of
chalk. Move the second pencil some distance ahead,
keeping it aligned with the first pencil (Fig. 7). Mark the
position of the second pencil. Now, measure by how
much distance the second pencil has been moved.
Ask your friends to do the same exercise. Did you all
get the same result? If not, why not?

Fig. 7 How far did the pencil move?

Example 7. I have a small ball with a face on it

(Fig 8). I roll the ball on the floor from one corner of
Fig. 8 Smiley on a roll the room to the other. If the room size is 10’x10’,

a. What is the net distance moved by the ball?

b. Is the net distance moved by one of the eyes

the same as the distance moved by the ball?

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 These questions can lead to a discussion on the following points. The answer to (a) will depend on which
corners are chosen–adjacent or diagonal. Also, each point on the ball makes a compound motion, as it is
rotating around the centre of the ball which itself is moving in one particular direction on the floor. Generally,
we call the motion of the centre of the ball the ’motion of the ball’. In looking at the forward linear motion, the
rotation of the ball around its axis is ignored. We also ignore the inaccuracies in distance measurement
arising from the finite size of the ball. A discussion can be held on the conditions under which these
assumptions are valid.

Example 8. In the picture below, the bus has moved from right to left (Fig. 9). Can any of the marked
distances be taken as the distance covered by the bus between the two positions? If yes, which one
would you choose and why? If no, then what is the appropriate distance?

a
b
c
d
e
Fig. 9 Front end / back end—which points to measure between?

In measuring the distance covered by a moving object, there are two issues to consider. First, real
objects have a finite size and second, different parts of the moving objects can execute different motions.
The examples given here are meant to illustrate these two points. The second point can be illustrated best
by the example of a bicycle or a bus, both of which are familiar to students. Here, we have discussed the bus,
the cycle can be given as a problem to the students. What are the assumptions underlying this estimation of
the change in the position of the bus? We selected one point on the bus, measured its change in position and
assumed that the whole bus has moved by that much distance ignoring the movements of things like the
wheels and the people sitting inside. We also assumed that the shape and size of the bus remains the same
at both positions. In effect, we assumed the bus to be a single rigid body. This kind of idealisation is used
many times in science so that universal principles underlying observed phenomena can be deduced without
getting lost in complicated calculations.

17
 Let us now look at time measurement. That is, we want to measure how much time elapses during a
certain motion. How would you measure the time taken to go home from school? Can you use the same
method to measure the time taken to throw a ball from one end of a room to the other? Try it.

In some of the activities described later in this module, we

suggest the use of a stopwatch (Fig. 10). Good stopwatches, which
show upto a 100th of a second will be very useful for your
experiments. The figure shows such a stopwatch available in Indore
markets. Generally, easily available, commercial digital stopwatches
are multi-functional. So, you might need to change the mode of the
one you buy to the ‘timer’ setting. You may refer to its manual to learn
how to switch between the different modes, and to learn how to start,
stop and reset the stopwatch. The other option is to use the
‘stopwatch’ function in your mobile phone.
Fig. 10 A typical electronic timer/ stopwatch

All Together Click-Click, Quick-Quick

Another interesting activity to help familiarise
Ask the students to start their students with stopwatches is one in which they
stopwatches when you clap/whistle are asked to check their reaction times. To do this,
and to stop them with the sound of students are asked to start and stop their
your second clap/whistle. To start stopwatches as fast as they can. The recorded
with, keep a sufficient gap between time interval is the smallest that each one can
two consecutive claps/whistles. As measure. Repeat this activity 20-25 times. The
the students get more and more arithmetic mean of all the readings taken by a
familiar with the functions of the student will give the 'average reaction time' of that
stopwatch keys, reduce the time person. In a classroom experiment, the data can
between the two claps/whistles. It is be considered to be reliable if the number of
necessary that they learn to use the readings taken is much larger than the average
stopwatch as accurately as possible reaction time (at least 3 to 5 times). You can verify
to achieve good experimental this in the ‘All Together’ activity. Try to find the
results in the activities suggested shortest time between two claps/whistles that can
later in the module. be measured accurately.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Speed

Now that we have learnt something about measuring distance and time, let us see if we can go
further and measure motion. One of the first things we notice about a moving object is how fast it moves.
Fastness or slowness is decided by speed. For example, you are getting late for school. One neighbour
offers to drop you on his bicycle. Another neighbour offers to take you on his motorbike. Which one would
you choose if you want to get to school quickly, and why?

Students at the high school level (13-15 years) already have some concept of speed in the context of
fastness or slowness of motion. Hence, examples similar to the one above can be used to start a discussion
on the quantitative measurement of speed.

A motorbike can go at a higher speed than a bicycle, and you can reach your school faster on
your neighbour’s motorbike. However, speed is not a quantity that can be directly measured. It is
calculated by dividing the distance covered by a moving object, by the time taken to do so, or

Total distance moved

Average Speed =
The time taken to cover this distance

Notice, that we have qualified speed by adding ‘average’ to it. This distinction will be discussed in
detail a little later. First, let us have some fun measuring speed.

The activities on the following pages are designed to break the monotony of the classroom and to get
the students moving. They can be done by rolling a ball, moving a chalk or stone by hand, or by observing
the ants moving on the floor—by observing anything that moves in a straight line and slowly enough so
that the time taken for the activity can be measured using a stopwatch. Students can also be asked to
make similar measurements at home and discuss the results in class. If a stopwatch is not available, time
can alternatively be measured by the seconds hand of a clock or watch, or the clock in a mobile phone. A
ruler or measuring tape will do for measuring distance. Students should be encouraged to discuss the
problems they face in making distance or time measurements for something moving very fast, the errors
in measuring the distances moved by different objects, measuring distance or time for objects that do not
move in a straight line, etc.

19
The Racing Ants

We have all seen ants scurrying around. Can their motion be described as straight-line motion?
Observe their motion and try to measure their speeds. Did you face any problem in determining their
speeds? The following activity may help.

Collect some ants (Fig. 12), preferably of different varieties (make sure they do not bite you). Tie a
coarse thread between two points such that the thread is stretched taut in the air at some height above
the ground. One person with a stopwatch acts as a timekeeper. Place the ants, one at a time, on one end
of the thread and note the time an ant takes to move along the thread, as well as the distance it covers
(Fig. 13). For this, you can make a mark on the thread where you place the ant and start the stopwatch.
Make another mark on the other end of the thread, and stop the stopwatch when the ant reaches this
mark. Note the time each ant has taken to cover the distance between the two marks. Then, you can
measure the length of the thread between the two marks. The ants may drop down from the thread
midway! Can keeping some sugar at some distance help them stay on the thread? Try it and prepare a
table of your observations. You can use Table 1 given below as a guide.

Fig. 12 Searching for ants Fig. 13 Ants on a tight rope

Table 1

S. No. Name Distance Time taken Average Speed

1 Black ant 10 cm 2s 5 cm/s

2 Red ant 16 cm 4s 4 cm/s

Which ant was the fastest? (After the experiment, do return the ants to where you took them from).
Do you think there was some possibility of error in the measurements? Discuss how you can reduce
such errors.
Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion
Block Walk

The following example is designed to ease the students into visualising imaginary motion. It clarifies the
relation and difference between speed and position. Students often get confused between them.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Fig. 14 The positions at each second of two blocks moving in parallel for 7 s. The lines above
the blocks mark the distance moved by the blocks.

Two blocks, one white and the other black in colour, are being moved in straight lines parallel to
each other. Their positions after every second are shown by the numbered squares in Fig. 14. The
numbers show the time in seconds. The blocks are moving from left to right.

1. Which block has a higher average speed?

2. At what time were the two blocks at the same position?

3. When did the blocks have the same speed?

a. Between 2 s and 3 s

b. Between 3 s and 4 s

c. Between 5 s and 6 s

d. Never

4. When does the black block first overtake the white block?

a. Between 1 s and 2 s

b. Between 2 s and 3 s

c. Between 3 s and 4 s

5. When does the white block first overtake the black block?

21
 Units of Speed
This is a good place to explore the concept of units in some detail by taking speed as an example. The
questions we aim to answer here are, (a) why are different units required in different situations, and (b) how to
convert values from one unit to another.

In training sessions, we observed something curious. Many students, and even some teachers have a
deep conviction that the only possible units of speed are m/s and km/h. Also, they found that conversion
between the units of speed (which is a ratio of two quantities—distance and time) is slightly more complicated
than that of, say, weight (e.g. converting between kg and g).

A vegetable seller weighs the vegetables in units like 250 g, 1 kg etc., but the trucks carrying
vegetables coming into the mandi are weighed in tons. Just like there are different units for weight, there
can be several units of speed. Some common examples are km/h (used for measuring vehicle speeds)
and m/s (used in laboratory measurements). However, other combinations are also possible, like
miles/h, inch/s etc., as long as a unit of distance is divided by a unit of time to get the unit of speed.

Fig. 15 Dharamkanta

Fig. 16 Sabji mandi

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion
 In the earlier activity on racing ants, can you use some other units for speed? (Hint: Measure
distance in inches instead of cm).

Conversion between units

The average speed of a bus is 36 km/h. How much would it be in cm/s?

We know 1 km = 1000 m = 1000 X 100 cm = 1,00,000 cm

And 1 h = 60 min = 60 X 60 s = 3600 s

So 1 km/ h = 100,000 ÷ 3600 cm/s

Therefore 36 km/h = 36 X 100,000 ÷ 3600 cm/s = 1000 cm/s

Does this tell you why different units are required in different situations?

What units you would use for the speed of

a. A tortoise

b. A jet plane

One bus travels 4 km in 6 minutes. Another bus travels 3 miles in 10 minutes. Which one was faster? (1
mile = 1.6 km, approximately).

The famous Pakistani fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar (also known as the ‘Rawalpindi Express’) was trying to
set a bowling speed record of 100 miles/h. However, the stadium speedometer measured the speed in
km/h. In one over, the values recorded were 158.3 km/h, 155 km/h, 142 km/h, 157.3 km/h, 148 km/h and
159.2 km/h. Do you think he reached his target in this over? Find out the record for the fastest bowling in
international cricket.

Example 9. You can practice some more conversions between units by doing the following
exercise:

Table 2

S.No. Convert to Using

1 cm/s m/s 1 m = 100 cm

2 inch/s cm/s 1 inch = 2.54 cm

3 km/h m/s 1 km = 1000 m and 1 h = 3600 s

23
 Typical Speeds
tortoise: 0.1 m/s

person walking: 1.4 m/s

falling raindrop: 9-10 m/s

cat running: 14 m/s

cycling: 20-25 km/h

cheetah running: 31 m/s

bowling speed of fast bowlers: 90-100 miles/h

badminton smash: 80-90 m/s

passenger jet: 180 m/s

space craft: 5200 m/s

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 At this point it is worth getting a feel of the speeds we encounter in our world. The
table on the left gives the typical speeds of some motions. Ask the students to add
more items to the list and to guess their speeds. To get a feel of the magnitude of
speed, take the walking speed as a reference and then compare how much faster or
slower the other motions are. For example, a domestic cat can run at ten times a
human being’s normal walking speed, while a cheetah can run twenty times faster.
Ask the students to find out how fast people can run to see if we can outrun a cat or a
cheetah chasing us!

Which is faster—the bowling speed of a fast bowler or a badminton smash?

Projects

1. Choose a motion for speed measurements. It could be your baby brother’s

crawling speed, the running speed of your pet dog, the speed at which your
friend cycles, the speed of water flowing in a canal, the speed at which a leaf
falls from a tree etc. Make several measurements of the speed of the motion
you have chosen, noting down the conditions under which you make the
measurements. Now analyse (with some help from your teacher) the
measurements to see if you can arrive at a figure for the typical speed of the
motion under study.

2. Try to find the typical speeds of more animals. Make a chart listing animals
(including humans) in the increasing order of their speeds. If you are good at
drawing you can draw their pictures along the list. Now see if the predators
are always faster than their prey!

25
 How Does a Leaf Fall?
Have you watched a dry leaf falling from a tree? Unless there is a strong breeze, the leaf tacks from
side to side as it comes down. See the paths shown in the Figs. 17 and 18. Do you think it is as easy to
measure the length of this path as that of a falling stone? Obviously not. So, how can we know the
distance for the estimation of the leaf's speed? Well, if we are mainly interested in the downward motion
of the leaf, we ignore the side-to-side swaying. The distance straight down divided by the time taken for
the leaf to fall is taken as the average speed of the falling leaf. If you make this assumption and if the
swaying motion is very small compared to the downward distance it travels, you will get a value close to
the actual speed of the leaf. Can you think of an experiment to verify this assumption?

Fig. 17 No wind Fig. 18 Windy day

Similarly, when analysing any real motion we often make the assumption that it is moving in a
straight line and ignore small movements in other directions. The examples discussed further on make
this assumption. While taking measurements in the activities, you can discuss the amounts of error
caused by this assumption.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Uniform and Non-Uniform Motion

It is possible that while doing all the speed measurement activities at least a
few of the students would have noticed that the speed does not remain the same
from the beginning to the end of the activity. If no one has made such an
observation, start a discussion about it with the following example.

Imagine, that we are tracking a school bus from the bus stop near your home
to your school. The bus arrives at the stop and you climb in. Then, the driver puts
it in gear and the bus starts moving. The bus reaches the school after some time
where it stops so you can get down. If we go by the definition given earlier, we
measure the distance from your home to school, and divide this distance by the
time taken to reach your school to find out the average speed of the bus. But, you
might have also observed that when the bus started, it moved at a slower speed,
and it picked up speed only after some time. The reverse happens before the bus
comes to a stop. Does this mean that during the motion from one bus stop to
another, the bus has moved at different speeds at different times? In that case,
what do we mean by the speed of the bus and how do we measure it?

27
 Average and Instantaneous Speed

Suppose a bus moves straight from point A to point B in 30 seconds (Fig. 19). The distance from
A to B is 300 meters. Then the average speed would be = 300 m ÷ 30 s = 300 ÷30 m/s =10 m/s.

A 300 m B

Fig. 19

Suppose we also make measurements at points between A and B (Fig. 20). We make the measurement
from A to C, then C to D and so on. We then calculate the speed for each segment.

A C D E B

Fig. 20

We get the following values:

Table 3

Points Distance Time taken Segment speed

A-C 20 m 2s 10 m/s

C-D 60 m 6s 10 m/s

D-E 120 m 12 s 10 m/s

E-B 100 m 10 s 10 m/s

We find that the average speed within each segment is the same as the average speed between A
and B, which is 10 m/s. This is therefore an example of Uniform Motion. That is, the speed remains
constant throughout the motion.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

Alternatively, let us suppose that the following values are obtained for measurements between the same
sets of points:
Table 4

Points Distance Time taken Segment speed

A-C 20 m 2s 10 m/s

C-D 60 m 10 s 6 m/s

D-E 120 m 8s 15 m/s

E-B 100 m 10 s 10 m/s

The last column in this table too shows the average speed for each segment. But here, the distance of
60 m between the points C and D has been covered in 10 seconds (as compared to 6 s as given in Table 3).
Therefore, the average speed between C and D here is 60 ÷ 10 m/s = 6 m/s. The total time taken to cover
the entire 300 m between the points A and B is still 30 s (add the values in the third column of Table 4). In the
very beginning, we had calculated the average speed over the entire distance between A and B (which
includes the segment CD) to be 10 m/s. How can we then explain the two different speeds for this segment?

