Vectors and scalars.

 Quantities measured in physics can be divided into two groups.

 Scalar quantities
 Vector quantities
 Scalar quantities are quantities that have magnitude (size) only.
Examples are mass, length energy temperature and speed.
 Vector quantities are quantities with both magnitude (size) and
direction. Examples are force, velocity, acceleration and
momentum.
 Scalars may be added together by simple arithmetic but when
vectors are added the direction of the vector must also be
considered.
 Vectors may be represented by a line, the length of the line
being the magnitude of the vector and the direction of the line
the direction of the vector.
 Addition of vectors.
When vectors are added, their directions must be taken
into account. Two forces of 3 N and 5 N acting in the
same direction would give a total force of 8 N. However,
if they act in opposite directions the total force is
(5 − 3) N = 2 N, in the direction of the 5 N force.
 If vectors act at an angle to each
other the triangle of vectors is used.
Question.
Question.
Homework
 Resolution of vectors

 It is often necessary to find the components of a vector,

usually in two perpendicular directions. This process is known
as resolution of a vector, usually along two directions at right
angles to each other.
 The component of a vector along the horizontal direction is
the magnitude of the vector multiplied by the cosine of the
angle between its direction and the direction of the
component.
Vertical component =FsinQ.
Question.
Questions
 Rectilinear motion

 Means motion in a straight line.

 Speed is the rate of change of distance.
 Speed =distance/time
 Displacement is the distance covered in a particular direction.
 Velocity is the rate of change of displacement.
 V=displacement/time
 Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity
 a=(v-u)/t
 Where u= initial velocity v= final velocity
 a= acceleration
Kinematics.
Speed

 Speed is the distance travelled per unit time. Speed is a scalar

quantity.
 We can calculate the average speed of something moving if we know
the distance it moves and the time it takes:

 this is written as: v = d t

 where v is the average speed and d is the distance travelled in time t.
Units of speed
Laboratory measurement of speed.

 Speed can be measured using

 1. light gates
 2.ticker timer
 3. motion sensor
Questions.
Velocity

 Velocity is the change in displacement per unit time.

 Velocity is a vector quantity.
 Displacement is the distance travelled in a particular direction
from a point.
 Displacement is a vector quantity.
 Average velocity is the displacement divided by the time
taken.
Acceleration.

 The acceleration is the rate at which the velocity is changing.

To obtain instantaneous
acceleration we consider a
very small time interval.

Acceleration is a vector
quantity.
Questions.
Motion time graphs
Homework
 Instantaneous velocity is the velocity at an instant. We can
consider the velocity taken over a time that is much shorter
than the overall measurement as instantaneous.
Free fall

 In the absence of air resistance, all objects, whatever their

mass will fall freely with the same acceleration
 The acceleration of free fall on earth (acceleration due to
gravity g) has a value of 9.81m/s2.
 When using equations of motion for free falling bodies, we
need to be aware that displacement, velocity and acceleration
are vector quantities and that acceleration due to gravity
always act downwards towards the earth.
 If an object is thrown upwards, it will be accelerating
downwards at 9.81m/s2. if the upward velocity is assigned a
positive value, it follows that the value of downwards
acceleration must be negative. If the body was thrown
downwards, its direction would be the same as that of g, so
both can be given positive values.
Measuring acceleration due to gravity.

 Read page 26 and 27

 A multiflash photograph is useful to demonstrate that a ball
accelerates as it falls. Usually, objects fall too quickly for our
eyes to be able to observe them speeding up.
question

 A ball is thrown vertically upwards with a velocity of 10m/s

calculate the maximum height it will reach above its starting
position and the time taken to reach this height.
Terminal velocity

 Air resistance, or drag, increases as the velocity of a body

increases.
 As a falling body accelerates, the drag force increases.
Therefore, the resultant force on it will decrease, meaning
that the acceleration decreases.
 When the drag force is equal to the gravitational pull on the
body it will no longer accelerate, but fall with a constant
velocity. This velocity is called the terminal velocity.
 The gradient is initially large as the skydiver is accelerating with
the acceleration due to gravity.
 The gradient of the graph gradually decreases showing the
acceleration of the skydiver to be decreasing as the air resistance
on the skydiver increases.
 Eventually the air resistance on the skydiver is equal to his weight;
there is no resultant force so there is no acceleration. The skydiver
falls at constant velocity, shown by the horizontal line on the
graph; zero gradient implies zero acceleration and constant
velocity.
 The area beneath the line on a velocity-time graph gives the
total displacement.
Motion in two dimensions – projectiles

Objects projected horizontally

will still fall freely with a vertical
acceleration of 9.81m/s2.

