Chapter 2

MOTION ALONG A STRAIGHT LINE

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Lecture slides format and content adapted from Lectures by Jason Harlow

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 Introduction
• Kinematics. Kinematics is the branch of mechanics that deals with the
study of the motion of objects without considering the underlying
causes or mechanisms that produce the motion.

• Velocity and acceleration are important physical quantities.

➢ Velocity is a physical quantity that measures the rate at which an

object moves through space. In other words, velocity is the change
in position of an object with respect to time.

➢ Acceleration is a measure of how quickly the velocity of an object

changes1.

1A typical runner gains speed gradually during the course of a sprinting foot race and then
slows down after crossing the finish line.

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 Introduction
➢ Velocity

𝑡0 = 0s 𝑡1 = 1s
𝑣𝑚 = 1m/1s = 1m/s
𝑥
1m

𝑡0 = 0s 𝑡1 = 2s
𝑣𝑚 = 1m/2s = 0.5m/s
𝑥
1m

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Displacement, time, and average velocity

Dragster as
particle

Displacement
Displacement is defined as the vector pointing from the initial position (𝑃1 ) to the final position (𝑃2 ).

Example:

The initial position of the dragster 𝑃1 has coordinate 𝑥1 𝑦1 = (19 m, 0 m).

The final position of the dragster 𝑃2 has coordinates 𝑥2 , 𝑦2 = 277 m, 0 m .

The displacement Δ𝑥 is: 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑥 – 𝐼𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑥

Δ𝑥 = 𝑥2 − 𝑥1 = 277 m − 19 m = 258 m

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Displacement, time, and average velocity

Average velocity
𝛥𝑥 𝑥2 − 𝑥1
𝑣𝑎𝑣−𝑥 = =
𝛥𝑡 𝑡2 − 𝑡1
Example:

𝑡0 = 0s 𝑡1 = 2s 𝑡2 = 3s

𝑥
1m 1m

𝑣1 = 1m/2s = 0.5 m/s 𝑣2 = 1m/1s = 1 m/s

𝑣𝑎𝑣 = 2m/3s = 0.67m/s

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 Rules for the sign of x-velocity
If 𝒙 − 𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒙 − 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒔
Examples:
Positive and increasing Positive: Particle is moving
(getting more positive) in +𝑥 − 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
Positive and decreasing Negative: Particle is moving
(getting less positive) in −𝑥 − 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
Negative and increasing Positive: Particle is moving
(Getting less negative) in +𝑥 − 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
Negative and decreasing Negative: Particle is moving
(getting more negative) in −𝑥 − 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

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A position-time graph

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 Instantaneous Velocity
• Instantaneous velocity is the velocity of an object at a given moment, and is
calculated as the derivative of the position with respect to time.

• The average speed is not the magnitude of the average velocity!

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 Instantaneous Velocity

• The average speed is not the magnitude of the average velocity!

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Finding velocity on an 𝑥 − 𝑡 graph
Average velocity
Δ𝑥
𝑣𝑎𝑣 =
Δ𝑡

Instantaneous
velocity
Δ𝑥 𝑑 𝑥
𝑣𝑥 = lim =
Δ𝑡 Δ𝑡 𝑑𝑡

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𝑥 − 𝑡 graphs

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Motion diagrams

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 Average and instantaneous
acceleration
• is a measure of how quickly the velocity of an object changes.

Average acceleration
𝛥𝑣𝑥 𝑣2𝑥 − 𝑣1𝑥
𝑎𝑎𝑣−𝑥 = =
𝛥𝑡 𝑡2 − 𝑡1

Instantanous acceleration

Δ𝑣𝑥 𝑑𝑣𝑥
𝑎𝑥 = lim =
Δ𝑡→0 Δ𝑡 𝑑𝑡

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 Rules for the sign of x-acceleration
If 𝒙 − 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒙 − 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔

Positive and increasing Positive: Particle is moving

(getting more positive) in +𝑥 − 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 and
speeding up.
Positive and decreasing Negative: Particle is moving
(getting less positive) in +𝑥 − 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 and
slowing down.
Negative and increasing Positive: Particle is moving
(Getting less negative) in − 𝑥 − 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 and
slowing down.
Negative and decreasing Negative: Particle is moving
(getting more negative) in −𝑥 − 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 and
speeding up.

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Finding acceleration on a 𝑣𝑥 − 𝑡 graph
Average acceleration

Δ𝑣
𝑎𝑎𝑣 =
Δ𝑡

Instantaneous
acceleration

Δ𝑣 𝑑𝑣
𝑎𝑥 = lim =
Δ𝑡→0 Δ𝑡 𝑑𝑡

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Finding acceleration on a 𝑣𝑥 − 𝑡 graph
Motion diagrams

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Motion diagrams

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Creating motion diagram from 𝒙 − 𝒕 graph

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 Motion diagrams
• Here is the motion diagram for the particle in the
previous diagram

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Motion with constant acceleration*

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Motion with constant acceleration

Velocity

𝑥𝑓 − 𝑥𝑖 Δ𝑥
𝑣= = m/s
𝑡𝑓 − 𝑡𝑖 Δ𝑡

Acceleration

𝑣𝑓 − 𝑣𝑖 Δ𝑣
𝑎= = m/s 2
𝑡𝑓 − 𝑡𝑖 Δ𝑡

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Motion with constant acceleration

No constant acceleration 8.00 + 4.00

time (s) Velocity (m/s) distance (m) 𝑣𝑎𝑣𝑒 = = 6.00 m/s
2
0.00 0.00 0.00
1.00 0.50 0.17 16.00 − 4.00
2.00 2.00 1.33 𝑣𝑎𝑣𝑒 = = 6.00 m/s
2
3.00 4.50 4.50
4.00 8.00 10.67

Constant acceleration
time (s) Velocity (m/s) distance (m)
8.00 + 0.5 0.00 0.00 0.00
𝑣𝑎𝑣𝑒 = = 4.25 m/s
2 1.00 2.00 1.00
10.67 − 0.17 2.00 4.00 4.00
𝑣𝑎𝑣𝑒 = = 3.5 m/s 3.00 6.00 9.00
3
4.00 8.00 16.00

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Motion with constant acceleration

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Motion with constant acceleration

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A position-time graph

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The equations of motion with constant acceleration
• The four equations below apply to any straight-
line motion with constant acceleration ax.

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 Freely falling bodies
• Free fall is the motion of an
object under the influence
of only gravity.
• In the figure, a strobe light
flashes with equal time
intervals between flashes.
• The velocity change is the
same in each time interval,
so the acceleration is
constant.

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 A freely falling coin
• If there is no air resistance, the downward
acceleration of any freely falling object is g = 9.8
m/s2 = 32 ft/s2.

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 Up-and-down motion in free fall
• Position as a function of time for
a ball thrown upward with an initial
speed of 15.0 m/s.

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 Up-and-down motion in free fall
• Position as a function of time for
a ball thrown upward with an initial
speed of 15.0 m/s.

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 Up-and-down motion in free fall
• Velocity as a function of
time for a ball thrown
upward with an initial
speed of 15.0 m/s.

• The vertical velocity, but

not the acceleration, is
zero at the highest point.

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 Velocity and position by integration
• The acceleration of a car is not always constant.
• The motion may be integrated over many small
time intervals to give and

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