This problem arises because we had initially considered only the total time taken to cover the total
distance in calculating the average speed. It only means that if the object had moved at a constant speed of
10 m/s from A to B, it would have covered the distance in 30 s. It does not tell us anything about the time
taken to cover the different parts of the total distance. As we can see above, it might be that the speed was
less than the average value in some parts and more than the average value in some other parts. This kind of
motion where the speed keeps changing is called Non-Uniform Motion.

You may well ask how we can know whether the speed of a moving object will remain uniform if we
further divide the segments into even smaller parts. The answer is that, of course, we cannot, unless we
actually make the measurements for the smaller segments. So, the only way we can know whether a
motion is uniform, is by measuring the speed of the object in motion in smaller segments along its path of
motion.

What is the smallest segment that can be measured? Think of the instruments you can use to measure
distance and time (rulers, measuring tapes, watches, clocks, mobile phones) and the smallest values you
can read on each instrument (this is also called the ‘least count’ of the instrument). This is how small a
segment can be. For example, if you are using a watch with a seconds hand you can measure the distances
traveled every second (the least count of your watch). You can then calculate the speed during each
second and use these measurements to see if motion is uniform over a longer period of time (say 15
minutes). In such a case, we call the speed measured over each second the Instantaneous Speed.

If we had a way of measuring a smaller time interval, say, one tenth of a second, then we would call the
speed obtained by the measurement over a tenth of a second as the instantaneous speed. Later on in the
module, we will discuss how to depict motion using graphs. Then we will see how distance-time graphs can
be used to work out the instantaneous speed. Whichever method we use, the term ‘instantaneous speed’
denotes ‘the average speed over the least count of the time-measurement device’.
29
Calculating Averages
Children (and not only children), often make mistakes in calculating the average speed of non-uniform
motion when speeds for all the segments of an entire path of motion are given. During teacher training
sessions we realised that the difference between calculating the average of rates and calculating the
average of simple numbers (that are not rates) is not clearly understood by many. The discussion in this
section addresses this issue. One example is about exam marks and percentage marks (percentage is a
rate, the amount of something per hundred) which is familiar to all students. The other example is about a
purchase in a vegetable market. You can substitute this example with a different one more suited to the
students’ social environment, if required.

Calculate the average of the following seven numbers:

67, 55, 87, 64, 73, 42, 38.

To do this, you have to add them all and divide the sum
by seven, thus getting 60.9.

But, suppose these numbers are actually Nida's

marks in various subjects and her report card is as
follows (Table 5):

Fig. 21 Dadima, see my report card!

Table 5

Subject Maximum marks Marks obtained Percentage

Hindi 100 67 67

English 100 55 55

Mathematics 100 87 87

Social science 100 64 64

Science 100 73 73

Craft 50 42 84

Music 50 38 76

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 The percentage is the number of marks which would have been obtained had the maximum marks
been 100. So, it is the ratio of marks given to the student, to hundred marks (the rate of marks per
hundred). The percentage is calculated by dividing the marks obtained by the maximum marks and then
multiplying the ratio by 100.

Now, if we have to find the average percentage (or what is sometimes wrongly called the ‘total
percentage’), what do we do? Do we take an arithmetic mean of all subject percentages? If we do that for
the above table we get 72.29. You should check all these calculations yourself. If this is correct, then
multiplying this number by the maximum marks and dividing by 100, should give us the total marks
obtained. Let us see if that happens. The total of maximum marks is 600 so if the average percentage is
72.29, then the total number of marks obtained should be 72.29 X 600 ÷ 100 = 433.74. But if we add up
the total marks obtained then we get only 426. Where have we gone wrong? If you go over the
calculations, you will see that we treated ratios or rates as simple numbers. For any set of ratios, the
averaging has to be done by adding all the numerators and denominators separately, and then taking the
ratio of the two sums. You can try this with different sets of numbers.

Your father went to the sabzi mandi to buy potatoes. At one place he bought 6 kg of potatoes at ` 6 / kg, at
another he saw a different variety of potatoes and bought 2 kg at ` 10/kg. What was the average price he
paid for the potatoes?

If the students cannot do the above problem, solve it for them.

Fig. 22 Buying potatoes in the bazaar 31

 Your father bought 6 kg of potatoes at ` 6/kg and 2 kg of potatoes at ` 10/kg. Now, you want to know
how much, on average, he paid for the potatoes—the average rate. If you take the arithmetic mean of
the two prices then the average rate, the price per kg of potatoes will be ` 8/kg. Your father bought 8 kg of
potatoes in all. If the average price was ` 8/kg he should have paid a total of ` 64 (8 X 8). But, he actually
paid (6 X 6 + 2 X 10) = ` 56. So, where did you go wrong in your calculations?

Let us do the calculation in another way. This time, we first total up how much we paid, ` 36 in the
first place and ` 20 in the second, totalling ` 56. Now, divide this by the total kilograms of the potatoes
bought, that is 6 kg + 2 kg = 8 kg. So we see that ` 56 have been paid for 8 kg of potatoes. Dividing 56 by
8 gives us an average price of ` 7/kg.

Coming to the estimation of average speed we should remember that speed is also a rate. Thus, the
average speed cannot be arrived at by simply taking the arithmetic mean, the average of various
‘speeds’. Rather, you will have to first calculate the total time taken to cover a distance and the total
distance covered, and then take the ratio of the two.

Example 10. Suppose a car covers 180 km at a uniform speed of 30 km/h, and the next 220 km at a
uniform speed of 55 km/h. The average speed will then be calculated in the following way:

Total distance traveled = 180 km + 220 km = 400 km

Total time taken = (180 km ÷ 30 km/h + 220 km ÷55 km/h)

= (180 ÷ 30 + 220 ÷55) h

= (6 + 4) h = 10 h

Then, the average speed will be = (400 ÷ 10) km/h = 40 km/h

Speedometer
Vehicle drivers do not carry measuring tapes and stopwatches to
measure speed. They just need to look at the watch-like dial of an
instrument fitted into the dashboard (Fig. 24). This is called the
speedometer. It directly shows the speed in km/h. So, how is speed
measured by the speedometer? The wheels of the vehicle have sensors
that count the number of rotations completed by the wheels per second.
This number, together with the diameter of the wheel is used to estimate the
distance covered by the vehicle in a second. The speed is shown in km/h.

Try to look at the speedometers of different vehicles like motorbikes,

buses, cars, etc. Do you find any differences between them? Do you think a Fig. 24
A typical speedometer
car's speedometer can be used in an aeroplane?

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Example 11. Radhika walks to Shabana’s house and from there both of them cycle together to the
market to buy a book. After the purchase, Radhika bids goodbye to Shabana and walks back home
directly from the shop. Write down some values (with units) for the distances and time intervals involved
as shown below in Table 6.

Finally, calculate Radhika’s average speed for her entire trip.

Fig. 23 A trip to the market

Table 6

S.No. Journey Distance travelled Time taken Average Speed

1 Radhika’s home to Shabana's house

2 Shabana's house to the book shop

3 Book shop to Radhika’s home

33
A popular game in villages is to roll a cycle tyre with a stick (Fig. 25). If the tyre has a diameter of 40 cm
and makes 10 revolutions per second, what will be its forward speed?

Fig. 25 Sonu on a roll

Hint: In one revolution, the tyre will cover the distance equal to the perimeter of the tyre. The perimeter of
a circle is roughly 3.14 times its diameter.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Crossroads

At this point, there are many ways forward. Depending on the students’ background you can go to
the section on graphical representation of motion on the next page, or to the discussion of acceleration
in one-dimensional motion later on in the module. You can choose to start with any of the two, but we
recommend that you discuss both sections. The vector treatment of motion (velocity, etc.) will be
discussed in the second module of this series.

35
 Graphical Representation

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Fig. 26 'B' for ball

If you had to describe a ball to someone who did not know what it was, which of the above
descriptions would you prefer (Fig. 26), the picture on the left or the paragraph on the right?

Pictures are often used to convey information. Graphs are pictures that show numerical data. Have
you watched cricket matches on TV? Often, the run rate is shown as a graph. Why do you think it is useful
to have data displayed in this form? Do you think graphs can be useful in describing motion as well?

If you are reading about graphs for the first time, we recommend that you first go through Appendix 2
on graphs and then come back to this section.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Different Graphs - A Sample

Internet use at a secondary school Favourite movie genres in a film class

India-Pakistan cricket match score

A typical electro-cardiogram (ECG)
showing electrical pulses generated by heart muscles

Water usage of different income groups

A graph showing a company’s growth over a decade

37
 Example 12. Once, my friend Ritu and I visited an old palace that had a large tiled hall. I made Ritu
walk slowly in a straight line across the hall. Using a stopwatch, I kept noting down the time at which she
crossed each tile. I got the data in Table 7.

What does this table tell me? If I subtract each reading for time by its preceding value, I will know
how much time Ritu took to cross that particular tile (Table 8).

Fig. 28 Ritu and Rehana do an experiment in a palace hall

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Table 7

Tile 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Distance (in m) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Time (in s) 1.25 2.4 3.4 4.2 5.0 5.7 6.5 7.3 8.0 8.8 9.6 10.4 11.3 12.6

Calculate the average speed for crossing each tile by dividing the length of the tile by the time taken
to cross it. What do the results of your calculations tell you about Ritu's motion?

Table 8

Tile 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Distance (in m) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Time (in s) 1.25 2.4 3.4 4.2 5.0 5.7 6.5 7.3 8.0 8.8 9.6 10.4 11.3 12.6

Time for each 1.25 1.15 1.00 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.9 1.3

Now, I can also plot the data as a graph by putting the tile number on the x-axis and time on the y-axis
(Fig.29).

Scale
1 major division on x axis = 1 tile
1 major division on y axis = 0.2 s

Tile Number

Fig. 29 Time taken to cross each tile

39
 Since I know the length of each tile, I can also plot a time-distance graph (Fig. 30).

Scale
1 major division on x axis = 2 m
1 major division on y axis = 2 s

Distance (m)

Fig. 30 Total time taken by Ritu to cross the tiles in the hall

A look at the graph straight away tells me that the points do not lie on a single straight line. That
means the time taken to cross each tile is different. Had that not been the case (if the time taken to cross
each tile was the same for all tiles in the hall), the plotted points would be on a straight line (why?).

A widespread confusion about the interpretation of graphs exists because students think the line of the
graph is a drawing of the physical situation the graph describes. For example, looking at the time-distance
graph here, some students may imagine that it shows the path actually taken by Ritu. Draw a grid of the tiled
floor on paper and ask them to draw what they think is Ritu’s path (Fig. 31). Then you can talk about the
difference between a graph and a drawing. The actual path represents the positions in space whereas the
graph points are measurements of distances between those positions (Fig. 32).

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Scale
1 major division on x axis = 2 s
1 major division on y axis = 2 m

Time (s)

Fig. 31 Ritu's path while walking down the hall Fig. 32 Distance-time graph of Ritu's motion

Remember, graphs are

Scale
pictures of numbers, 1 major division on x axis = 1 s
1 major division on y axis = 5 m
not objects!

Example 13. The

adjacent Fig. 33 shows
several graphs. Time is
plotted on the horizontal
axis and distance on the
vertical axis. The vertical
axis shows the position
with respect to the starting
point. Which of the lines
correspond to uniform
motion? Time (s)
Fig. 33 Distance-time graph showing the position vs. time for
three different objects 41
 Let us see what more a distance-
Scale
time graph can tell us. To begin with, 1 major division on x axis = 30 minutes
1 major division on y axis = 20 km
let us look at the graph (Fig. 34) which
shows the positions of three cars at
car 2
different times.

What can we infer from looking at

this graph? First, the position of car 3 car 1
is constant with time. This means that
it remains at one place and is not
moving (with respect to the point of
reference, of course). So, a horizontal
line on a distance-time graph
indicates an object at rest.

Next, look at the graph for car 1.

The graph for this is also a straight car 3
line but it is not horizontal; it is slanted
with respect to the axes. Let us read
the data points from the graph. Are
you able to read the distances 30 60 90 120 150 180
corresponding to 30 minutes, 60
minutes and 90 minutes? These Time (minutes)
distances are 25 km, 50 km and 75
Fig. 34 Distance-time graph showing the position vs. time for
km respectively. If you do a bit of three cars
subtraction, you will see that the car moves equal distances in equal time intervals, that is, 25 km every
30 minutes. If we calculate the average speed between any two points, it will come out to be 50 km/h
(you have to convert the units for time from min to h). That means car 1 is moving at a uniform speed.

If we do a similar exercise for car 2 we see that it also has a uniform motion but the speed is different
from car 1, at 60 km/h. In fact, any straight line on a graph has the property that the ratio of the increment
in ‘y’ values and the increment in ‘x’ values remains constant. For a distance-time graph this means
the speed is uniform.

You also see that the line for car 2 is slanted more steeply than that for car 1. It means that the
distance covered by car 2 is changing faster. In other words, it has a higher speed. So, the more
steeply slanted a line, higher the speed. The slant of a straight line is mathematically defined as its
slope and is calculated as shown in the following box.

The slope of any straight line is the ratio of the change in values on the y-axis to the corresponding
change in values on the x-axis. That is, if a value on the x-axis is changed by 10 units and if the

Change in y-value y
Slope of a straight line in a graph = =
Change in x-value x

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Here the students should come to the conclusion that if distance-time graph is a straight line,
the motion must be uniform. You can plot different sets of imaginary data to confirm this.

corresponding value on the y-axis changes by 20 units, then the slope will be 20÷10 = 2. Similarly, in the
case of a distance-time graph, the slope of the graph line is the ratio of the change on the distance-axis to
the corresponding change in values on the time-axis. This ratio of distance and time is nothing but the
average speed. Therefore, we can conclude that the slope of a distance-time graph is the average
speed of the object whose motion we are studying.

When the distance-time graph is a horizontal line, this line is parallel to the time axis and it makes an
angle of zero degrees with it. So, the slope of this horizontal line is zero and therefore, the average speed
of the object that the line describes is also zero.

You may ask, when is the distance-time graph not a straight line? Going by the above argument, this
will happen if for equal changes in time the distance travelled is different. In terms of speed, this means
that at different times the speed is different—the speed is non-uniform. As you may have experienced,
most motions that we observe are non-uniform, which is why we can easily get data to plot some of them.
The first example we are going to discuss is Rashid’s train journey.

Rashid traveled by train from Hoshangabad to Powarkheda. He estimated the distance the train
traveled in two-minute intervals by counting the telephone poles along the railway tracks. He noted his
estimates in the form of a graph (Fig. 35). This graph describes the motion of the train from the time it left
Hoshangabad station until it stopped at Powarkheda station. Read from the graph the distance covered
by the train in each two-minute interval and enter the numbers in a table like the one given below.

Table 9

Time taken (in minutes) Distance covered (in meters)

0-2 (First 2 minutes) 100

2-4 (Next 2 minutes) 400

4-6 (.........,,.........)

