RIZAL NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL Example 2. How far can a cyclist travel in 2.

le 2. How far can a cyclist travel in 2.5 h along a straight road if her average velocity
Senior High School is 18 km/h? (Ans. 45 km)
GRADE 12 - STEM
General Physics 1

VELOCITY AND ACCELERATION

VELOCITY
Velocity refers to “the rate at which an object changes its position.” So a person moving one
step forward and one step back to its original position has a zero velocity since there is no
displacement. Velocity is also direction aware which means a direction must be added to Example 4. During the time interval from 0.0 to 10.0 s, the position vector of a car on a road
fully describe an object's velocity such 55 mi/hr, east. ) )
is given by 𝑥(𝑡) = 𝑎 + 𝑏𝑡 + 𝑐𝑡 ( , with 𝑎 = 17.2 𝑚, 𝑏 = −10.1 * , 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐 = 1.10 *!. What is the
The average velocity then, is the displacement, Δx, divided by the time interval Δt during
which the displacement occurs: car’s velocity as a function of time? What is the car’s average velocity during this interval?
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 − 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (Ans. 𝒗I = 𝟎. 𝟗𝟎 𝒎/𝒔)
𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 = =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑠𝑒𝑑
! "! ∆!
in equation form 𝑣̅ = #!"# " = ∆#
! "
In reality, it is unlikely that a particle moves constantly at every instant. Instantaneous
velocity deals with this as it is known as the average velocity during an infinitesimally short
time interval. It can also be described as the average velocity as we let Δt become
extremely small, approaching zero as shown below
∆𝑥 𝑑𝑥
𝑣 = lim =
∆#→& ∆𝑡 𝑑𝑡
∆!
The notation lim means the ratio is to be evaluated in the limit of Δt approaching zero.
∆#→& ∆#
This is called the derivative of x with respect to t.
On a graph of position as a function of time for straight-line motion, the instantaneous x-
velocity at any point is equal to the slope of the tangent to the curve at that point. ACCELERATION
An object whose velocity is changing is said to be accelerating. For instance, a car whose
When we use the term “velocity,” it will refer to instantaneous velocity. We will include the velocity increases in magnitude from zero to 80 km/h is accelerating. Acceleration specifies
word “average” when we talk about average velocity. how rapidly the velocity of an object in changing.
*NOTE: Speed is the absolute value of the velocity vector. The average speed is the total
distance divided by the total time. For one-dimensional motion, we need a + or - sign to indicate direction of acceleration
ℓ relative to a chosen coordinate system. Acceleration is usually expressed in meters per
𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 =
∆𝑡
Example 1. The position of a runner as a function of time is second per second. Written as m/s2. Average acceleration, 𝑎O is defined as the change in
plotted as moving along the x-axis of a coordinate system. velocity ∆𝒗 = 𝒗𝟐 − 𝒗𝟏 divided by the time it takes to make this change ∆𝒕 = 𝒕𝟐 − 𝒕𝟏:
During a 3.00-s time interval, the runner’s position changes 𝑣( − 𝑣' ∆𝑣
from 𝑥' = 50.0 𝑚 to 𝑥( = 30.5 𝑚. What is the runner’s 𝑎O = =
𝑡( − 𝑡' ∆𝑡
average velocity? (Ans. -6.50 m/s or 6.50 m/s to the left) The Instantaneous acceleration, 𝑎, can be defined in analogy to instantaneous velocity, for
any specific instant. From now on, when we use the term “acceleration,” we will always
mean instantaneous acceleration, not average acceleration.
∆𝑣 𝑑𝑣
𝑎 = lim =
∆#→& ∆𝑡 𝑑𝑡
The acceleration is the time derivative of the velocity, and the velocity is the time derivative
of the displacement. The acceleration is therefore the second derivative of the
displacement.
 𝑑 𝑑 𝑑 𝑑( MOTION WITH CONSTANT ACCELERATION
𝑎! = 𝑣! = S 𝑥T = ( 𝑥 The simplest kind of accelerated motion is straight-line motion with constant acceleration. In
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
Deceleration of an object is the decrease in the speed of the object over time, which this case the velocity changes at the same rate throughout the motion and the
corresponds to acceleration in the opposite direction of the motion of the object. instantaneous and average velocities are equal.

