Linear Motion

Speed

Speed is the distance travelled in 1 second. It is a Scalar quantity

S.I. unit : m / s

Average Speed = Distance Travelled

Time taken

Velocity

Velocity is the speed towards a particular direction. It is a vector quantity

S.I. unit : m / s

Velocity = Change in displacement

Change in time

The Nissan GTR won the race by travelling a distance of 400m in

11.2s. Find its speed.

The Audi R8 came in 3rd place by travelling a distance of 400m in

11.5s. Find its speed.

The Mustang travelled the total distance of 400m at an average speed

of 32.25 m/s. Find the time taken to finish the race.

1
Distance Time Graphs

Distance time graphs describe the movement of an object as time goes by.

Consider a car moving with a velocity of 10m/s

Resulting graph would look like the graph on the right

Example

Slow constant speed

uphill

Cyclist stops for a rest

Fast constant speed

downhill

2
Example

Gareth Bale and Sagna both run for a distance of 30m to take possession of the ball.

- Gareth Bale takes 5s to cover 30m.

- He then takes possession of the ball and covers 10m in 3 seconds.
- Plot these runs on the same graph below.

- Sagna takes 6 seconds to cover 30m.

- He then falls to the ground and does not move for 2 seconds.
- Plot his motion during this event on the same graph below.

Why is the graph for Gareth Bale steeper then Sagna’s for the first 30m they run together?

Which graph represents a slow constant speed? ________

Which graph represents a fast constant speed? ________

A B

3
Example

The displacement-time graph below shows the movement of an anchor being lowered
from the surface of the sea to the sea-bed and then after some time pulled back.

a. How deep is the sea-bed to the surface of the sea?

________________________________________________________________________

b. How long did it take the anchor to reach the sea-bed?

________________________________________________________________________

c. Calculate the average velocity of the anchor as it was lowered to the sea-bed.
________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

d. What happened to the anchor between the 5th and 15th second?
________________________________________________________________________

e. How long did it take to raise the anchor from the sea-bed back to the surface?
________________________________________________________________________

f. Calculate the average velocity of the anchor as it was raised to the surface.
________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

g. Compare the velocity of the anchor when it was lowered to that when it is
raised. Use the graph to explain the difference.
________________________________________________________________________
4
Acceleration

Acceleration is the rate at which an object changes its velocity. An object is accelerating
if it is changing its velocity.

Unit: m/s2

This footballer is accelerating at a rate of 5 m/s2. This means that every 1s his velocity is
increasing with 10 m/s.

The distance time graph for acceleration is represented by a curve since the velocity is
constantly changing every second.

Therefore since the velocity increases more distance is being covered in less time.

Acceleration can be found by using

Acceleration = Change in velocity

Time taken

v = final velocity
u = initial velocity
t = time taken

An object can also have a decrease in velocity which is called a Deceleration.

Consider a footballer who was running at speed of 15m/s and decelerates at a rate of
5m/s2.

Deceleration can be found using the same formula for

acceleration.
5
Acceleration Examples

1) A car accelerates to a speed of 30m/s from rest in 6

seconds. What is its acceleration?

2) Lionel Messi starts running from rest with an acceleration of

2m/s2 for 10 seconds. Find his final velocity.

3) Hamilton and Vettel are racing side by side both travelling with a velocity of 20m/s. For
Hamilton to overtake Vettel, he must accelerate his car from 20m/s to 32m/s in 4 seconds.
Vettel continues to travel at 20m/s.

a) How far does Vettel’s car travel in 4 seconds?

b) Calculate the acceleration of car B.

4) A car starts from rest and accelerates at 3 m/s2 to reach a velocity of 30m/s. Calculate
the time taken.

6
Velocity Time Graphs

Velocity time graphs describe the velocity of an object as time goes by.

Consider a car moving with a constant velocity (no acceleration) of 10m/s.

The resulting velocity time graph for this car

will produce a straight horizontal line. The
straight horizontal line indicates that there is no
change in velocity.

Now consider a car which is accelerating (changing velocity) at a rate of 4m/s2.

The graph for this type of motion shows a

sloped line, this is since the velocity is
changing every second during
acceleration.

This graph shows a deceleration. The line

shows us that the velocity is decreasing with
time.