..... (.........,,.........)

..... (.........,,.........)

20-22 (.........,,.........)

43
 Scale
1 major division on x axis = 2 minutes
1 major division on y axis = 1 km

Time (minutes)
Fig. 35 Distance covered by a train traveling between Hoshangabad and Powarkheda against time taken

Did the train Rashid was traveling in cover equal distances in equal intervals of time? Which
sections of the graph show the changing motion, the non-uniform motion of the train? Which sections of
the graph show the uniform motion of the train? In which section of the graph is the train stationary?

Look at the sections of non-uniform and uniform motion in the graph. A curve in a graph of motion
means the speed of the object is changing continuously in that section. Examine 2-minute sections of the
graph. Look at the pattern of average speed in section AB of the graph. The curved line shows a gradual
increase in the train’s speed as it leaves Hoshangabad station. In section BC, where we have a straight
line, the speed remains the same throughout that section. Further, in section CD, we find a curve again
and if we analyse it in 2-minute segments, we find that the speed is not constant in that section. In fact, it
shows a decreasing pattern.
1. What is the average speed of the train from t = 0 minutes to t = 6 minutes?

2. What is the average speed of the train from t = 4 minutes to t =14 minutes?

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 So far, we have calculated the slope as the distance traveled in a given time interval and thus
estimated the average speed for that time segment. Can one also find out the instantaneous speed of
motion from the graph? If you remember, instantaneous speed is the speed over the smallest
measurable time interval.

Scale
1 major division on x axis = 0.5 minutes
1 major division on y axis = 0.25 km

Time (minutes)

Fig. 36 Calculating the slope for a distance-time graph to find the instantaneous speed

Applying that definition here, we can reduce the time interval to a sufficiently small value and
calculate the slope. Time t = 6 minutes corresponds to the point P on the graph.

Figure 36 shows three segments from one side of point P to the other, each a neighbourhood. As we
go closer and closer to point P, the straight line joining the two ends of a neighbourhood starts
overlapping with the curve itself. Can you safely assume that in the segment of the curve from t = 5.5
minutes to t = 6.5 minutes, the average speed is the same as the slope of the straight line joining the two
graph points in this neighbourhood? We can take the slope of the straight line and call it the speed at its

45
midpoint, the speed at t = 6 minutes, or 'the instantaneous speed' at t = 6 minutes. Thus, the
instantaneous speed at a particular instant can be equated to the average speed of a particular time
interval, provided:

1. The particular instant is included in that time interval.

2. The slope of the line joining the end points of the neighbourhood is obtained for a small enough
part of the curve, one which is nearly a straight line segment so that it does not change
appreciably when we compute it over a still smaller time interval.

If the segment length is made infinitely small (such that the segment can be taken to be almost a
point), the straight line corresponding to its slope is called a ‘tangent’ at that point of the curve.

Now, you may like to go back and estimate Rashid’s speed at t = 6, 12 and 18 minutes.

Suppose you get the distance-time graph of a rolling ball on an inclined plane similar to Fig. 37, can
you say by just looking at the graph whether its speed is increasing, decreasing or constant?

Try and draw a few tangents at different points in this graph. Remember, we have just discussed that
tangents can replace the straight lines joining the ends of very small neighbourhoods. Compare the
slopes of these lines. The tangent passing through point A is tilted more towards the x-axis, compared
with the tangent at point B, and so on. You find that the slope is increasing continuously from point A to
point B to point C, and so on. It means the instantaneous speed, which is interpreted as the slope of
these tangents, is also continuously increasing.

Scale
1 major division on x axis = 10 s
1 major division on y axis = 20 m

Time (s)
Fig. 37 Finding the slope at different points on a distance-time graph to interpret non-uniform motion

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 At the same time, if you draw a distance-time graph of the motion of a car as its brakes are being
applied, you will find that the slopes at different points of the graph keep decreasing with time and so you
can say that the speed is decreasing (Fig. 38).

Scale
1 major division on x axis = 10 s
1 major division on y axis = 20 m

Time (s)
Fig. 38 Finding the slope at different points on a distance-time graph of a car after its brakes have been applied

Looking at the graphs of non-uniform motion and the effort required to extract information about the
changing speeds from them, it may be better to directly plot a speed versus time graph.

In a speed-time graph, conventionally, instantaneous speed is shown on the vertical axis and time is
shown on the horizontal axis. Table 10 lists data on the positions and speeds of a freely falling body at
different points in time. Figs. 39 and 40 show the distance-time and the speed-time graphs, respectively,
for this data.

Table 10
Data Point Time (s) Distance from Instantaneous speed
the starting point (m) (m/s)

1 1 5 10

2 2 20 20

3 3 45 30

4 4 80 40

5 5 125 50

47
 Scale
Scale
1 major division on x axis = 1 s
1 major division on x axis = 1 s
1 major division on y axis = 10 m/s
1 major division on y axis = 25 m
125

100

75

50

25

0 1 2 3 4 5

Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 39 Distance-time graph showing Fig. 40 Instantaneous speed-time graph showing

non-uniform motion the same non-uniform motion

If you want to further explore the graphical representation of motion, you can use the material given
in Appendix 2. Showing the students two graphs with different speed-time behaviours is one way to
introduce acceleration. However, if you do not want to use graphs, you can go straight to the section that
begins on the following page after the discussion on average speed.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

Acceleration in One-Dimensional Motion

What is the difference between a racing car and one that you normally see in everyday traffic? One
difference is that the racing vehicle has a higher top speed.

Another important difference is that a racing car has a higher pick-up. What does the word ‘pick-up’
mean (remember the ad slogan “0 to 60 in 8 s”)? It tells you how fast a vehicle can increase its speed.
This is one way of measuring the non-uniformity of motion. The technical term for it is ‘acceleration’.

Acceleration (for motion in a single dimension) can be defined mathematically by the following
relationship:

Final speed (v) - Initial speed (u)

Magnitude of Acceleration (a) =
Time over which this speed change is measured (t)

Suppose a bus is moving at a speed of 30 km/h, and the speed is then increased in one minute to 50
km/h. The acceleration of the bus is calculated in the following way:

Change in speed = 50 km/h – 30 km/h = 20 km/h

Time taken for this change = 1 min

Magnitude of acceleration = 20 km/h / 1 min = 20 km/h / 1/60 h =1200 km/h2

Note that we converted the time taken from minutes to hours. If we had not done so, the acceleration
would have been 20 km/ h.min. Both the units are equally valid but conventionally, the former is used.

If the bus slows down to 10 km/h in 1 min (from the same initial speed) then its acceleration is:

Magnitude of acceleration = (10 km/h - 30 km/h) / 1 /60 h = - 20 km/h / 1/60 h = -1200 km/h
2

* ‘a’, ‘u’, ‘v’ and’t’ are standard symbols. 49

 The acceleration is negative now. Negative acceleration is also called ‘retardation’ or ‘deceleration’.
Thus, a positive value for acceleration indicates an increase in speed with time whereas a negative
value means a decrease in speed with time. A higher value of deceleration means that the moving object
can be stopped in a shorter time. This also means that it will come to a stop over a shorter distance.

Why must you maintain a larger distance behind a vehicle with a ‘power brake’?

At this stage it may be helpful to do an activity where accelerated motion can be observed. You can
start by posing the problem of measuring the motion of a falling stone. In line with earlier measurements
made by the students, they may suggest using a stopwatch and making marks on a wall to measure the
speed of the stone at various points during its fall. You will find that the time taken by the stone to fall to the
ground is too short to be measured accurately by a stopwatch. Someone might suggest going up on the
roof and dropping the stone from there. Try all possible methods. If the measurements are difficult to
make, ask the students to think whether the motion (speed) of a falling stone is uniform or not, and why.
All non-uniform motion involves acceleration.

Once the students have reached the conclusion that it is not possible to measure the time of a freely
falling object using ordinary stopwatches, lead the discussion onto how to get around this problem. One
way is to use instruments that can measure faster. Such devices, like electronic stopwatches can
measure smaller intervals of time. The other way is to somehow slow down the fall of the object. Discuss
the various ways in which this can be done. One could be to make it fall in a liquid column. Another way
could be to move the object down a plane inclined at some angle other than the vertical. Galileo used this
method to arrive at his theory of motion and inertia. His innovation was to increase the time of fall by
using an inclined plane and rolling a ball on it.

Galileo pointed out that the nature of motion in both these cases (free fall as well as motion on an
inclined plane) is the same because the governing forces are similar. The forces acting on a ball rolling
down an inclined plane are gravity and the friction offered by the plane. We will discuss them in detail in
the second module of this series. Similarly, in a free fall, a body falls under the influence of forces due to
gravity and air resistance. So, the difference between the nature of motion in both these cases is only in
the magnitudes of these forces. The vertical free fall is actually a limiting case of the motion along an
inclined plane and the vertical plane can be taken as an inclined plane kept at an angle of 90 degrees.

The following activity can be done either as a demonstration by the teacher or by students in groups
of 4 or 5. It requires minimal equipment which can be easily procured in most schools. This is also the
point where we take up an example of motion in a vertical direction, although it is still in a single
dimension. This will hopefully prevent the students from thinking that motion in one dimension means
only in the horizontal plane (a widely held misconception).

During this activity, you may get a chance to address a widespread confusion between speed and
acceleration. Try to emphasise that these are entirely different quantities. An object may be moving at a
very high speed with zero acceleration, whereas another may be moving very slowly but with a very large
acceleration. For example, consider a car starting as the signal turns from red to green. Its initial speed is
zero but its acceleration is large. After it has crossed the signal and reached the highway, the car’s speed
is quite high but its acceleration may be close to zero.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

Modern Galileos

Let us now try to do some measurements on an accelerating object. This activity is inspired by a
landmark experiment done by the famous scientist Galileo in the 17th century. All you need to do is to
arrange a plank, a ball to roll on it, a scale to measure distance and a stopwatch to measure time
intervals. You can use the back of a blackboard, table-tops or classroom desks as planks for this activity.
Make sure that the plank is more or less flat, without dents and is at least 1 meter long (it will be difficult to
take the readings if the plank is any shorter). Divide the plank into two equal segments of 45 cm by
drawing lines across its width. Also mark a small line 3-4 cm before the first line. This will be the mark for
releasing the ball (Fig. 41). Now, keep the plank on the floor or a flat table and raise one end by 3-4 cm.
The plank will then be inclined at an angle of about two degrees to the horizontal. The accompanying
pictures show one such arrangement with two segments marked on a plank. You can use small rubber or
plastic balls, or even glass marbles for rolling down the inclined plane. The experiment consists of rolling

Fig. 41 A group of teachers doing the inclined plane activity. The picture on the bottom left shows a ruler to
keep the ball at the starting point. When the ruler is removed, the ball starts rolling from this fixed
starting place and with minimum starting speed.
51
the ball down the inclined plank and measuring the time it takes to cross each segment. For this, assign
one person with a stopwatch to each segment. A third person starts the ball rolling by releasing it at the
starting line. The time taken for the ball to cross each segment is noted down in a table similar to the one
given below (Table 11). Once the time to cross each segment has been noted down, the average speed
in each segment can be calculated by dividing the segment length by the time taken.

Like in any experiment, some precautions need to be taken to get reliable data. Firstly, the starting
point should be the same in each trial. For example, in the bottom left picture of Fig. 41, three small lines
can be seen drawn perpendicular to the starting line. These are to ensure that the ball is always released
from the same place. The starting point should be selected by rolling the ball down the plane from
various points along the starting line, and selecting the spot from where the ball rolls straight down the
plank and does not veer to the sides. Ensuring that the starting point is the same takes care of any
difference between trials arising due to warps, dents or scratches on the plank. In this way we try to
minimise systematic errors. For more details on systematic errors and the ways in which they can be
avoided, refer to appendix 3.

Secondly, care should be taken that the ball is not given an initial push when being released, that is,
it must be released from a stationary position. This can be done with some practice. Using a ruler to hold
the ball in place and releasing the ball by lifting the ruler off the board also works well. Thirdly, the
experiment should be repeated several times. This is to get an estimate of the random error.

Table 11
Segment Length: _____ cm

Material of the ball: ___________

Tilt given to the plank: _____ degrees

Segment no. Time taken to cross the Average speed in

segment(s) the segment (m/s)

First

Second

Alternatively, the readings can also be taken as follows: one student notes the time taken for the ball
to cross the first segment, and another notes the time taken for the ball to cross two segments. The time
taken to cross each segment can then be calculated from the two values.

You can divide the plank into three segments and repeat the experiment. You can do this if the plank is
long enough and the students become skillful in using the stopwatch to get accurate values for time.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Table 12

Segment no. Time taken to cross the Average speed in

segment(s) the segment (m/s)

1 2.72 0.18

2 1.89 0.25

3 1.51 0.32
4 1.33 0.36

5 1.15 0.42

6 0.93 0.52

Table 12 shows the data from such an experiment done with a much longer aluminium plank during
a training workshop. The plank was divided into six segments of 48 cm each.

Analysis:

1. Look at the second column of Table 12. The time taken to cross each segment decreases
continuously as the ball progresses down the plank. Since the segments are all of the same
length, this means the ball moves faster in the later segments. Based on the definitions of speed
and acceleration we arrived at earlier, we deduce that the ball is undergoing accelerated motion
and that this acceleration is positive.

2. The average speeds calculated in the third column of Table 12 show that the average speed
increases as the ball moves down. Now, we can imagine what would have happened if the plank
had been divided into more segments. The same length could have been divided into 9
segments. Then too we would have found the average speed for each segment to be higher than
that for the preceding segment. Subdividing the segments like this (in our imagination), we can

Fig. 42 Ball rolling down the planks inclined at various angles, including the vertical.

53
 argue that the instantaneous speed (i.e. the average speed measured over the smallest time
interval) increases continuously as the ball rolls down the plank.

3. Change the angle of the plank and repeat the experiment (Fig. 42). You will find that although the
times to cross the segments change, the time taken by the ball to cross the second segment is
always less than the time taken to cross the first. This will hold true even if the plank is held
vertical, a situation equivalent to dropping a ball in air, that is, free fall. Thus, we can conclude that
free fall is also accelerated motion.

Imagine trying to measure the acceleration of, say, an ant, or someone taking a walk, a rolling ball or a
stone thrown in the air. Discuss amongst yourselves the best way to do this.

Acceleration Around Us
Which do you think has a higher speed—a giant wheel in a mela or a Shatabdi Express train? If you
guessed the Shatabdi, then you are right. The average speed of a Shatabdi Express train is nearly 10
times that of a typical giant wheel. Yet, the thrill you get on a giant wheel is absent while seated in the air-
conditioned comfort of this train. One reason may be that a person sitting in a uniformly moving train
feels almost no acceleration, whereas in a giant wheel the acceleration can be as much as 1.5 times that
felt by a freely falling stone. But even in the train, we can feel the change in motion when the train is
speeding up, slowing down or turning along a curve. This change in motion can be felt more starkly when
traveling in a bus; when the driver brakes suddenly, the jerk we feel is the (negative) acceleration of the
bus coming to a stop.

In a giant wheel, we experience forces in different directions when we are at the top, the middle
and the bottom of the ride. Along with this, the sensation of moving up and down adds to the thrill. We will
learn more about the action of force on motion in part 2 of this series of modules.