Example 1. A car accelerates on a straight road from rest to 75 km/h in 5.0s. What is the Constant x-acceleration equations:
magnitude of its average acceleration? (Ans. 4.2 m/s2) i. v- = v&- + 𝑎- t
. /.
ii. vO! = # ( $#
iii. x = x& + vO! t
'
iv. x = x& + v&- t + ( 𝑎- t (
v. v-( = v&-
(
+ 2𝑎- (x − x& )
'
vi. x − x& = ( (v&- + v- )t
Example 2. An automobile is moving to the right along a straight highway. Then the driver These equations allow us to solve many kinds of problems for motion in one dimension with
steps on the brakes. If the initial velocity (when the driver hits the brakes) is v1=15.0 m/s, constant acceleration.
and it takes 5.0 s to slow down to v2=5.0 m/s, what was the car’s average acceleration? Example 1. A motorcyclist
(Ans. -2.0 m/s2) heading east through a small
town accelerates at a constant
4.0 m/s2 after he leaves the city
limits. At time t=0 he is 5.0 m east
of the city-limits signpost while he
moves east at 15 m/s.
(a) Find his position and velocity at t=2.0s (Ans. 43 m)
Example 3. A cheetah is crouched 20 m to the east of a vehicle. At time t=0 the cheetah (b) Where is he when his speed is 25m/s? (Ans. 55 m)
begins to run due east toward an antelope that is 50 m to the east of the vehicle. During the
first 2.0 s of the chase, the cheetah’s x-coordinate varies with time according to the equation
+
𝑥 = 20𝑚 + U5.0 !V (t ( ).
,
a. Find its instantaneous velocity at t1=1.0 s by taking Δt=0.1s, then 0.01s, then
0.001s (Ans. 10.5 m/s)
b. Derive an expression for the cheetah’s instantaneous velocity as a function of time,
and use it to find vx at t=1.0s and t=2.0s.

Example 2. Assuming constant acceleration of 𝑎- =4.3 m/s2 starting from rest, what is
the airplane’s takeoff velocity after 18.4s? How far down the runway has the plane moved
by the time it takes off? (Ans. 79 m/s, 7.3x102m)
Example 3. Accelerating from rest, a top fuel race car can reach 148.9 m/s, a record Example 1. A one-peso coin is dropped from the Leaning
established in 2003, at the end if a quarter mile (402.3 m). Assuming constant acceleration, Tower of Pisa and falls freely from rest. What are its position
a. What is the value of the race car’s constant acceleration? and velocity after 1.0s, 2.0s and 3.0s? (Ans. at t=1, s=-4.9m
b. How long does it take the race car to complete a quarter-mile run from a standing and v=-9.8m/s)
start?

FREE FALL Example 2. If the meter stick falls 0.20 m before you catch it, what is your reaction time?
A familiar example of motion with (nearly) constant acceleration is a body falling under the (Ans. 0.20s)
influence of the earth’s gravity. Experiment shows that when air is ignored, all bodies at a
particular location fall with the same downward acceleration, regardless of their size or weight.
This ideal situation is called Free fall.

A freely falling body has the acceleration due to gravity that we denote with letter g. We will
use the approximate value of g at or near the earth’s surface equal to g = 9.80 m/s2 = 32.2
ft/s2 . We call the vertical axis the y-axis and define the positive direction as up. Then the
acceleration vector 𝑎⃗ has only a nonzero y-component, which is given by 𝑎0 = −𝑔.

Most people think that the final velocity for a falling object is zero because objects stop once
they hit the ground. In physics problems, the final velocity is the speed just before touching Sources:
the ground. Once it touches the ground, the object is no longer in freefall. Also, a freely falling Bauer, W., & Westfall, G. D. (2016). General Physics 1. McGraw-Hill Education.
body that moves upward at a certain speed will past a point and will once again pass that Giancoli, D. C. (2014). Physics: Principles With Applications. Pearson Education,
same point at the same speed as it moves downward Inc.
Young, H. D., & Freedman, R. A. (2016). University Physics With Modern
For situations involving free fall, Application 14th Edition. Pearson Education Limited.
Bautista, J. (2020). Velocity and Acceleration and Uniform Motion modules. Baguio
i. v0 = v&0 − 𝑔t City.
ii. 𝑦 = 𝑦& + vO0 t
'
iii. 𝑦 = 𝑦& + v&0 t − ( 𝑔t (
Prepared by: Noted by:
iv. v0( = v&0
(
− 2𝑔(𝑦 − 𝑦& )
.% /.$%
v. vO0 =
(
Hazel Ann S. Nipales Leonardo T. Zambrano
Science Teacher School Head