7
Finding the acceleration from a velocity time graph

When we calculate the slope or gradient of a graph we always use the equation;

Gradient= Change in y-axis

Change in x-axis

Now since the y-axis represents the velocity and the x-axis represents the time
the equation for the gradient of a velocity – time graph becomes;

Gradient= Change in velocity

Change in time

Therefore the Acceleration can be found from the gradient

Find the Acceleration between time 0 – 4 seconds.

Finding the Distance travelled from a

velocity time graph

The distance travelled in a velocity time graph can

be calculated by finding the AREA under the graph.

Calculate the distance travelled from 0 to 10 seconds.

8
Example

A cable operated lift of total mass 500kg moves upward from rest in a vertical shaft. The
graph below shows how the velocity of the lift varies with time.

a. Describe the motion of the lift between points

O and A _____________

A and B______________

B and C______________

b. Describe how you can use the graph to find the distance travelled by the lift.

c. Calculate:

The total distance travelled by the lift

9
 The deceleration of the lift

d. If the lift was at rest and the cables broke, what would be the acceleration
of the lift?

Comparing Distance – Time Graphs to Velocity – Time Graphs

The diagrams below show a velocity time graph and a distance time graph which have the
same shape. However they represent completely different types of motion as
described on each graph.

Sketch the Distance Time graph

for the motion shown above
Velocity – Time Graph

o Gradient = Acceleration or
deceleration
o Distance travelled = area under the
graph

Distance – Time Graph

o Gradient = Velocity of object

o Distance can be found from Y-axis

10
Equations of Motion

These equations are used to find quantities such velocity, time, distance and acceleration.

Symbol Quantity Units

u Initial velocity m/s
v Final velocity m/s
s Distance m
t Time s
a Acceleration m/s2

v = u + at or a=v-u
t

s = ut +1/2at2

s = (u + v)t
2

v2 = u2 + 2as

Note!!

If an object is thrown upwards at an initial

velocity of 10m/s

When the ball reaches maximum height

its velocity = 0m/s

Both when the ball is travelling upwards

and downwards, it is moving under the
effect of gravity. Therefore a = 10m/s2

11
Examples

1) A car starts from rest (initial velocity is 0m/s) and accelerates at 2m/s2 for 10s. Calculate:

a) The final velocity

b) The distance travelled

2) A ball is thrown vertically upwards with an initial velocity of 30 m/s. Find.

a) The maximum height it reaches

b) The time taken to reach this height

3) Monica drops a ball from the window in her flat 15.0m above the ground.

a) What is the ball’s

i. Initial velocity? _______________________________
ii. Acceleration on its way down? _____________________

b. Calculate the time the ball takes to reach the ground

4) A man fires a pistol, the bullet shoots out and reaches a height of 5m

a) What is the velocity of the bullet at the top of its motion?

b) What is the velocity of the bullet as it leaves the pistol?

5) Cristiano Ronaldo starts from rest and accelerates at 2m/s2 for 5

seconds.

a) Find his final velocity

12
Friction and Road Safety

Thinking distance and braking distance

 All moving objects relay on friction to stop moving.

 When a driver has to break, it takes time for him to react. In that fraction of a second
the car can travel many metres - This is called the Thinking distance.
 The braking distance is the distance the car will travel after the brakes are pressed.

The braking distance can be effected by;

1) If the car is travelling faster

2) If the car is heavier
3) If the surface of the road is wet or very hot
4) If the car is poorly maintained

The total distance travelled by the car before coming to rest can be calculated by;

Total stopping distance = Thinking distance + Braking distance

The following three examples show the different braking distances depending on whether
the road is dry, wet or icy.

It takes a longer distance to stop the car on an

icy road since there is less FRICTIONAL force
between the tires and the tarmac

13
Acceleration Due to Gravity - g
The acceleration due to gravity does not depend on the mass of the body.

On earth the acceleration due to gravity of a freely falling object is approximately 10m/s2 if
air resistance is neglected

This means that in the absence of air resistance a feather would fall at the same rate as a
brick.

Finding g experimentally

 An electric stop clock is used to measure the time taken for a small steel ball to fall
through a distance (s).

 When switch is in position 1, the

electromagnet holds up the ball.

 When the switch is moved quickly to

position 2, the electromagnet
releases the ball and the clock
starts timing.

 When the ball hits the trap door

(connected to clock), the circuit is
broken and the clock stops timing.

14