Fig. 43 Various positions in a giant wheel

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion
 Some typical values for acceleration are shown in Table 13:

Table 13
Sl. No. Motion Typical acceleration (m/s2)

1 Falling stone (free fall, on Earth) 9.8

2 Falling stone (on the Moon) 1.6

3 Lift in a shopping mall 1

4 Bullet shot out of a gun 1,00,000

5 Pick-up of a family car 3

6 Pick-up of a racing car 170

Is There an Accelerometer?

You might be wondering if, like the speedometer, vehicles also have an
instrument that measures and displays acceleration. The answer is ‘no’, there is no
such instrument on normal vehicles. The reasons probably are, (a) in the normal
course of driving, information about speed is sufficient for the driver, and (b) as you
have seen, it is much more complicated to measure acceleration. However, there are
instruments called accelerometers available and you will see them if you visit a car
factory. They are used in testing the performance of engines as well as brakes.
Accelerometers are also used to measure vibrations in cars, machines, buildings,
process control systems and safety installations. Specifically configured
accelerometers called gravimeters are used to measure changes in gravity.
Accelerometers are now being used to track the movements of animals, in sports
training, rockets and video games. They can also be seen in the latest mobile
phones.

55
 Predicting Motion

Until now we have described motion in two By this time the students
ways: one, by giving values of the measured would have got some
position or speed at different times, and the other familiarity in quantifying the
showing the same information graphically. So far, so motion of phenomena which
good. But we have to remember that one aim of they observe all around them.
science is also to predict how any process is going Now, they can be introduced to
the correspondence of a
to evolve with time, if the initial conditions are
p h y s i c a l p ro c e s s t o a n
known. Coming to the question of where we would
appropriate mathematical
need to use the calculations of motion, just think of
equation, another powerful tool
our vast railway network. How would we coordinate used by science. These
the running of trains on the same track if we could equations are, for the moment,
not calculate the position of a moving train at described in the scalar form for
different times? Can you think of some more one-dimensional motion.
examples?

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Fig. 44 Various moving objects

To take a specific case, a bus is traveling in a certain direction at a uniform speed of 40 km/h. Can we
tell how far the bus will have traveled in six and a half hours if it kept to the same speed? Or, a bus is
moving at a speed of 20 km/h and is given an acceleration of 120 km/h in the same direction. Can we
2

predict what its speed will be after 30 minutes? Conversely, can we find out how much time will it take to
increase the speed of the bus to 60 km/h?

To answer such questions, science uses another tool, which is the mathematical representation of
objects, properties and physical processes. We have already seen that we can define and measure
some properties of linear motion, namely distance, time, speed and acceleration. Now we shall see how
to mathematically define the relations between these quantities. Such relations are nothing but
equations connecting the various mathematical quantities.

57
 In describing acceleration earlier on page 49, we had written the following equation:

a = (v-u) ÷ t

where ‘u’ is the initial speed, ‘v’ the final speed, ‘t’ the time taken to change the speed and ‘a’ the
acceleration. These terms can be rearranged to get the more popular form:

v = u + at which is also known as the first equation of motion.

If an object has constant acceleration, then we know from the above discussion that its speed
changes linearly with time (Fig. 40 on page 48). In this case, the average speed is equal to (u + v) / 2. A
general proof of this is beyond the scope of this module, but do remember this averaging works only if
acceleration is constant. We know from our prior discussion that the average speed = distance
covered/ time taken. If we denote distance by ‘s’, then we can write:

(u + v) ÷ 2 = s ÷t

This can be rewritten as:

s = (u + v) X t ÷ 2

Substituting for v from first equation of motion, we get:

s = (u+ u + at) X t ÷ 2

s= ut+at ÷ 2 which is also known as the second equation of motion.

2

We can also combine the above two equations to get a third relationship in terms of only ‘v’, ‘u’, ‘s’
and ‘a’.

From the first equation,

v= u + at

giving t = (v – u) ÷ a

And from second equation of motion,

s = ut + ½ at
2

Substituting for ‘t’ in the second equation, we get:

s = u ( v-u) ÷ a + ½ a (v-u) ÷a
2 2

Then the equation can be simplified (try to do this yourself) to the following, more common form:

v2 = u2 + 2 as which is also known as the third equation of motion.

If the motion of an object is retarded, you will have to take '-a' as the magnitude of a.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 At this point students should be made to do some problems using these equations. Standard textbook
problems deal with the movements of balls, stones and vehicles which may seem a little artificial to them. To
kindle their interest, two projects are given below. After working on the projects they can be asked to do some
of the problems from the problem set.

For the projects, the students have to make a written schedule which can be displayed on the wall like a
poster. They can make it attractive by putting in drawings and pictures as well. You can also make up more
such examples and hold a competition between different groups. These projects will give them some practice
in doing calculations using the equations of motion.

From here they can go on to do the more conventional problems given in appendix 5.

Project 1: Shakkarpara Express

Remember our vast railway network? The railway timetable is made by calculating how much time
each train will take between two stations, how much time-gap there should be between two trains on the
same track, etc. All these calculations use the very same relationships that we have been discussing. If
you like, you can also try your hand at designing an imaginary rail network.

In the times of the Rajas, the different Indian kingdoms had each their own separate railway
network. Let us imagine a small but rich jagir with three villages. The jagirdar, Seth Shakarkand, lives in
Shakkarpara, grows sugarcane in Gannaganj, and the sugar mill is in the third village, Milleria. The
jagirdar wants a railway to travel between the villages and transport sugarcane to the mill. He calls his
engineer and tells him to make the train schedule for the sugarcane season:

1. Shakarkand’s supervisor and some more employees have to go from Shakkarpara in the morning
to reach Gannaganj by 8 a.m and Milleria before 9 a.m.

2. Shakkarkand wants to go around mid-day to Gannnaganj, spend two hours there, then go to
Milleria, spend two hours there and then come back.

3. Loading sugarcane onto the train takes two hours. Unloading at the mill takes one hour. If
possible, the train should make two trips every day between Gannaganj and Milleria so that
sugarcane from other nearby farms can also be taken to the mill from Gannaganj.

4. In the evening, Shakkarkand’s employees have to come back from Milleria and Gannaganj to
Shakkarpara.

The small meter-gauge train has an average speed of 20 km/h. Gannaganj and Milleria are 20 km
and 30 km west of Shakkarpara, respectively. Try to make a train schedule with a minimum number of
trips.

59
Project 2: Picnic Pickup

Your group of five friends decides to go to Patalpaani (a nearby waterfall) for a picnic. The jeep
driver has to be told when to pick you all up from your houses. You decide to make a schedule so that you
can give the exact time to everyone. In residential areas, the jeep can only travel at an average speed of
20 km/h, but once it is on the main road, it can travel at 60 km/h. You want to spend five hours at the
waterfall and your mother wants you back home by 6 p.m.

The distances are as follows:

Your house to Akash’s house: 2 km

Akash's house to Priya's house: 1 km

Priya's house to Bholu's house: 1.5 km

Bholu's house to Ganga’s place: 3 km

Ganga’s place to the main road: 2 km

Distance from Ganga’s place to the waterfall: 50 km

At each house, the jeep stops for five minutes for people to board, and during the return journey, it
again stops for five minutes for them to get off. You can calculate the times needed for the jeep to go from
one point to another. You can then find out the total time required for the trip, and accordingly tell the
driver when to pick you up from your house. Fill in the schedule given below:

Driver reporting at your place: ........am

Jeep reaches Akash’s house: ........am

Jeep reaches Priya’s house: ........am

Jeep reaches Bholu’s house: ........am

Jeep reaches Ganga’s house: ........am

Jeep reaches waterfall: ........am

Jeep starts from waterfall: .......pm

Jeep reaches Ganga’s house: .......pm

Jeep reaches Bholu’s house: .......pm

Jeep reaches Priya’s house: .......pm

Jeep reaches Akash’s house: .......pm

Jeep reaches your house: .......pm

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 So, where do you think these relationships between distance, time, speed and acceleration are
used? Two interesting examples are described in the boxes that follow.

What Do Bats and Submarines Have in Common?

Bats are flying mammals, half the time hanging upside down from trees. Submarines are
sophisticated underwater vehicles which can stay submerged for months. So what possibly
can be common between them? They both calculate the motion of sound pulses to find out
how far objects are from them. Bats have very poor eyesight, but you must have seen how
they are able to zoom around even in the dark. This is because they use sound rather than
light to ‘see’ things. Bats emit high-pitched sound pulses, and when these pulses hit any
object like a wall, branch of a tree or an insect, they are reflected back to the bats. The bat
brain can sense the time elapsed between the emitted pulse and the reflected (echo) pulse,
and thereby estimate the distance of the object from itself.

Human brains and sense organs do not possess these abilities, but we have developed
instruments like radar and sonar which do the same thing. Submarines use underwater sonar
to ‘see’ what is around them in the water. Sound pulses are continuously emitted and the time
for them to return after being reflected is measured (Fig. 47). Knowing the speed of sound in
water, the distance of the object is estimated. Not only that, by continuously monitoring the
time taken for the reflected sound to return to the source, we can find out if the object is
stationary, coming towards the submarine or going away from it. Sonars are used in ships to
locate submarines and fishes in deep seas, and to even study the seabed. Try to find out
more examples in real life where calculations of speed, distance, time and acceleration are
used.

Fig. 47 Sound waves transmitted from the ship

and reflected back from a shoal of fish Fig. 48 Graph of active sonar data

61
 How Far from Us is the Moon?

Have you ever wondered how the distance between the earth and its moon came to be
known? Well, many techniques have been used throughout history, but the most accurate and
direct measurement has been done by using the time taken for something to go to the moon
and come back. Since the moon is very far from the earth, we would prefer the motion of this
thing to be very fast so that the time taken to reach the moon and come back is not too great
(scientists do try to be efficient and quick!). The fastest thing known to us is light. The
astronauts who landed on the moon in 1969 placed huge mirrors called retroreflectors there
(Fig. 46). Then light pulses from lasers on the earth were aimed at these mirrors. The time
taken for the reflected light to return was determined (Fig. 45). Because the speed of light is
known with a high degree of precision, the distance from the earth to the moon can be
calculated using this simple equation:

Distance = (Speed of light × Time taken for light pulse to come back after reflection) ÷ 2

The time for a light pulse to go from the earth to the moon and back was around 2.5 s. Of
course, the light pulse itself is of a much shorter duration than this (can you work out why this
has to be so?). The average distance between Earth and its moon has thus been measured to
be about 3,84,467 kilometers (238,897 miles). The earth-moon distance has been averaged
because it varies a little over time—you might have read about the ‘supermoon’ occurring
periodically when the moon is very close to the earth.

Fig. 45 Schematic diagram of a laser rangefinder

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Moon Retroreflector
Fig 14

Fig. 46 Retroreflector placed on the moon by Apollo11 astronauts

By this point the students would have hopefully become interested enough in motion to be willing to
extend themselves and go deeper into the subject. In the next module, we start by discussing what causes
motion and what causes acceleration. We will also discuss the vector nature of velocity, acceleration and
force, although the students might not yet have encountered vectors. In additon, the next module includes
the historical development of the concepts of force and motion. This will help students in getting a
conceptually correct understanding of the subject as well as serve as an example of how scientific theories
develop.

63
 Appendix 1

Science and the Scientific Method

This appendix is addressed to teachers. The evolution of the concepts of motion and force will be
discussed in part 2 of this series where readers will get a flavour of the scientific approach. Two project
ideas are given at the end of this appendix for teachers to use.

Have you ever wondered what science is and why is it considered different from other fields of
study? One way of defining science is that it is a process of studying something scientifically or, in other
words, that uses the scientific method. Thus, we have mathematical science, physical science,
biological science and even social
science. The common factor amongst
all these 'sciences' is the scientific
method. Heavier the falling mass,
more is the speed
The evolution of our understanding
of motion and force is a very good
example to see how science and the
scientific method evolved over time. In
the early civilizations, people used only
their unaided senses to make
observations and the philosopher-
scientists of that time proposed a theory
Heavy or light,
of motion based on such observations. same is the speed
One influential philosopher was
Aristotle (384-322 BC). He claimed that
the speed of a falling object increases in
proportion to its mass (heavier objects
fall faster than lighter ones). The logic of
this claim was questioned by other More the speed,
philosophers, but a general belief in heavier is the mass
Aristotle's theory continued.
Meanwhile, with progress in the
techniques to measure time and
distance, it was possible to carry out
experimental tests of the theory of
motion. Finally, in the 17th century,
Galileo (1564-1642) showed by an

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

experimental test and logical extrapolation that all objects dropped from the same height will reach the
ground at the same time if there is no friction due to air. Several scientists continued to add their
refinements to these findings with Newton (1643-1727) expressing the then available knowledge in the
form of equations and laws. Newton proposed that the acceleration (rate of change in speed) of an
object is proportional to the force applied on it. The mass of the object is an inherent property of the
object and is constant. This became the basis for Newtonian mechanics which was considered correct
and was expected to explain all the observed motions on Earth as well as all astronomical motions.
However, over the course of time, some observations were found that did not fall in line with the
predictions of Newton's laws. In particular, the observation that the speed of light is a constant (and does
not depend on the frame of reference) called for a more comprehensive theory. Einstein, Lorentz and
Poincare's works led to a more accurate theory, namely that of special relativity.

The theory that is currently accepted was proposed by Einstein (1879-1955). According to this
theory, at very high speeds (near the speed of light, which is a constant), the mass of an object
increases. This effect is noticeable only at very high speeds which we do not normally encounter. If you
look at the dates in the preceding paragraph, you will see that from Aristotle to Galileo was a journey of
2000 years, Galileo to Newton about 85 years, and from Newton to Einstein more than 200 years! Over
this time period, our understanding of motion was continuosly evolving. The initial understanding was
that heavier objects fall faster and that this is their intrinsic nature. This was later modified, and the
understanding was then that the action of a constant gravitational field, with no other forces interfering in
it, will lead to all objects falling with the same acceleration. Galileo took these laws to apply on Earth and
Newton's laws of gravity extended our understanding to the motion of heavenly bodies as well. But a
further refinement was added by Einstein to limit these rules to bodies moving with speeds much lower
than that of light.

This is not the end. If scientists find inconsistencies in this theory, then it will be reworked.
However, until now no experimental measurements have contradicted its predictions. Scientists are
continuously working on devising more accurate tests of the theory. It is possible that in the near future
some experiment will reveal an error in the theory and then theorists will have to get down to working out
a better theory which will also explain these new results. In any field of science, you will find a similar
process of continuous evolution, of an understanding of any topic that is arrived at by the cumulative
work of several people over a period of time. This may be termed the scientific method.

The scientific method currently rests on three foundation stones: (a) accurate and objective
observation, (b) mathematical and logical analysis and (c) modeling. Depending on the problem to
be solved, these three tools can be used in different ways and in different orders.

A sample recipe for the scientific method can be stated as follows:

Step No. 1: Ask a question—why, how, what, where, when, etc. about something. This question
could be triggered by a phenomenon you observed directly or by thinking about something you might
have read about or heard of.

