Displacement, Distance, Velocity, Speed and Acceleration

Ms. Mikaela Irene Fudolig Physics 71 EEE

Displacement and distance

Displacement and distance

Path A

Displacement and distance

Path B

Displacement and distance

Path C

Displacement,

The vector pointing from the initial to the final position of the object Path-independent, as long as the initial and final positions are the same.

Displacement, x

Path C

Path A

Path B

Distance, x
The distance traveled is measured by how long the path taken actually is.
Path-dependent Scalar

Note: The distance is NOT necessarily the magnitude of the displacement.

Distance, x

Path C

Path A

Path B

Velocity and Speed

Velocity is a vector. Speed is a scalar.

Velocity and Speed

Average Velocity Average Speed Instantaneous Velocity Instantaneous Speed

Average Velocity
How fast does the displacement change, on the average, over a certain time interval t?

x total displacement vav t total time

Average Speed
How fast does the distance traveled change, on the average, over a certain time interval t?

x total distance vav t total time

Example 1

Path C

Example 1
A bus travels 10.0m east in 5.0s before going 8.0m south in 3.0s. What is the average velocity and what is the average speed? (Assume that +y points north.)

Example 1
10.0m 8.0m v av = = ij = 1.3m / s - 1.0m / sj i t 8.0s 8.0s x

v av =

x t

18.0m 8.0s

= 2.3m/s

Example 1
Note that
vav (1.3)2 (1.0)2 m / s 1.65m / s

vav vav

Exercise: Average Speed

You run 100 meters in 12 seconds, then turn around and jog 50 meters back toward the starting point in 30 seconds.
what is the total distance traveled? what is the total time? what is the average speed?

Exercise: Average Velocity

You run 100 meters in 12 seconds, then turn around and jog 50 meters back toward the starting point in 30 seconds.

total displacement vav total time

Assume you started running in the POSITIVE direction.

Instantaneous Velocity, v (t )
The instantaneous velocity at time t answers How fast does the displacement change, on the average, over a very small time interval t t + t ?

x dx v (t ) lim t 0 t dt

Instantaneous Velocity, v (t )
The instantaneous velocity at a time t can be obtained from any of the following:
Position vs. time plot/function Acceleration vs. time plot/function

Getting the instantaneous velocity (1D)

Consider the position vs. time plot shown. How do we get the instantaneous velocity at time t1?

x vav t
Note: arrows above letters are omitted since we are dealing with 1D

t1

Getting the instantaneous velocity (1D)

What we do is we divide the plot into small time intervals t. Consider the small interval centered at t1.
t1

Getting the instantaneous velocity (1D)

The average velocity for this time interval is given by the slope

x vav t
Note: arrows above letters are omitted since we are dealing with 1D

Getting the instantaneous velocity (1D)

If we zoom in on the very thin slice, we will get a LINE. Tangent line at t=t1. The average velocity over this small time interval is the SLOPE of the tangent line.

t1

Getting the instantaneous velocity (1D)

The SLOPE of the tangent line at t=t1 is the INSTANTANEOUS VELOCITY at t=t1!

t1

Exercise: Getting the instantaneous velocity

Draw the tangent lines at points A, B, C, D, E.
x B

C
E A t D

Exercise: Getting the instantaneous velocity

In what direction is the particle moving at these points in time?
x B

C
E A t D

Instantaneous speed
The instantaneous speed is just the MAGNITUDE of the INSTANTANEOUS VELOCITY.

Exercise: Getting the instantaneous speed

Get the magnitude of the slope of the tangent line at each point. Arrange vA, vB, vC, vD, and vE from highest to lowest.
x B

C
E A t D

Exercise: Getting the instantaneous speed

x B

C
E

MAGNITUDE ONLY vE>vA>vC>vD=vE=0

A t D

Exercise
Prove that a particle moving at a constant velocity moves in a straight line.

Acceleration
how fast the velocity changes with time VECTOR Compare
I increased my velocity from +1m/s to +2m/s in 5 seconds I increased my velocity from +1m/s to +2m/s in 10 seconds

Average Acceleration
The average acceleration is given by

v a t

Exercise: Average Acceleration

A car accelerates from 50 km/h to 80 km/h in 5 s. What is its average acceleration in m/s2?

v 80km/h - 50km/h 30 km/h

km 1000m 1h 1min 30 =8.33m/s h 1km 60min 60s

Exercise: Average Acceleration

A car accelerates from 50 km/h to 80 km/h in 5 s. What is its average acceleration in m/s2?

t=5s
v 8.33m/s 2 = =1.67m/s t 5s

Instantaneous Acceleration
The instantaneous acceleration is given by

v2 v1 v a lim lim slope t 0 t t2 t1 t t 2 1

dv a dt

Instantaneous acceleration from x vs. t

The instantaneous acceleration at time t can also be obtained from x vs. t

dv d x a 2 dt dt

Instantaneous Acceleration
To get the instantaneous acceleration at any time t
get the SLOPE of the line TANGENT to the v vs. t curve at that point!

Exercise: Getting the Instantaneous acceleration

Draw the tangent lines at points A, B, C, D, E.
v B

C t

Exercise: Getting the Instantaneous acceleration

negative, positive,zero?

v B

C t

Getting the Instantaneous Acceleration

We can also get the instantaneous acceleration from the x-t curve.

concave UP POSITIVE acceleration

concave DOWN NEGATIVE acceleration

INFLECTION POINT ZERO acceleration

Acceleration and speeding up/slowing down

An object is speeding up when

a v
An object is slowing down when

a v
Does negative acceleration mean deceleration?

Exercise
A bus is initially moving in the +x direction with a constant speed of 15m/s. At t=5.0s, it starts to slow down at a rate of 2m/s2.
Draw the a vs. t diagram. Draw the v vs. t diagram. Draw the x vs. t diagram.

Exercise
A particle moves in 1D, and is accelerating at a constant rate a in the +x direction.
What is v(t)? What is x(t)? Answer both of the above using graphical (conceptual) and analytic (differentiation/integration) methods.

Motion in 2D and 3D

Instantaneous Velocity in 2D and 3D

The instantaneous velocity vector at time t is:
always tangent to the path of the object at time t 1D, 2D, 3D

Velocity vector is obtained by treating each component separately.

vx vs. t vy vs. t vz vs. t

Instantaneous Acceleration in 2D and 3D

In 1D, the acceleration vector is always either parallel or anti-parallel to the velocity vector. In 2D and 3D, the instantaneous acceleration has 2 components:
Parallel (tangent) Perpendicular

Instantaneous Acceleration in 2D and 3D

Parallel component (1D, 2D, 3D)
responsible for change in the MAGNITUDE of the instantaneous velocity Parallel = magnitude increases Anti-parallel = magnitude decreases

Perpendicular component (2D, 3D)

responsible for change in the DIRECTION of the instantaneous velocity Points inward (concave side of path)

Instantaneous Acceleration in 2D and 3D

The instantaneous acceleration vector is obtained by treating each component separately
ax vs. t ay vs. t az vs. t

Exercise
Shown here is the path of an object moving along an arc of a circle. If the object is slowing down, in what directions do the parallel and perpendicular components of the acceleration point?

Motion diagram
Shows x, v, a, for a certain time t

Motion Diagram
0 t=tA x B t=tB t=tC E t=tD t t=tE D

a<0 v>0 a<0 v=0 a=0 v<0

a>0 v=0 a>0 v>0

Summary
x vav t x vav t

x v lim t 0 t
v a t

v v
v a lim t 0 t