A.

1 – KINEMATICS
Distance, Displacement, Speed and Velocity
Distance (of travel) is the total length of a specified path between two points. SI unit: meter, m

Displacement (change of position) is the

displacement of an object is the distance in a
straight line from a fixed reference point in a
specified direction.

EXAMPLE

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 Calculate the distance, displacement, average velocity and
speed in given time interval.

a.) t=0 to t=3 s

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b.) t=1 to t=5

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EXAMPLE

The value seen on the speedometer of the car is the speed at any particular moment, called the instantaneous
speed.

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Finding an instantaneous velocity from a curved displacement–time graph

Velocity is the rate of change of position, and acceleration is the rate of change of velocity

VELOCITY– TIME GRAPHS

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DISPLACEMENT – TIME GRAPHS

Activity Tsokos: Pages 6-7

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 EXAMPLE
1.)

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2.)

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 EXAMPLE

1. What is the acceleration of a car that accelerates from 15 m s-1 to 35 m s-1 in 10 seconds?

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2. Find the average acceleration of a northbound train that slows down from 12 m s-1 to a complete stop in 8
sec.

3. Starting from rest, an object accelerates with 3 m.s-2.

a) What will its velocity be 3.00 s later?
b) What will be the total displacement?

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4. Starting from 10 ms-2, an object accelerates with 3 m.s-2.
a) What will its velocity be 3.00 s later?
b) What will be the total displacement in 3 s
c) What will be the displacement in the last two second

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5. If a plane on a runway is accelerating at 4.8 m s-2 for 15 seconds before taking off, how long should the
runway be?

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6. A body has initial velocity 4.0 m s-1. After 6.0 s the velocity is 12 m s-1. Determine the displacement of the
body in the 6.0 s.

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7. A driver slams on the brakes and skids for 3 seconds before coming to a stop. You go and measure that the
skid marks show a deceleration over 9 m. What was the initial speed of the car?

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FREE FALL AND VERTICAL MOTION

EXAMPLE
1. A billiard ball is released from rest. What is the velocity, position and acceleration of the ball after 1.0 s, 2.0 s
and 3.0s? ( g=10 ms-2)

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2. A ball is dropped vertically from a height of 18.3 m. Assuming that the acceleration of free fall is 9.81 m s−2
and air resistance is negligible, calculate:
a) its velocity after 1.70 s
b) its height after 1.70 s
c) its velocity when it hits the ground
d) the time for the ball to reach the ground.

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 If the initial velocity of the is not zero; be careful about the sign

3. A ball is thrown downward with an initial speed of 10 ms-1. It hits the ground after 3s.
a) What is the speed of the ball as it hits the gorund?
b) From what height about the ground is the ball thrown?
( g=10 ms-2)

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4. An object is thrown downward from a height of 420m. It hits the ground with a velocity of 100 ms-1.
( g=10 ms-2)
a) What is the initial velocity of the object?
b) How long does it take the object to hit the ground?
c) What are the distances dropped by the object during the
first and last second?

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5. A ball thrown upward with an initial speed of 30 ms-1. Find
a) the velocity after 2 s
b) maximun height
c) total time
d) final velocity

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 6. A ball is thrown vertically upwards and reaches a maximum height of 21.4 m. For the following questions,
assume that g = 9.81 m s-2.
a) Calculate the speed with which the ball was released.
b) State any assumption that you made in answering a.
c) Determine where the ball will be 3.05 s after it was released.
d) Calculate its velocity at this time.

Homework: Tsokos Pages: 15-19

PROJECTILE MOTION

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 EXAMPLE
1. A stone is thrown horizantally at 30 ms-1 from top a cliff 80 m high
a) How long does it take the stone to reach the bottom of the cliff?
b) How far from the base of the cliff does the stone strike the ground?
c) Find the velocity of the stone as it strikes the ground?

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2. An object is launched horizontally with a velocity of 12 m s−1. Determine:

a) the vertical component of velocity after 4.0 s
b) the x- and y-components of the position vector of the object after 4.0 s.

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 EXAMPLE
1. A projectile is fired with an initial velocity of 50 ms-1 at angle of 530 above the horizantal. Find
a) the x and y component of the velocity and position at t=6s?
b) its position at t=3s?
c) The maximum height ?
d) the range?
e) final velocity?

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2. A stone was thrown upwards from a height 1.60 m above the ground with a speed of 18.0 m s−1
at an angle of 52.0° to the horizontal. Assuming that air resistance is negligible, calculate:
a) its maximum height
b) the vertical component of velocity when it hits the ground
c) the time taken to reach the ground
d) the horizontal distance to the point where it hits the ground
e) the velocity of impact.

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Fluid resistance
So far, we have only considered projectile motion in which air resistance is negligible. We will
now broaden the discussion.
As any object moves through air, the air is forced to move out of the path of the object. This causes
a force opposing the motion called air resistance, also known as drag. Drag forces will oppose the
motion of an object moving in any direction through any gas or liquid. (Gases and liquids are both
described as fluids because they can flow.) Such forces opposing motion are generally described
as fluid resistance.

Terminal Velocity
A free-falling object achieves its terminal velocity when the downward force of gravity (Fg) equals the upward force
of drag (Fd). This causes the net force on the object to be zero, resulting in an acceleration of zero.

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