65
 Step No. 2: Find out whether anyone else has any information on the subject. You do this by asking
people and by reading the available literature on the subject. This is called background research. If this
exercise answers your question to 'your' satisfaction, you may look for another question. It is possible
that later someone else comes up with a point that you had overlooked and the currently accepted
answer is found to need some modification. This going back and forth is an integral part of science. A
scientific theory (in contrast to dogma), is accepted as valid only until no new fact emerges to contradict
it. The moment that happens, people start working towards a new theory.

Step No. 3: Construct a hypothesis to answer the question. That is, you make a guess, an intelligent
one, based on current knowledge. The hypothesis could be just one, or you could construct multiple
hypotheses that are several, alternative explanations for your observation.

Step No. 4: Devise a test or an experiment to check whether your hypothesis is true or false. Here,
you have to consider several things. First, the test should be fair—it should be designed so that the
results are not affected by any bias in the mind of the person performing the tests (this is actually hard to
implement). Second, the test should be designed such that it does not give an ambiguous answer. This
can most easily be ensured by designing the test so that its result is a number. That is, you actually
measure something. This means that the hypothesis you constructed in step no. 3 should be such that a
suitable test can be devised. This test is what we call an experiment.

Step No. 5: Analyse the results obtained in the experiment. This step has to be done very carefully
and rigorously so that any effect of experimental bias or imperfection is taken care of. This step may give
a clear answer. Or, it may show that the experiment needs improving, or that it is not possible to perform
the tests with the available resources. In that case, one has to either redesign the experiment or
construct another hypothesis. Steps 3-5 very often use the reductionist approach (discussed in the main
text on page 15). Whether this approach has worked or not is finally decided in step 7.

Step No. 6: Communicate your results to as many people as possible. This is one of the most
important steps without which no progress can be made in science. The reasons are twofold. One, it
allows independent repetition of the experiment by others and testing of the hypothesis by different
experiments. In other words, it allows the hypothesis to be debated by a world-wide community, thus
increasing the probability of spotting any loopholes in it. The second reason is that once you have found
out something, based on it, another person may be able to find something else. For this, scientists need
to hone their communication skills.

Step No 7: Once the results of your experiment are clear and their analysis done, a model or theory
about the phenomenon under consideration can be developed. This usually involves making a
mathematical model of the phenomenon and can be based on the compiled results of several
experiments. A theory is considered valid only if it can explain all previous observations in that field. Such
theories can be useful in one or more of the following ways: (a) they are expected to explain a natural
phenomenon and predict its evolution (e.g., prediction of the next earthquake), (b) they can help us find

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

ways to control the phenomenon according to our requirements (e.g., preventing a comet from crashing
into the earth), and (c) they can help us in developing new technologies to improve the quality of our lives
(e.g., new sustainable sources of energy).

As you can understand, the above recipe can have many variations depending on the type
of study being done. It may, (and usually will) require iterations at some step. All the steps need not be
(and are mostly not) conducted by the same person or team, or even at the same place. Given below are
some project ideas to give your students to do during their vacations. They must prepare a report giving a
step by step description of how a problem was approached and solved. And if it was not solved, what the
limitations were.

Projects:

1. What material is the best for making cooking utensils? (Hint: List all the factors affecting the
choice of material like cooking method, cost, ease of cleaning, resistance to corrosion, evenness of
heating, etc. Separate out the necessary requirements and the preferable qualities. Then search for
materials which fulfill these requirements. The best choice may not be any one material. The outcome
can be to specify which material is best for a given set of conditions. It can also be a blueprint for the
properties which an ideal material should have. This project does not necessarily involve experiments,
but the children can be encouraged to test some of the facts which they would have read about. For
example, they can test whether it is possible to boil water in a paper cup, or whether water boils faster in
an aluminium vessel as compared to one made of steel.)

2. My grandmother says that keeping peacock feathers (morpankh) in a room drives away house
lizards. How would you go about testing this assertion (hypothesis)?

67
 Appendix 2

Graphs

This appendix includes a more detailed discussion of the graphs used to describe motion. It is in
two sections. Section A describes the fundamental principles of plotting graphs and can be used for
students who have little or no familiarity with graphs. Section B discusses the graphical representation
of motion in continuation with the material in the main module. Section A can be skipped if students are
conversant with graphs.

A: Introduction to Graphs
11

10

0 4 8 12 16 20

Days
Fig. 1 Different ways of tracking plant growth

The growth of a plant (its height) is shown above in different ways: as a table, as a series of
drawings and as a graph.

All three pictures tell us that over a period of 20 days the height of the plant increased continuously.
However, the graph tells us so much more than the other two pictures. We can read off the measured
height on every fourth day (same information as given in the table). At a glance, we can also see that the
rate of increase in the plant’s height has not remained constant over 20 days. The height of the plant
increased at a slower rate after the 12th day. We can also estimate the plant’s heights on days in-
between. For example, on the 6th day the plant must have been around 3 cm in height, and on the 10th
day around 7.5 cm.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 So what exactly is a graph and how do we make one? A graph is a pictorial representation of two
variables, quantities that change according to some relationship between them (see the box below on
types of graphs). In the example above, the number of days and the height of the plant were the two
variables. The relationship between them is that the plant height increased as the days passed. In this
example, ‘number of days’ is the independent variable, and ‘plant height’ the dependent variable as its
value depends on how old the plant is. Making a graph is called ‘plotting’.

Types of Graphs
The graphs discussed so far are line graphs or line charts. They are used to depict the
relationship between two quantities. This kind of graph was invented by the 17th century
French philosopher-mathematician Rene Descartes (1596-1650) and provided the first
systematic link between geometry and algebra. The x and y values of any point on such a graph
are called its Cartesian coordinates, after Descartes. There are other kinds of graphs as well.
Bar graphs can be used to compare more than two variables. For example, your school may
use a bar graph to show the number of students passing in different classes every year. A pie
chart is used to show the percentage distribution of values of some attribute in a given set of
objects. You might have seen pie charts showing the results of opinion polls. Some examples
are shown below.

Try to spot graphs in magazines, newspapers and on TV. Think about why a particular type
of graph was used in that situation. Also, try to use graphs in reports you write for a project in any
subject. You will find that it makes your reports better and easier to understand!

How often do you exercise? Financial summary of a small scale company

Fig. 2

69
Plotting a Graph
Let us go over the basic rules for plotting a line graph. Take the example of the relationship between
the side of a square and its perimeter. Table 1 shows some data to be plotted. Start by taking a graph
sheet and follow the instructions given below.

Table 1

No. Length of the side of a square (cm) Perimeter of the square (cm)
1 1 4
2 2 8
3 3 12
4 4 16
5 5 20

How to Draw the Axes

and Plot the Data
y

1. Identify the two variables whose

relationship is to be represented on
the graph. In this case, the length
of the side will be the independent
variable and perimeter the
dependent variable.

2. On the graph paper draw a

horizontal line close to the bottom
edge. Then draw a vertical line
close to the left edge of paper such
that it crosses the horizontal line at
one point. The horizontal line is
called the x-axis, and the vertical
line the y-axis. Take care that both
the lines are drawn on the dark lines
of the graph paper (Fig. 3). The
point where both these lines meet
on the graph paper is called the
'Point of Origin'. The space below
the x-axis and to the left of the y- Length of side (cm)
axis is used for writing the Fig. 3 Perimeter of a square vs. Length of its side
description of the axes (see Fig. 3).

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 3. The independent variable (in this case, the length of the side of a square) is marked on the x-axis.
The dependent variable (the square’s perimeter) is marked on the y-axis.

4. Mark the point of origin as '0'. Make markings on the x-axis at 1 cm intervals and number the marks
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on, from left to right. Note that in all the graphs the markings have to be equally
spaced.

5. You have to plot the perimeter of the square on the y-axis. Look at the values for perimeter in table
1. The largest square has a perimeter of 20 cm. So, divide the y-axis into twenty 1 cm divisions and
number them 1 to 20 from bottom to top, starting 1 cm away from the origin.

Plotting Data Points

1. Table 1 shows that a square with a side of length 1 cm has a perimeter of 4 cm. Since the length of
the side of the first square is 1 cm, draw a vertical line on the 1 cm mark of the x-axis. This line
should be parallel to the y-axis (Fig. 3).

2. The perimeter of this square is 4 cm. So, draw a horizontal line at the 4 cm mark of the y-axis. This
line should be parallel to the x-axis (Fig. 3).

3. Draw a circle around the point where these two lines intersect each other. This is your first data
point (Fig. 3). Data points are those points on the graph paper which represent the data given in a
table.

4. Plot other data points on the graph paper for the remaining four squares given in the table, in the
same manner.

5. Join these points using a ruler to get a graph line. Why should you join these data points with a
straight line? Think this over for a while before reading further.

Joining two data points with a straight line is known as ‘linear approximation’. This means that we
assume that for values of the x variable between these two points, the y variable changes linearly. How is
this useful? Let us say we want to know the perimeter of a square with a side of 4.5 cm. It is not given in
the table. Ordinarily, we would have to calculate the value.

However, it is straightforward to read it from the graph. Draw a vertical line at the 4.5 cm point of the
x-axis. Name the point where this line meets the graph line as ‘A ‘(Fig. 4). Draw a horizontal line parallel
to the x-axis from the point A towards the y-axis. Where does this line intersect the y-axis? Read this
value on the scale given on the y-axis. This is the perimeter of the square with a side of 4.5 cm. With
some practice you will not need to draw the lines, you will be able to read the values by using the printed
lines on the graph paper itself.

71
 Scale
1 major division on x axis = 1 cm
1 major division on y axis = 5 cm

Length of side (cm)

Fig. 4 Finding out the perimeter of a square with a given length from a graph

In this way, graphs are useful in giving us more information than the few values that are plotted
using data given in a table. The process of estimating values between data points is called
interpolation. Suppose we now want to know the perimeter of a square with a side of length 6 cm. Can
this graph give us the answer? Extend the graph line with the help of a ruler. Now, find out the perimeter
of a square that has a side of 6 cm by following the same procedure as was done for the square with side
4.5 cm. This process of extending the graph line to estimate the values beyond the known data is called
extrapolation.

Choosing a Scale
The ease of getting information from graphs depends a lot on the scaling. Scaling means setting an
appropriate unit of the independent variable as equal to one cm on the x-axis and similarly, setting an
appropriate unit of the dependent variable equal to one cm on the y-axis. While setting the scale, keep
the following in mind:

1. The scale is such that you are able to show the largest value on the graph paper.

2. The scale is such that almost all of the graph area is covered.

3. Choose easily divisible units so that reading between the marked points is easy.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 We will illustrate these points using two data sets. The graph paper grid we will use is 13 cm by 7 cm
in size. We mark the origin at a point 2 cm from the bottom and 1 cm from the left edge of the graph paper
so the length of the x-axis is 6 cm and the length of the y-axis is 11 cm.

Example 1: Table 2 lists the areas of squares with sides of different lengths. The maximum value for
the length of the side of a square (the independent variable) is 5 cm. So, for the x-axis we can take 1
major division on the graph to be equal to 1 cm of the length of the side of a square. The maximum value
for area of a square is 25 sq. cm. How do we best fit all the values for area on the y-axis? If we take 1
major division on the graph as equal to 1 sq. cm area or 2 sq. cm area, some of the points will not fall
within the graph sheet. So we can take 1 major division on the axis to be equal to 5 sq. cm area. This will
give us a graph as shown in Fig. 5. You can see that some of the points fall in-between the thicker graph
gridlines. Try some other scales and see which one is the most convenient to plot for this data set.

Table 2

No. Length of one side of a square (cm) Area of the square (sq. cm)
1 1 1
2 2 4
3 3 9
4 4 16
5 5 25

Scale
1 major division on x axis = 1 cm
1 major division on y axis = 5 sq. cm

Length of side (cm)

Fig. 5 Area of a square vs. Length of side

73
 Example 2: The second example is that of wheat yield per acre. Here, the scales chosen are 1
major division on the x-axis = 2 acres and 1 major division on the y-axis = 2 tons. So you see, any kind
of measurable quantity can be plotted on a graph.

Table 3
Wheat yield per acre
No. Size of field (in acres) Wheat yield (in tons)

1 1 1.5
2 2 3
3 3 4.5
4 4 6
5 5 7.5
6 6 9
7 7 10.5
8 8 12
9 9 13.5
10 10 15

Scale
1 major division on x axis = 2 acres
1 major division on y axis = 2 tons

Area of field (acre)

Fig. 6 Wheat yield for a given field area

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion
Limitations of Graphs
Like any other mathematical tool, graphs also have limitations and must be used knowing
what these are:

1. The only actual information in a graph is the plotted data points.

2. There is a limit to the precision with which the points can be plotted on and read from
the graph.The least count of the measuring instrument you have used will decide the
minimum spacing between two consecutive data points. Since you don't have the
instruments to take data for the points in-between these two, you have to make a guess
for these points. For the problems considered here, it is usually safe to assume that the
graph between any two data points is a straight line joining them.

3. In case of extrapolated values, one should take care to check whether the estimated
value is physically possible.

In the context of motion, in one glance a graph provides a visual representation of motion.
Research has revealed that students' common misconceptions in interpreting graphs of motion arise
from the fact that such graphs are confused with maps of the physical routes taken by the persons or
objects in motion. They often visualise the end point of a graph line as the end of the trip, or the dead
end of a road. The inclined line is thought to be the slope of the road, and the points of change in the
slope are perceived as the points where a traveller turns. This issue is already addressed in the
example of Ritu's walk discussed in the main text. You can also use the following example to test
whether the children have understood the difference between a graph and a map, and whether they
can read data correctly from a graph. These basics are essential before going on to more detailed
discussions on the use of graphs in understanding motion. We suggest that some time be spent to
discuss in detail the ideas that students have and to correct any misconceptions before proceeding
further.

Let us take the example of Munni walking from her home to school. On the next page, the drawing
on the right (not to scale) is a map of the route Munni takes. On the left is a distance-time graph of her
journey marked with measurements made every two minutes. The actual measurements are shown by
dots. Consecutive dots are joined by straight lines. From the two pictures, answer the following:

1. Can you estimate how long Munni takes to reach her school by looking at the map?

2. By looking at the graph, can you guess how many turns there are along the road from Munni's
home to her school, or the point where the road crosses the river?

3. How much distance did Munni cover from the 8th minute to the 10th minute of her journey?

4. Did Munni cover equal distances in each two-minute interval of her journey?
75
 Scale
1 major division on x axis = 2 minutes
1 major division on y axis = 100 m

Time (minutes)
Fig. 7 Distance covered by Munni vs. Time taken

Questions 3 and 4 on the previous

page are designed to test whether the
students can extract information from
graphs. If they find it difficult to answer these
questions, the exercises given previously
should be done again.

Fig. 8 Map of the route taken by Munni

from her house to school

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 B: Graphs of Motion

This section is a continuation of the discussion on graphs in the main text.

We have seen that the slope of a distance-time graph can give us the speed of the object in
motion. We also plotted speed-time graphs. Can we get any information from the slope of a speed-time
graph as well? We shall again look at the data in the table on Page 47 which gave the positions and
speeds at various points in time of a body in free fall.

