MOTION IN ONE & TWO

DIMENSIONS NOTES
&
ASSIGNMENT

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Professor Wiseman Kunda ([email protected])

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August 20, 2024

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INSTRUCTIONS
• Students should submit the Assignment at 10 hrs tomorrow (Wednesday).

TOPICS
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• MOTION IN ONE AND TWO DIMENSIONS

• DISPLACEMENT
• AVEREAGE VELOCITY
• AVERAGE SPEED

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Question 1 (Natasha)
• A runner on a straight track covers 1km in 4minutes. What is his average
velocity in:
(a) km/min (b) km/s (c) km/h.

Question 2 (Precious)
• A car travels in the positive x direction for 20km at 40km/h. It then
continues in the same direction for another 20km at 80km/h.

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(a) What is the average velocity of the car during this 40km trip?

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(b) What is its average speed?

Question 3 (Abraham)
• Suppose the motion of the particle in Figure (1) is described by the
equation

where a = 10m and b = 2m/s2 .

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x = a + bt2 , (1)

(a) Find the displacement of the particle in the time interval between ti = 2s
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and tf = 4s.
(b) Find the average velocity and the average speed during this interval of
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time.
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Figure 1: Particle’s motion

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Question 4 (Henry)
• A graph of position (in meters) versus time (in seconds) for a boy traveling
in the positive x direction is displayed in the Figure (2). Find the average
velocity for the following cases:
(a) ti = 2s and tf = 4s,
(b) ti = 2s and tf = 6s,
(c) xi = 12m and xf = 30m.

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Figure 2: Particle’s motion
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Question 5 (Erick)
• A body moves along a straight line with position given by

x = 8t − 2t2 ,
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where x is in meters and t is in seconds. Find the average velocity and

average speed of the body in the intervals:
(a) from ti = 0 to tf = 2s, and
(b) from ti = 0 to tf = 5s.
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Question 6 (Instantaneous Velocity and Speed)

• The position of a plane during take-off along a straight runway is given
by
x = kt2 ,

k = 1.2m/s2 , is measured in meters, and t is in seconds.

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(a) Find the displacement and the average velocity of the plane in the time
intervals 0 ≤ t ≤ 4s and 4 ≤ t ≤ 10s.
(b) Find the velocity of the plane at t = 4s and at t = 10s.

Question 7 (Taonga and Sandra)

• A particle moves along the x−axis according to the relation
x = 6 − 6t + t2 , (2)

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where x is measured in meters and t is measured in seconds.
(a) Find the values of x for t = 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5s.

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(b) Find the values of the velocity v for t = 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5s.
(c) For each value of t indicate whether the particle is moving toward an
increasing or decreasing x.
(d) Is there ever an instant when the velocity is zero?

x?

Question 8 (Deborah)
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(e) Is there a time after t = 5s when the particle is moving toward decreasing

• The graph of Figure (3) shows the velocity of a runner plotted as a func-
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tion of time. What is the interval where the velocity of the runner:
(a) increases rapidly,
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(b) decreases rapidly, and

(c) stays constant?
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Figure 3: Particle’s motion

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Question 9 (Jane)
• A particle is moving along the x−axis with velocity vi = 50m/s at ti = 0.
Its velocity decreases uniformly and reaches vf = 0 at tf = 10s. What was
the average acceleration during this 10s interval?

Question 10 (Nerbat)
• A car moving along the x−axis has a position given by the formula

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x = 6 + 8t + 2t2 , (3)

where x is measured in meters and t is in seconds.

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(a) Find the car’s instantaneous velocity as a function of time.
(b) Find its instantaneous acceleration as a function of time.
(c) What will its velocity and acceleration be at t = 5s?

Question 11 (Abraham Katwishi)

the Figure (4) is given by

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• The velocity of a rocket during the first 6s of its initial launch stage, see

v = 20t − 0.4t2 , (4)

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where v is measured in meter/second and t is measured in seconds.
(a) Find the average acceleration of the rocket from ti = 0 to tf = 1s, and
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from ti = 5s to tf = 6s.
(b) Find the acceleration a of the rocket at any time t during the interval
0 ≤ t ≤ 6s.
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Figure 4: The Rocket’s motion

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Question 12 (Bridget and James)
• A particle in one-dimensional motion has a velocity at any instant of time
t given by

v = 6 + 4t + 3t2 . (5)

(a) Find the initial velocity when t = 0.

(b) Find the velocity when 2s have passed.
(c) Find the expression for the acceleration, and then its value when 2s have

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elapsed.

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(d) Find the expression for the displacement ∆x = xf − xi .

Question 13 (Queen)
• An object starts from rest and moves with constant acceleration of 4m/s2

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. Find its speed and the distance it has traveled after 5s have elapsed.

Question 14 (Lister)
• A box slides down an incline with a uniform acceleration, see Figure (5)
It starts from rest and attains a speed of 12m/s in 4s. Find:
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(a) the acceleration, and
(b) the distance moved in the first 4s.
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Figure 5: The Box’s motion

Question 15 (Absolum)
• A plane starts from rest and accelerates uniformly along a straight runway
before takeoff. If the plane moves 1km in 10s, then find:
(a) the acceleration,
(b) the speed at the end of the 10s period,

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(c) the distance moved in the first 20s.

Question 16 (Essau)
• A boy throws a ball upwards, giving it an initial speed v0 = 15m/s. Neglect
air resistance.
(a) How long does the ball take to return to the boy’s hand?
(b) What will be its velocity then?

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Question 17 (Chansa and Samson)

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• A ball is thrown upward from the top of a building with an initial velocity
v0 = 20m/s. The building is 40m high and the ball just misses the edge
of the building roof on its way down; see Figure (6) and take g = 10m/s2 .
Neglecting air resistance, find:

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(a) the time t1 for the ball to reach its highest point,
(b) how high will it rise,
(c) how long will it take to return to its starting point,
(d) the velocity v2 of the ball at this instant, and
(e) the velocity v3 and the total time of flight t3 just before the ball hits the
ground.
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Figure 6: Free Fall motion