The figure shows two balls one

released from rest and the other
projected horizontally.
 The two motions, horizontal and vertical, are completely
independent of each other.
 The horizontal speed continues unchanged (we assumed no air
resistance) while the vertical speed changes as gravity acts on the
ball.
 This independence allows a straightforward analysis of the motion.
 The horizontal and the vertical parts of the motion can be split up
and treated separately and then recombined to answer questions
about the velocity and the displacement for the whole of the
motion.
 The vertical acceleration of the projected ball is unaffected by its
horizontal motion.
 Horizontal distance travelled by the projectiles can be found by
considering the vertical and horizontal motions separately.
 In the vertical plane the object will accelerate down at 9.8m/s2,
while the horizontal velocity remains constant.
 The equations of motion can be applied to the vertical motion to
ascertain the time spent by the object in free fall, and the
horizontal displacement is the product of the constant velocity and
this time.
 In the vertical plane, the initial velocity is u sin θ (upwards) and the
acceleration is 9.8ms2 (downwards).
 As both are vectors, if a positive value is assigned to the initial velocity,
the acceleration, downward velocities and downward displacements
will have negative values.
 Neglecting air resistance, the horizontal component of the initial
velocity will remain constant throughout the motion.
If an object is projected at an
angle, the vertical and
horizontal motion can still be
treated separately by
considering the components
of the velocity in each plane.
Consider the motion of an object projected at an angle, θ, with
an initial velocity, u.
 A body is projected with a velocity of 200m/s at an angle of 30
above the horizontal. Calculate;
 a) the time taken to reach maximum height.
 b) its velocity after 16 seconds
 A particle is projected with a speed of 25m/s at 30 above the
horizontal. Find a) the time taken to reach the highest point of
the trajectory, b) the velocity after 2.0s
 A pebble is thrown from the top of a cliff at a speed of 10m/s
and 30 above the horizontal. It hits the sea below the cliff 6.0s
later. Find a) the height of the cliff, b) the distance from the
base of the cliff at which the pebble falls into the sea.
 A pencil is accidentally knocked off the edge of a horizontal
desk top. The height of the desk is 64.8 cm and the pencil hits
the floor a horizontal distance 32.4cm from the edge of the
desk. What was the speed of the pencil as it left the desk.
 A particle is projected from level ground in such a way that its
horizontal and vertical components of velocity are 20m/s and
10m/s respectively. Find: a)the maximum height of the
particle, b)its horizontal distance from the point of projection
when it returns to the ground, c)the magnitude and direction
of its velocity on landing.
 An aeroplane moving horizontally at 150m/s releases a bomb
at a height of 500m. The bomb hits the intended target. What
was the horizontal distance of the aeroplane from the target
when the bomb was released?
EXPERIMENTS
Measuring the displacement of a moving
object

The transmitter of a motion sensor sends out pulses of ultrasound and infrared radiation that
are picked up by the receiver. The distance of the transmitter from the sensor is continuously
recorded. The sensor is interfaced with a computer with data sampling software to measure
the position of the trolley at fixed time intervals. trolley may be pulled along the
runway at constant velocity or allowed to accelerate down an inclined plane.

 Displacement—time graphs can be

drawn from the results or the graphs
may be displayed on the computer.
Velocity—time graphs


The results of the displacement—time experiment can be used
to illustrate how the velocity of the trolley changes as it
moves along the runway. The gradient of the displacement—
time graph is taken for a range of times and a
velocity—time graph is plotted. This is quite a tricky exercise,
and one that is usually left to the computer program.
Displacement-time graph and velocity-
time graph for a bouncing ball

 The two graphs below are for a ball that is initially dropped
from someone’s hand and allowed to bounce on the floor.
Displacement-time graph

 • Zero displacement is defined as the floor.

 • The gradient of the displacement-time graph is velocity. The
gradient of the graph is negative and becomes increasingly
large as the ball falls and speeds up.
 • When the ball hits the ground, it bounces back up and the
gradient becomes positive. The gradient then decreases until
the ball is at the top of its path. The ball then drops
downwards once more.
Velocity-time graph

 • The ball is dropped from rest and so the initial velocity is zero.
 • Velocity downwards has been given a negative sign and so the velocity
then becomes a bigger negative number as the ball accelerates downwards.
 • The gradient of the graph is acceleration and this is constant
 at –9.81 ms-2 as this is acceleration due to gravity.
 • When the ball bounces it rapidly comes to a stop before bouncing back,
upwards, with a positive velocity.
 • The ball will then slow down until, at the top of its path, it will
instantaneously have zero velocity before heading back towards the
ground.
Acceleration due to gravity

Bouncing ball
 The motion of a bouncing ball provides a good example of
how motion represented graphically.
Experiment ____

Investigating the motion of a bouncing ball

 An advanced motion sensor is ideal for this investigation.

 The transmitter is attached to a basketball, or similar large ball, using
Blue-tack. The receiver is clamped in position vertically above the
transmitter as shown in Figure 3.11.
 The motion sensor uses a mixture of infrared and ultrasonic signals to
measure accurately the distance between the transmitter and the receiver.
 The sensor is activated, and the ball is dropped and allowed to
bounce two or three times.
 Practice is needed to ensure that the ball does not rotate and
that the transmitter stays beneath the receiver all of the time.
 The data can be displayed as a distance—time, __ velocity—
time or acceleration—time graph. The graphs in Figure 3.12
show the variations in displacement, velocity and acceleration
on a common timescale. The initial displacement (the height
above the floor) is positive, as are all upward values of
displacement, velocity and acceleration; all downward values
will be negative.