Table 4

Data Point Time (s) Distance from the Instantaneous speed

starting point (m) (m/s)
1 1 5 10
2 2 20 20
3 3 45 30
4 4 80 40
5 5 125 50

The two graphs we drew there were like this:

Scale
Scale 1 major division on x axis = 1 s
1 major division on x axis = 1 s 1 major division on y axis = 10 m/s
1 major division on y axis = 25 m
125

100

75

50

25

0 1 2 3 4 5

Time (s)
Time (s)
Fig. 10 Instantaneous speed vs. Time for the
Fig. 9 Distance-time graph for a given motion same motion 77
 The slope of the speed-time graph corresponds to the ratio of the change in speed to the
corresponding change in time. This, by definition, is the acceleration. Therefore, the slope of the speed-
time graph gives the acceleration!

Find out the slope of the speed-time graph and check to see if it is the same as the acceleration
calculated from data in the table.

The next example is designed to illustrate a few points that have not yet been covered. For one thing,
the data is explicitly stated to be artificial and is used as an abstract illustration of a theory. This theory,
nonetheless, is still applicable to real life situations. This method is one way of extracting underlying
principles. Then the distance-time and speed-time graphs are given together to help establish the
correlation between them. Also, the speed-time graph is an example of a graph that does not start from the
origin, that is, the value of y is not zero at x = 0.

Following the same line of argument, we can deduce that if the speed-time graph is a straight line,
the acceleration must be uniform. There is one difference however. Unlike speed, acceleration can take
on negative values. The table below shows the data for distance and speed of a motion with negative
acceleration and figures that follow show the corresponding distance-time and speed-time graphs.

Table 5

Time (s) Distance (m) Instantaneous Speed (m/s)

0 0 10
10 95 9
20 180 8
30 255 7
40 320 6
50 375 5
60 420 4
70 455 3
80 480 2
90 495 1
100 500 0

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Fig.11 Graphs for motion with negative acceleration

You may note that no units are given because this is imaginary data for illustrating the concept. You
can try plotting the data to see if your graphs look similar to the ones here. Let us see what the graphs tell
us:

1. The distance at time t = 0, is 0. This means that we are taking the position at time t = 0 to be the
reference point.

2. The speed is not zero at the beginning although the distance is zero (see point 1).

3. The speed decreases with time till it reaches zero, the distance increases with time as long as the
speed is not zero.

If the speed remains zero after this time, the graphs would look like the following:

Fig.12

As you can see, once the speed becomes zero, the distance covered does not increase.

79
Given below are some more examples of distance-time and corresponding speed-time graphs. What
can you say about the motions being depicted?

Time Time

Time Time

Fig.13 Distance-time graphs along with the corresponding speed-time graphs

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 News Item

If you are wondering whether distance-time graphs exist only in textbooks, take a look below
at a news item from 2009.

ALLAHABAD: In its continuous tryst to amalgamate modern technologies, the Allahabad

division of North Central Railway is switching over to computerised charting of the movement of
trains. This will ensure better and safer movement of trains running in the Allahabad division which
extends from Mughalsarai to Ghaziabad near New Delhi. The computerised charting of trains is a
mission critical 24x7 real time system designed to manage traffic control operations and maintain
the punctuality of trains through better decision-making. Control charts, basically the time-
distance graphs of the trains' motion, used by section controllers are presently manually made
and interpreted. In a step towards full automation of train operations, the process of chart making
and its analysis are being fully computerised. The application deals with charting the running of
trains and forecasting paths for new trains automatically and efficiently. While making the
computerised charting, the mail/ express trains are shown with red lines, goods trains are shown
with green lines while the passenger trains are depicted with blue lines. No sooner than a train
passes a particular station, the section controller gets the information through the concerned
station master. He records the movement of the train on a graph known as the master chart. The
distance (in kms) is shown on the x-axis while the time is depicted on the y-axis. The x-axis has the
details of the various stations in a particular section. The section controller regularly updates the
graph as the train surges along the railway track and records the arrival time at the different
stations in his section.

When you are next stuck at a railway station waiting for a train, request the station master to
show you the train control chart.

If you have access to a computer, learn how to plot graphs on it.

81
 Appendix 3

Measurement: Limitations and Errors

This appendix is addressed to teachers. Therefore, the treatment is at a slightly higher level than
that elsewhere. However, understanding this topic is essential to be able to guide students while they
perform activities given in the main text, and to also address any questions that they may come up with
while taking measurements.

We have taken measurements at several places in this module. We have also talked about the
various precautions to be taken while measuring any quantity. But despite this, have you noticed that we
do not get exactly the same value when we repeat a reading, even when we do our best to keep all the
conditions of the experiments the same? This is a very common practical problem, and students can not
appreciate it until they have taken some measurements by themselves. This is why we insist that you
give every child in your class the opportunity to take measurements. Measurement is an important skill,
but many times it remains implicit and we overlook many conceptual issues related to measurement. In
this section we will try to deal with some of these conceptual questions.

To start with, one such issue is whether you can measure any length you like using a ruler, or any
duration of time with a stopwatch. Then there is that baffling observation we discussed in the above
paragraph—why are all the readings of a quantity taken under similar circumstances not exactly the
same? After all, the length, or the time measured have some definite values! Do they not? So, which of
the different readings is to be taken as the correct one, which one is the most accurate and are there
readings which should not be used at all? These are some critical questions related to measurement.
We will start by discussing questions related to the limitations of measurements, and then we will move
on to discuss possible sources of inaccuracies in an experiment.

Limitations of Measurements:
Measuring with an instrument is constrained by two major kinds of limitations: the limitations of the
instrument itself, and the limitations while handling the instrument. Let us now try to understand this in
detail.

Every measuring instrument has a lower limit of values it can read; it cannot measure any value that
is smaller than this lower limit. An ordinary 15 cm ruler cannot measure lengths of less than 1 mm. Your
wristwatch can only measure times equal to or more than one second. The minimum value which an
instrument can measure with accuracy is called the 'Least Count' of the instrument. If the smallest
markings on your ruler are at a distance of 1 cm, its least count is 1 cm. If the distance between any line or
marking on your ruler and the one immediately following it is 1 mm, its least count is 1 mm, and if you
have to measure a length less than 1 mm, you can't use this ruler. This is a limitation of the instrument

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

that we had mentioned earlier. Ask children in your class to draw a line of 3.41 cm so they understand the
problems in drawing a line of exactly that length.

Now, it may be that the actual accuracy of a measurement is less than the best possible with that
measuring device. A good example is time measurement using a stopwatch, as described earlier on.
The stopwatch we used has a least count of 1 centi-second (a 100th part of a second). But the least time
anyone needs to just switch it on and off is between 15 to 20 centi-seconds. Therefore, you cannot
measure a time less than or close to these values with accuracy.

Accuracy in an Experiment:
Even if we measure a time period that falls within the limits of a measuring instrument and its
handling, we might not get accurate results. This can happen because of several other errors that are
possible during an experiment. These errors possible in any measurement are generally classified into
two major categories: systematic errors and random errors.

Systematic Errors:

Systematic errors are those errors which occur due to a faulty experimental setup or faulty
measuring instruments.

a) Systematic errors due to a faulty experimental setup:

Suppose in the inclined plane activity, the plank is placed such that the ball does not roll straight
down and instead rolls towards one side. In that case, we will be measuring the time for a
different distance while assuming that it is the time taken for the ball to cross the segments we
have marked, and our results will reflect this error. Thus, we need to identify possible systematic
errors beforehand and rectify them in advance. Like in this case, you would have to adjust the
plank such that the ball rolls straight down.

b) Systematic errors due to a faulty instrument:

If a measuring instrument is not calibrated correctly then the readings you take with it will be
incorrect. This problem may become evident when a measured value differs from the actual
value by a fixed proportion of the latter. For example, if all the inch divisions on a ruler are marked
incorrectly and each one is 5% shorter than the actual length of 1 inch, then a measured value of
4 inches will differ from the actual length by 5% of 4 inches. Similarly, a measured value of 6
inches will differ from the actual length by 5% of 6 inches.

Such an error may occur not only because of incorrect calibration. It is also possible that the
instrument being used is deformed—if a wooden meter ruler is bent slightly then it will consistently
measure incorrectly.

Another kind of systematic error that can occur is a zero-setting error—arising because of incorrect
measurement with respect to the reference point, or the ‘zero’ of the instrument. For example, if you
83
measure the length of a thread with one end held at the '1 cm' mark of the ruler and the other at the '10 cm'
mark, then its length is not 10 cm. The length of the thread in this case is the difference between the two
points: 10 cm – 1cm = 9 cm. This is a mistake students often make. In this case, each measurement of a
given length will be incorrect by a constant value—1 cm. This also means that if you take one
measurement with the '0 cm' mark as the reference point, and others with some other reference points,
like in the example above, then the distance will have to be calculated according to the reference point in
each instance.

Systematic errors are not always easy to spot, but they can be removed if we look for possible
sources of such errors in advance. Then the necessary changes can be made in the experimental setup,
or the equipment being used. To have confidence in the readings taken during any experiment, one has
to ensure calibration of all the instruments being used.

Random Errors:

Random errors are those errors which occur by chance. Every time data is noted, it is impossible to
exactly replicate the conditions they are noted in. This reflects in the data in the form of variations in
readings.

Consider the same inclined plane experiment. It is difficult to mark the exact instant of time when the
ball crosses from one segment to the next one because of the minimum reaction times of the handlers
noting the crossing of the ball and pressing the buttons on the stopwatch. Only by increasing the number
of readings and taking the average of those readings can this error be minimized. A basic understanding
of statistics tells us that the average of these readings gets closer to the actual value as the number of
readings increases. So, if you take 8-10 readings, you are likely to get an average value very close to the
actual value. None of these readings are more accurate than the others. Only the average value of all the
readings will give the most accurate value.

The following table contains the sample data taken for the inclined plane experiment. The data
shows the time taken by the ball to cross the two segments of 45 cm each (R1, R2, etc. represent the
different readings):

Table 1
R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10

Segment 1 1.06 1.06 1.07 1.03 1.03 1.05 1.11 1.00 1.01 1.07

Segment 2 0.74 0.66 0.72 0.63 0.73 0.74 0.68 0.70 0.75 0.70

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Assuming that the observers have carefully recorded this data knowing how to use the instruments
correctly and their limitations, you can see that the values are not the same in all the readings for either
segment. If we plot this data, we see that the deviation from the mean is in both directions—there are
values greater as well as lesser than the mean.

The grey bars in the graph show the time taken to cross segment 1 and the black bars show the time
taken by the ball to cross segment 2. The mean time for the ball to cross segment 1 turns out to be 1.05
seconds and that to cross segment 2 comes to 0.71 seconds. If you draw two horizontal lines
representing the two means for both segments, you can see that the deviation of the data from the
average value is on both sides, above and below the lines.

1.2

Mean 1.05 s
1

0.8

Mean 0.71 s
0.6

0.4

0.2

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Reading

However, even with our best efforts, this deviation of the data, the difference in the time cannot be
avoided completely and we can minimize it only by repeating the experiment 8-10 times. So, even if we
repeat the experiment several times, we cannot get rid of this error completely. Some error will always be
there. Now, if you want to know how close your experimental value is to the theoretical value, that is, if
you want to quantify this error while doing a verification experiment, you can calculate the 'percentage
error' in your experiment—a commonly used method to describe the experimental error. It is nothing but
a ratio of the difference between the actual and the expected or standard value, to the expected value.

The numerical form of percentage error is:

(Actual Measurement – Expected Value) X 100

% error =
Expected Value

85
 If you don't know the theoretical or expected value in advance, you cannot know the magnitude of
this error. But you could design an experiment to calculate 'the acceleration due to gravity', for which the
theoretical value is 9.8 m/s . This is called a verification experiment. In that case, if your experimental
2

value comes out to be 9.6 m/s , your percent error will be –

2

% error = (9.6 – 9.8) X 100 ÷ 9.8

= 2 % approximately

If you get a high percentage error (say more than 10%), you should revise your entire experiment
starting from its design to the recording of observations.

When doing an experiment for which the expected answer is not known, we need to check the range
of readings we get. If the range is about 10 % of the average reading, we need to revise the experiment
while looking out for sources of error.

(Maximum Value – Average Value) X 100

% error =
Average Value

Thus, we see that in spite of working within the limits of the measuring instrument and with all the
necessary precautions, we cannot get rid of all errors. The point, that there is always a variation in the
readings, should be reinforced when you discuss issues related to measurement in your class. You may
like to do some more measurement activities and then discuss conceptual matters by referring to the
data you have collected. One of these activities could be to measure the length of a table. You can
discuss the basic precautions that need to be taken while measuring length, and then ask the students to
measure the length of the table as accurately as possible. Once everybody is done with taking the
measurements, discuss the variation in the data as well as other issues related to errors and accuracy in
measurement.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Appendix 4

Suggestions for Projects

The following projects are meant to give students the opportunity to design their own experiments
for solving a given problem.

Measuring Average Speed:

You can ask students to design experiments for estimating the average speeds for some of the
following objects in motion. It is possible that they will find that some of the speeds cannot actually be
measured with locally available equipment. However, it will still be a good exercise to find out which
speeds cannot be measured locally and why this should be so. (Assume all these motions are along
straight lines.) Also discuss what the errors in the proposed methods could be and how they can be
minimised.

1. A cricket ball thrown from the outfield to the wicket-keeper

2. The wind

3. A cloud

4. A raindrop

5. A hand moving back and forth as fast as possible between two fixed points

6. The tip of a swinging cricket bat

7. A person while walking on level ground, climbing up stairs and going down stairs

8. A camera shutter opening and closing

9. The tip of the growing nail

10. A bird flying

11. Water flowing down a drain

12. The centre of a vibrating guitar string

87
Measuring Acceleration:
1. In the inclined plane experiment that you did, think of the ways you can calculate the
acceleration of the rolling ball.

2. Assuming that the brakes of a cycle provide uniform deceleration, can you design ways to
measure that deceleration.

Measuring the Average Speed for Running a Distance of 20

Meters:
To measure the time for running this distance, the activity should be performed in an open ground to
provide sufficient space for running. Ask one of the students in the group to run up a 20 meters long
straight path. The student noting the time taken for the other to run this distance should be standing at the
finishing line. He/she will tell the runner when to start running and will start the stopwatch at the same
time and will stop the timer exactly when the runner crosses the finish line. Note down the readings in the
following table:

Table 1
S.No. Name Total Distance (m) Time Taken (s) Average Speed (m/s)
1 20
2 20
3 20
4 20
5 20

This activity, in contrast to the other activities in the module, is to be done in an open ground. It can
be used as a refreshing change if the students show signs of tiring of classroom work. Once the data has
been taken, a discussion on possible errors and how to improve the accuracy of the experiment can be
conducted.

