2/16/2017 KinematicEquations

TheKinematicEquations
KinematicEquations
KinematicEquationsandProblemSolving
KinematicEquationsandFreeFall
SampleProblemsandSolutions
KinematicEquationsandGraphs

ThegoalofthisfirstunitofThePhysicsClassroomhasbeentoinvestigatethevarietyofmeansby
whichthemotionofobjectscanbedescribed.Thevarietyofrepresentationsthatwehaveinvestigated
includesverbalrepresentations,pictorialrepresentations,numericalrepresentations,andgraphical
representations(positiontimegraphsandvelocitytimegraphs).InLesson6,wewillinvestigatetheuse
ofequationstodescribeandrepresentthemotionofobjects.Theseequationsareknownaskinematic
equations.
Thereareavarietyofquantitiesassociatedwiththemotionofobjectsdisplacement(and
distance),velocity(andspeed),acceleration,andtime.Knowledgeofeachofthesequantitiesprovides
descriptiveinformationaboutanobject'smotion.Forexample,ifacarisknowntomovewithaconstant
velocityof22.0m/s,Northfor12.0secondsforanorthwarddisplacementof264meters,thenthe
motionofthecarisfullydescribed.Andifasecondcarisknowntoacceleratefromarestpositionwith
aneastwardaccelerationof3.0m/s2foratimeof8.0seconds,providingafinalvelocityof24m/s,East
andaneastwarddisplacementof96meters,thenthemotionofthiscarisfullydescribed.Thesetwo
statementsprovideacompletedescriptionofthemotionofanobject.However,suchcompletenessis
notalwaysknown.Itisoftenthecasethatonlyafewparametersofanobject'smotionareknown,
whiletherestareunknown.Forexampleasyouapproachthestoplight,youmightknowthatyourcar
hasavelocityof22m/s,Eastandiscapableofaskiddingaccelerationof8.0m/s2,West.Howeveryou
donotknowthedisplacementthatyourcarwouldexperienceifyouweretoslamonyourbrakesand
skidtoastopandyoudonotknowthetimerequiredtoskidtoastop.Insuchaninstanceasthis,the
unknownparameterscanbedeterminedusingphysicsprinciplesandmathematicalequations(the
kinematicequations).

TheBIG4
Thekinematicequationsareasetoffourequationsthatcanbeutilizedtopredictunknowninformation
aboutanobject'smotionifotherinformationisknown.Theequationscanbeutilizedforanymotion
thatcanbedescribedasbeingeitheraconstantvelocitymotion(anaccelerationof0m/s/s)ora
constantaccelerationmotion.Theycanneverbeusedoveranytimeperiodduringwhichthe
accelerationischanging.Eachofthekinematicequationsincludefourvariables.Ifthevaluesofthreeof
thefourvariablesareknown,thenthevalueofthefourthvariablecanbecalculated.Inthismanner,
thekinematicequationsprovideausefulmeansofpredictinginformationaboutanobject'smotionif
otherinformationisknown.Forexample,iftheaccelerationvalueandtheinitialandfinalvelocityvalues
ofaskiddingcarisknown,thenthedisplacementofthecarandthetimecanbepredictedusingthe
kinematicequations.Lesson6ofthisunitwillfocusupontheuseofthekinematicequationstopredict
thenumericalvaluesofunknownquantitiesforanobject'smotion.
Thefourkinematicequationsthatdescribeanobject'smotionare:

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2/16/2017 KinematicEquations

Thereareavarietyofsymbolsusedintheaboveequations.Eachsymbolhasitsownspecificmeaning.
Thesymboldstandsforthedisplacementoftheobject.Thesymboltstandsforthetimeforwhich
theobjectmoved.Thesymbolastandsfortheaccelerationoftheobject.Andthesymbolvstandsfor
thevelocityoftheobjectasubscriptofiafterthev(asinvi)indicatesthatthevelocityvalueis
theinitialvelocityvalueandasubscriptoff(asinvf)indicatesthatthevelocityvalueisthefinal
velocityvalue.
Eachofthesefourequationsappropriatelydescribesthemathematicalrelationshipbetweenthe
parametersofanobject'smotion.Assuch,theycanbeusedtopredictunknowninformationaboutan
object'smotionifotherinformationisknown.InthenextpartofLesson6wewillinvestigatethe
processofdoingthis.

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