Finding the Speed of a Rolling Marble:

To measure the time of a rolling marble, ask the students to form teams of 3-4 members. Let one
student in each team roll the marble a definite distance away, say 2 meters. To note the time taken, use
the same procedure as mentioned in the last activity. An inclined plane can be used instead of a flat
ground for rolling the marble. Ask the students to calculate the speed of the rolling marble on their own
and to also tabulate the data for the other team members.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

Measuring the Time for Blinking an Eyelid
An interesting activity of measuring the time for blinking an eyelid can be performed in which the
students can be asked to blink their eyelids 20 times continuously at a normal rate. During the repeated
blinking by one of the students, ask another to note the time taken for this blinking using a stopwatch.
Perform this activity involving all the group members, i.e., all the students in the group can blink their
eyelids one by one to compare the fastness or slowness of blinking.

This activity is somewhat different from the previous activities and doesn't give the sense of
speed. In this activity, instead of measuring distance, the number of times the eyelid blinks during a given
time is being counted. The number of blinks per unit time is known as the frequency of blinking. The
concept of frequency can also give the sense of fastness or slowness of an object executing periodic
motion.

Measuring the Time for Chopping Clay

This may be another interesting activity brings in the idea of frequency once again. Roll some clay
(plasticine) into a cylinder of roughly 20 cm length and 1 cm diameter and ask one of the students to chop
the roll with a knife, say 20 cuts. This can be repeated by all the students of the group, i.e., one by one all
the students can chop the roll. To get the respective frequencies of chopping, ask the students to count
the number of pieces of the roll and divide it by the observed time to estimate their frequency of
chopping. As they finish this exercise, they could be asked to take an average of their time readings for
each case.

89
 Appendix 5

Problem Set

Conceptual Questions
1. Discuss why trains coming from the opposite direction appear to be moving very fast and why a
train that is overtaking your train seems to be moving very slowly.

2. It was raining heavily one day while Amit was cycling to school and so he had his umbrella open.
When he cycled past some people waiting for a bus, Amit was surprised to see that they were all
holding their umbrellas upright while he himself was holding his umbrella tilted well forward. He
wondered why this should be so. Can you think of an answer for his question?

3. If your younger sister asks you to estimate the average speed of a bird flying overhead, what would
be your answer? How would you check whether your estimate is correct?

4. If you are asked to measure the instantaneous speed of any object, for example, the instantaneous
speed of a bullet as it leaves the barrel of a rifle, explain how you would do this. What are the factors
you would need to know in order to measure this speed? Can you think of more than one way of
doing this?

5. An owl sat on a tall tree holding a stone in its beak. After some time the stone slipped from its beak
and fell down. Here are a few statements describing the motion of that stone. Tick the correct
statement(s).

a. The stone starts falling with zero speed. ( )

b. The stone will fall in a straight line. ( )

c. The stone falls with a constant speed till it reaches the ground. ( )

d. Its speed keeps on increasing continuously from the beginning till it reaches the ground. ( )

e. The speed acquires its maximum value just before striking the ground. ( )

6. If a brick falls accidentally from the 4th floor of a construction site, what will be its acceleration when
it starts to fall? What will be its acceleration just before it reaches the ground? Will the time taken by
the brick to cross the windows of each floor be the same (assume that the windows are identical)?
Will any of your answers be different if the brick were to fall from the 10 floor?
th

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

7. Three different types of inclined planes are shown in Fig.1. In which case will the acceleration be
uniform and in which will it change? If the acceleration is changing, do you expect it to increase or
decrease?

Fig. 1 Inclined planes with different slopes

8. The following position-time graph (Fig. 2) depicts the motion of a cart. Answer the following
questions on the basis of the information given in the graph:
6
C D
5

4
B
3
E
2

1
A

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Time (s)
Fig. 2 Position-time graph of a cart in motion

a. During which interval was the cart at rest?

i. AB ii. BC

iii. CD iv. DE

b. During which interval was the cart moving towards the original position?

i. AB ii. BC

iii. CD iv. DE

c. During which of these two intervals, BC and DE, was the cart traveling faster?

i. DE ii. BC

91
 9. A helicopter is flying east with a uniform speed of 50 km/h. Which graph(s) correctly represent
the motion of the helicopter (Fig. 3)?

a. b.

Time
Time

c. d.

Time Time

Fig. 3 Distance-time and speed-time graphs for the helicopter

10. This is a very old story. You may have heard it many times before. It is the story of the race
between a rabbit and a tortoise. The two have a bet on who will win the race. The rabbit takes off
swiftly while the tortoise begins with a slow and steady pace. The rabbit initially runs far ahead of
the tortoise. But then, he decides to rest under a tree for a while and falls asleep. The tortoise,
meanwhile, continues to forge ahead steadily. When the rabbit wakes up, he runs to the
finishing post. But, alas! when he reaches the finish line he finds that the tortoise has already
won the race.

Illustrate the race between the rabbit and the tortoise in the form of a graph.

11. The winner of the 2012 Olympic gold medal in the men's 400 m hurdle race took 47.63 s while
the gold medallist in the women's 400 m hurdle race took 52.70 s.

Runners are supposed to clear ten hurdles in the 400 m hurdle race. Assuming that the hurdles
are evenly spaced around the track, draw the speed-time graph of an athlete participating in the
400 m hurdle race. Will the graph be different for a 400 m race with no hurdles? What about a
400 m relay race?

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

12. Fig. 4 shows the distance-time graph for Ramesh's (black circles) and Hamid's (white squares)
journeys. Write a story about this journey on the basis of the graph.

Time (minutes)

Fig. 4 Distance-time graph depicting Ramesh’s and Hamid’s motion

13. If you ride a bicycle, you may have noticed that you don't have any problem pedalling with
uniform motion when the road is straight and level. But when you climb uphill, your speed
decreases. On the other hand, when you go downhill your speed increases and the bicycle
moves really fast. Fig. 5 shows the graph of a bicycle trip taken by Kamala. Look at the graph
and say which of the following statements are true:

Time

Fig. 5 Graph showing the details of Kamala’s cycle ride

93
 a. Kamala cycled up a slope, then went down a slope, then stopped and rested for some time.
She then cycled on a level road. ( )

b. Kamala cycled uphill continuously. ( )

c. Kamala first went downhill, then on a level road, then climbed uphill and finally rested. ( )

d. Kamala first cycled uphill, then stopped and rested for some time because she was tired,
then cycled on a level road and finally rode downhill. ( )

e. None of these. ( )

14. Can a motorbike moving initially at 80 km/h and a car moving initially at 40 km/h be made to
accelerate by an equal amount?

15. The speed of a moving object is zero at some point of time in its path. Which of the following
statement(s) is/are correct?

a. The acceleration at that point will be zero. ( )

b. If the acceleration remains zero for next 10 seconds after that point, the speed will also be
zero in that interval. ( )

c. If the speed is zero for next 10 seconds after that point, the acceleration will also be zero in
that interval. ( )

16. A ball is thrown vertically upwards from the edge of a cliff and it is noticed that it lands on the
ground below the cliff. If it were to be thrown downwards from the same place with the same
speed, would its speed just before landing be greater, lesser or the same as before?

Numerical Problems
17. A 500 m long train is moving with a uniform speed of 10 m/s. Calculate the time taken by the train
to cross (i) a 250 m long bridge, (ii) an electric pole.

18. Two cars travel along the same road in the same direction from the same starting point.
However, one car starts at 10 AM and maintains a speed of 40 km/h, while the other car starts 1
hour later and maintains a speed of 60 km/h. How many hours will it take for the second car to
overtake the first car? How far would it have traveled by then?
Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion
19. Shreya walked at a speed of 6 km/h for 1 km and 8 km/h for the next 1 km. If she had to cover
the same distance in the same amount of time but maintain a uniform speed throughout the
journey, at what speed would she have to walk? Is it the same as the average of the two
speeds?

20. What is your average speed in each of these cases?

a. You run 100 m at a speed of 5 m/s and then you walk 100 m at a speed of 1 m/s.

b. You run for 100 s at a speed of 5 m/s and then you walk for 100 s at a speed of 1 m/s.

21. The following table shows four positions of an object as it traveled at a constant speed.

Table 1

Position (cm) Time (s)

0 0
3 9
5 15
7 21

a. How fast was it traveling in the 20th second?

b. What was the position of the object after 18 seconds?

22. A bus increases its speed from 60 km/h to 70 km/h in 5 seconds while a cyclist goes from rest to
10 km/h in the same period of time. Which of the two undergoes greater acceleration?

23. Kamal and Sona decided to visit Ramu's sweet shop after school. When they were about to
leave school, the teacher called Sona. So, Kamal left for the sweet shop alone. After a short
while, Sona came running and caught up with Kamal. They then went together to Ramu's shop
and ate jalebis there. The entire episode is shown in the form of a graph using different
symbols for showing how Kamal and Sona travelled (Fig. 6).

95
 Time (minutes)

Fig. 6 Distance-time graph for Kamal and Sona’s trip to Ramu’s sweet shop

Look at the graph and answer the following questions:

a. What was Kamal's average speed till he reached the sweetshop?

b. How long was Sona detained by her teacher?

c. How much time did Sona take to catch up with Kamal?

d. What was Sona's average speed while she was running?

e. How far from the school did Sona finally catch up with Kamal?

f. What is the distance between the school and Ramu's shop?

g. How far did they walk together?

h. For how much time did they walk together?

24. You may have read the story of the flying turtle. Two swans held the ends of a stick firmly in their
beaks and the turtle hung on to the stick with its teeth. The swans flew carrying the turtle along. As
they were flying 180 metres above a lake, the beautiful scene below overwhelmed the turtle. He
couldn't contain his excitement and exclaimed “Wow!” The remaining story of the turtle's flight is
given in table 2.

a. Draw a graph depicting the turtle's motion.

b. What does the graph look like?

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 Table 2

Time (s) Distance fallen by the turtle (m)

0 0
1 5
2 20
3 45
4 80
5 125
6 180

c. Can you say, on the basis of this graph, whether the motion of the turtle was uniform or
non-uniform?

d. How long did it take for the turtle to fall into the lake from the height of 180 metres?

e. What was the average speed of the turtle during its fall?

f. Can you say what the turtle's speed at t = 2 s was?

25. A careful analysis of the motion of a moving object yielded some information which is plotted in
the graph below (Fig. 7). Now answer the following questions:

8
D
7
C
6
B
5

1
A

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

Fig. 7 Distance-time graph showing an object in motion

a. When was the speed the greatest? What was the value of the speed at that time?

b. At what moment or in which time interval was the speed least? What was the speed at that
time?

c. What was the speed at t = 1 s?

97
 d. What was the speed at t = 8 s?

e. How far did the object move from time t = 7 s to t = 9.5 s?

f. What was the average speed between t = 4 s and t = 7 s?

26. A loaded truck left the warehouse with the meter reading 12345 km. When it got back after three
days the reading was 13245 km. What was the average speed of the truck during this period?

27. A cyclist starting from rest accelerates at the rate of 1 m/s for 4 seconds. What will be her speed
2

after 4 seconds? What distance would she have covered by then?

28. A bullet is fired from a rifle which has a 1 m long barrel. The bullet leaves the barrel with a
uniform speed of 500 m/s and enters a concrete wall. The bullet penetrates 5 cm into the wall
before it comes to rest.

a. How much time would the bullet have spent in the barrel assuming the acceleration in the
barrel is constant?

b. Find the deceleration in the bullet's speed once it hits the concrete wall.

29. An object starts moving with an initial speed of 3 m/s and it experiences a uniform acceleration
of 1 m/s in the same direction.
2

a. Find the distance travelled by it in the first two seconds.

b. How much time would it take to reach a speed of 7 m/s?

c. How much distance would it have covered before reaching a speed of 7 m/s?

30. Note: This problem involves some algebraic calculations and it is suggested that this problem
should not be given to the students unless they have a good command over algebra.

Two objects A and B start from rest and move for an equal amount of time in a straight line.
Object A has acceleration 'a' for the first half of the total time and '2a' for the second half. Object
B has an acceleration of '2a' for the first half and 'a' for the second half. Which object will cover a
greater distance? Calculate the distances travelled by both the objects and their final speeds.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

31. A superfast train was traveling at 72 km/h when the driver noticed a buffalo caught in the tracks
and braked immediately in order to save its life. If the brakes cause a deceleration of 1 m/s and
2

the buffalo was at a distance of 250 m from the train when the driver saw it, would the buffalo
survive?

32. Clouds are generally found at a height of 1500 m above the ground. Falling from this height,
what would be the speed of raindrops when they reach the ground?

Actually, raindrops face a lot of air resistance in-between and are slowed down quite a bit.
Otherwise it would not have been safe to walk outside during a rainstorm.

33. Due to a small leakage in a pipe, drops of water fall at equal time intervals on the floor 9 meters
below. The first drop strikes the floor at the same instant the fourth drop begins to fall. How far
would the second and third drops have fallen when the first one strikes the floor?

34. A ball is thrown upwards with a speed of 20 m/s from the edge of a 60 m high cliff. After some
time, it starts falling down. It passes through the starting point and continues to fall further to the
base of the cliff.

a. What is the maximum height attained by the ball?

b. How much time will it take to pass its starting point on the way down?

c. How much time will it take to reach the base of the cliff?

Assume that the acceleration due to gravity is roughly equal to 10 m/s2.

99
 Answer Sheet
Conceptual Questions

1. Hint: Think in terms of the 'point of reference'.

2. The point of reference is different for Amit as compared to the people standing still. So, the
perceived motion of the raindrops by these two groups will be different with respect to both the
magnitude as well as the direction of the raindrops.

3. Hint: To measure the average speed of an object, you will have to mark a distance and note
down the time taken in covering that distance.

4. Hint: If the bullet is fired horizontally, its speed in that direction will not change even after it
leaves the barrel. Apply equations of motion.

5. Hint: All freely falling bodies fall with a constant acceleration (acceleration due to gravity)
irrespective of the height from where they start falling. In any accelerated motion, the speed
increases continuously and so the time taken to cover the same distance will keep on
decreasing.

6. Hint: Same as question 5.

7. Hint: The slope of an inclined plane will govern the acceleration of the rolling ball. Higher the
slope, greater the value of acceleration.

8. Hint: The slope of a line in a distance-time graph depicts speed. A steeper slope means greater
speed. A horizontal line in a distance-time graph means that the distance covered is not
changing with time, that is, the object is at rest.

9. The speed-time graph of a uniform motion will be a horizontal line. Since the distance will
increase linearly with time, the distance-time graph will be a straight line with some slope.

14. Yes. Acceleration is the rate of change of speed. It should not be confused with the speed itself.

15. b and c

16. The speed would remain the same in both the cases. In the first case, when the ball is thrown
upwards, its speed keeps on decreasing till it comes to rest. Then it comes back and by the
time it passes through the same point, it attains the same speed. The rest of the story will be the
same in both the cases.

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

Numerical Problems
17. Train length = 500 m,

Speed of the train = 10 m/s

First case:

The distance traveled by the train to cross the bridge = 500 m + 250 m = 750 m

Suppose the time taken by the train to cross the bridge is 't' seconds.

As average speed = Distance traveled ÷ Time taken

10 m/s = 750 m/ t

t = 75 s Ans

Second case:

The distance traveled by the train to cross an electric pole will be the same as the length of the train
because the width of a typical electric pole is negligible in comparison to the length of the train. The
pole can therefore be treated as a point.

Here again, if the time taken to cross the pole is assumed to be 't' seconds:

Using, average speed = Distance traveled ÷ Time taken

10 m/s = 500 m/ t

t = 50 s Ans

18. The speed of the first car = 40 km/h

The speed of the second car = 60 km/h

Suppose the second car overtakes the first car after 't' hours. By this time, the first car would have
traveled for (t+1) hours and the distances traveled by the two cars will be the same.

Using, average speed = distance traveled/time taken, and equating the distances traveled by the
two cars, we can say:

40 km/h X (t+1) = 60 km/h X t

t = 2h

This means that after two hours of travel, the second car will overtake the first car. Ans

The distance traveled by the cars will be 60 km/h X t = 120 km. Ans

101
19. Total distance traveled by Shreya = 1 km + 1 km = 2 km

Suppose the time taken by her to cover the first half is t1 hours.

Applying the equation: average speed = distance travelled ÷ time taken,

6 km/h = (1 ÷ t1) km/h

t1 = 6 h

Similarly, if the time taken to cover the second half is t2 hours

Applying the equation: average speed = distance traveled ÷ time taken,

8 km/h = (1 ÷ t2) km/h

t2 = 8 h

Total time taken by her = t1 + t2 = (6 + 8) h = 7 / 24 h

If she has to travel the same 2 km walk in h but with a uniform speed, her speed will be:

Speed = 2 km ÷ ( )h

= km/h Ans

< 7 km/h (arithmetic mean of the two speeds) Ans

20. a. Average Speed = Distance traveled ÷ Time taken

Total distance traveled = 100 m + 100m = 200 m

Time taken to cross the first segment = Distance traveled ÷ Average speed

= (100 m) ÷ (5 m/s)

= 20 s

Time taken to cross the second segment = Distance traveled ÷ Average speed

= (100 m) ÷ (1 m/s)

= 100 s

Total time taken = 20 s + 100 s = 120 s

Average speed = 200 m ÷ 120 s = 1. 67 m/s Ans

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion
 b. Average Speed = Distance traveled ÷ Time taken

Total time taken = 100 s + 100 s = 200 s

Distance traveled during the first 100 s = Time taken X Average speed

= (100 s) X (5 m/s)

= 500 m

Distance traveled during the second 100 s = Time taken X Average speed

= (100 s) X (1 m/s)

= 100 m

Total distance traveled = 500 m + 100 m = 600 m

Average speed = 600 m ÷ 200 s = 3 m/s Ans

21. Since the speed is constant, it will remain same for the 20 second as well.
th

Speed for the first interval = Change in position ÷ Time taken

= (3 – 0) cm ÷ 9 s

= 3 cm/s

= 0.33 cm/s

Speed in the 20 second = 0.33 cm/s Ans

th

After 18 seconds, the distance traveled = speed X time

= 3 cm/s X 18 s

= 6 cm Ans

22. Acceleration of the car = Change in speed ÷ Time taken

= (70 – 60) km/h ÷ 5 s

= 10 km/h ÷ 5 s

= (10 X 1000) ÷ (5 X 3600) m/s

2

= y m/s2 Ans
103
 Acceleration of the cycle = Change in speed ÷ Time taken

= (10 – 0) km/h ÷ 5 s

= 10 km/h ÷ 5 s

= (10 X 1000) ÷ (5X3600) m/s

2

= y m/s Ans
2

23. a. The distance traveled by Kamal in 40 minutes is 2000 meters. So, her speed is (2000 ÷ 40)
m/minute = 50 m/minute.

b. Sona started after 10 minutes (point B in the graph).

c. Sona joined Kamal at point C, which corresponds to t = 20 minutes. So, the time taken by Sona
to catch up with Kamal is (20–10) minutes = 10 minutes.

d. Sona ran between point B and C. The distance traveled by her is 1000 m in 10 minutes. So her
average speed would be 1000 m/ 10 minutes = 100 m/minute.

e. 1000 m. (Refer to point C in the graph).

f. 2000 m. (Refer to point D in the graph).

g. The distance covered together is the distance between point C and point D as read on the y-axis
of the graph = (2000 –1000) m = 1000 m.

h. The time they traveled together is the time interval between point C and point D as read on the x-
axis of the graph = (40–20) minutes = 20 minutes.

24. a. Distance-time graph.

210

b. A curved line with an increasing slope. 180

150
c. Since the slope of the curve is not constant,
120
the motion of the turtle cannot be uniform.
90

d. 6 seconds. 60

30
e. Total distance traveled = 180 m
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Total time taken = 6 s Time (s)
Distance-time graph showing the turtle’s position
Average speed = 180 m ÷ 6 s = 30 m/s at different times after it lets go of the stick

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

 f. 20 m/s (Read the slope of the curve in the distance-time graph at t = 2 s. Alternatively, apply
equations of motion to find out the speed at t = 2 s.)

25. a. In segment AB, Speed = 5 m ÷ 4.5 s = 1.11 m/s

b. In segment CD, Speed = 1 m ÷ 4 s = 0.25 m/s

c. 1.11 m/s

d. 0.25 m/s

e. Position at t = 7 s, is 6.25 m and position at t = 9.5 s, is 6.75 m.

Hence, the distance traveled = (6.75 – 6.25) m = 0.5 m

f. Average speed = Total distance covered ÷ Time taken

= (6.25 – 4.5) m ÷ (7 – 4)s

= 1.75m ÷ 3s

= 0.58 m/s Ans

26. The total distance traveled by the truck = (13,245 – 12,345) km = 900 km

The time taken to cover this distance = 3 days

Average speed = Total distance traveled ÷ Time taken = (900 ÷3) km/day = 300 km/day

27. Given, u = 0 m/s, a = 1 m/s and t = 4 s

2

Applying the first equation of motion, v = u + at

= 0 m/s + (1 m/s2 X 4 s)

= 4 m/s Ans

Applying the second equation of motion, s = ut + ½ at

2

= (0 m/s X 4 s) + (½ X 1 m/s X 4 s )
2 2

= 8m Ans

105
28. a. u = 0 m/s, v = 500 m/s, s = 1 m, acceleration is constant (say 'a')

Suppose the time taken by the bullet in the barrel, which is to be calculated, is 't'.

Applying the first equation of motion, v = a t = 500 m/s

Applying the second equation of motion, s = ut + ½ at

2

1 = 0 X t + ½ at X t

= ½ X 500 m/s X t

= 250 m/s X t

ð t = 4 milliseconds Ans
(1000 milliseconds = 1 second)

b. Given, u = 500 m/s, v = 0 m/s and s = 5 cm = 0.05 m

Applying third equation of motion, v = u + 2 a s

2 2

0 m/s2 = (500 m/s)2 + 2 X a X 0.05 m

ð a = – 25,00,000 m/s2 (Too much!) Ans

Since a concrete wall will stop the bullet, it will decelerate. Therefore, the negative value of 'a' is
justified.

29. u = 3 m/s, a = 1 m/s2

a. 8 m (Apply the second equation of motion) Ans

b. 4 s (Apply the first equation of motion) Ans

c. 20 m (Apply the third equation of motion) Ans

30. Second case. (Hint: For simplicity, assume the total time of travel is 2t and apply the equations of
motion for each half.)

31. Speed of the train = 72 km/h = 20 m/s

Deceleration = 1 m/s2

To save the buffalo's life, the driver should be able to stop the train before 250 m.
Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion
 Suppose the train travels distance 's' before it comes to a stop.

Applying the third equation of motion, v = u + 2 a X s

2 2

0 = 20 + 2 X (-1) X s
2

ð s = 200 m

The train will stop at 200 m and the buffalo will be safe. Ans

32. s = 1500 m, u = 0, a = 10 m/s

2

Applying the third equation of motion, v = u + 2as

2 2

v = 2 X10 X 1500
2

v2 = 30000

v = 173.2 m/s Ans

33. Suppose the time interval between any two consequent drops is 't'. So, the first drop would have
traveled for time '3t' while the second and third drops would have traveled for times '2t' and 't' times,
respectively.

Applying the second equation of motion for the motion of the first drop,

s = ut + ½ at
2

9 = 0 + ½ g (3t)
2

t = 2 /g ………….(1)
2

For the second drop:

Suppose the distance covered is h2.

Applying the second equation of motion,

s = ut + ½ at
2

h2 = 0 + ½ g (2t)
2

h2 = 2gt
2

Putting in the value of t2 from equation (1) above:

h2 = 2g X (2/g)

h2 = 4 m
107
 Similarly, for the third drop:

Suppose the distance covered is h3.

Applying second equation of motion, s = ut + ½ at2

h3 = 0 + ½ g (t)2

h3 = ½ gt
2

Putting in the value of t2 from equation (1):

h3 = ½ g X (2/g)

h3 = 1 m

The second and third drops will be 4 m and 1 m below the drip point respectively when the first drop
reaches the ground. Ans

34. If we assume the vertically upward direction as positive and take 'a' to be approximately 10 m/s2,
then:

u = 20 m/s, v = 0, a = –10 m/s2

a. Suppose the maximum height attained by the ball is 'h'.

Applying third equation of motion, v2 = u2 + 2as

0 = (20 m/s)2 + 2 X (–10 m/s2) X h

ð h = 20 m Ans

b. In the case when motion is linear but back and forth along a line, the distance traveled by the
object is measured as the shortest distance between the starting point and the end point. This
is because of the vector nature of various related physical quantities and the relationship
between them which will be discussed in detail in the second part of this series.

In this case, when the object is passing through its original position, the shortest distance
between the starting point and the end point will be zero which means, s = 0.

u = 20 m/s and, a = –10 m/s (acceleration and the direction of motion at the start are in the
2

opposite direction. So gravitational acceleration will actually be decelerating the motion.)

Now, applying second equation of motion, s = ut + ½ a t2

0 = 20 m/s X t + ½ (–10 m/s2) X t2

0 = 20 t – 5t2
Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion
 0 = 5 t (4 – t)

ð t = 0 s or 4 s

Since t = 0 corresponds to the starting time, the ball will pass through the same
position after 4 seconds. Ans

c. The total time taken by the ball to reach the ground can be calculated in two parts:

1. Time taken by the ball in coming to its starting position, and

2. Time taken by the ball to go further and reach the ground.

We have already calculated the time taken by the ball to come to its original position and that is 4 s.

Suppose the ball takes 't' seconds more to reach the ground,

Applying second equation of motion, s = ut + ½ at2

ð60 m = 20 m/s X t + ½ X (10 m/s2) X t2

Re-arranging quantities on either side of the equation:

5t2 + 20 t – 60 = 0

t2 + 4 t – 12 = 0

t2 + 6 t – 2 t – 12 = 0

t (t+6) – 2 (t+6) = 0

(t + 6) (t – 2) = 0

ð Either t – 2 = 0 or t + 6 = 0

ðt = 2 s or t = –6s

Since t = – 6 s represents a meaningless quantity, t = 2 s will be the time taken by the ball to reach the
ground after crossing the starting position.

Therefore, the ball will reach the ground in 4+2 = 6 seconds. Ans

109
Index
A N
Acceleration 49, 50, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 61, Non-uniform motion 27, 29, 44, 47, 50,
65, 78, 79, 88
Accelerometer 55 P
Average speed 19, 26, 28, 29, 32, 39, 43, Percent error 86
44, 45, 46, 52, 53, 54, 58, 87, 88 Point of reference 8, 10, 16,

C R
Change in position 8, 16 Random errors 83, 84
Complex motion 7, 14, 15 Reductionist approach 15, 65
Rigid body 17
D
Deceleration 50, 88 S
Distance 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, Scaling 72
29, 32, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 51, 58, Scientific method 64, 65
61, 62, 64 Slope 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 75, 77, 78
Speed 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 32,
E 42, 43, 46, 49, 50, 53, 54, 58, 61, 62, 64,
Equations of motion 58 65, 77, 78, 79, 88, 89,
Extrapolation 65, 72 Speedometer 32
Stopwatch 18, 20, 50, 51, 82, 83, 84
G Systematic error 52, 83, 84
Galileo 50, 51, 64, 65
Graphs 36, 37, 40, 41, 42, 47, 68, 69, 70, T
75, 77, 81 Time 8, 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26,
27, 29, 32, 38, 39, 43, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51,
I 52, 58, 61, 62, 64, 65,
Idealisation 17 Types of motion 7, 11
Inclined plane 46, 50, 51
Instantaneous speed 28, 29, 45, 46, 47, 54, U
77, 78 Uniform motion 27, 28, 42, 44
Interpolation 72 Units of speed22

L
Least Count 29, 75, 82, 83
Linear Motion 7, 15, 17, 57

M
Measurement 7, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26,
27, 28, 29, 50, 51, 62, 82,
Misconceptions 11, 50, 75,
Motion 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18,
19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 29, 39, 43, 45, 47,
49, 50, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, 61, 62, 64, 65,
68, 75, 77, 87,

Motion & Force: Part 1 - Motion

This module was conceptualised and written mainly by Rama Chari,
Himanshu Srivastava and Pragya Shrivastava, with preliminary inputs from
Pallavi Sukhtantar and Vikram Chourey.
The module has benefited during various stages of its development from
conceptual as well as pedagogic inputs from Vijaya S. Varma, Amitabha
Mukherjee, Sushil Joshi, Kamal Mahendroo, Ajay Sharma, Aamod
Karkhanis, S. B. Welenkar, Vishnu Bhatia and Uma Sudhir. Suggestions
have also been given by Sumit Tripathi, Bhas Bapat, A. B. Saxena, Reva
Yunus and various school teachers. The final technical editing has been done
by Soumya Chakravarti and Patrick Dasgupta.
The sequence of concepts in this module was worked out on the basis of
several teacher training sessions. Some sections of the module were tried
out in a few schools in Indore. The feedback from these sessions has been
invaluable in giving shape to the final version of this module.
The method for measuring acceleration that was used in the development of
the module was possible because of a set-up designed by the Whirlybird
Electronics Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai.
The illustrations and lay-out have been prepared by Shweta Raina and
Jitendra Thakur, respectively. Some of the photographs are from teacher
training sessions in Indore.
 Eklavya
Eklavya is a non-government registered society working in the fields of education
and people's science since its inception in 1982. Its main aim is to develop
educational practices and materials related to a child's environment that are based
on play, activities and creative learning.
In the past few years, Eklavya has extended its area of work to include publishing.
We bring out three periodicals: Chakmak is a monthly science magazine for
children, Srote is a weekly science and technology news feature, and Sandarbh is
a bimonthly magazine on science and education for teachers. In addition to titles on
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Contact: [email protected]
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 Motion and Force
Part 1 - Motion

Force and Motion is considered one of the fundamental

topics in science and is therefore taught in middle and high
schools. However, the topic is treated in a perfunctory
manner, forgetting that the current understanding of
motion, and the development of concepts like speed and
acceleration took place over a period of two thousand
years.
We have tried to tackle these difficult concepts in the
modules on Force and Motion. In this, the first module, we
have concentrated on describing motion in a scientific
manner. The module is primarily aimed at teachers. It
presents a sequence of activities worked out on the basis of
detailed discussions with subject experts and feedback
from teacher-training sessions that lead to an
understanding of Motion.

ISBN: 978-93-81300-50-3 Price: ` 135.00

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