MOTION

Kinematics of Translation
Motion
 Motion is a change in position of an object with
respect to time.
 Study of motion is divided into two, kinematics

(quantitative description of motion) and

dynamics (motion and force)
Frame reference and position
 Position refers to the location of an object with
respect to some reference frame.
 Reference frame is a physical entity to which

position is being referred.

 Example: a gymnasium is 20 m to the right of

the main gate.
 50 meters above sea level.
Frame reference and position
 When an object is undergoing continuous
change in position we say that there is motion.

 Motion is relative it depends on the reference

frame where motion is observed.
Distance and displacement

 Distance (d) is the actual length of path taken by an

object moving from its initial position to its final
position.

 Displacement (d) refers to the straight line distance

between the initial and final positions.
Sample Problem
1. Suppose that in going school, you walked 40
m east and 30 m north. (a) what was the total
distance that you walked? (b) what was your
total displacement?

Ans: a) 70 m
b) 50 m, 37◦ N of E
Sample Problem
2. When you arrived at school, you found out
that classes were suspended. You went back
home following the same path. (c) what was your
total distance travelled? (d) what was you total
displacement?

Ans: c) 140 m
d) 0
Speed and velocity
 Speed is the distance that body moves in a unit
time. It is a scalar quantity.

 When the speed of a body is associated with

direction, the result is velocity of a body. It is a
vector quantity.

 The unit for speed and velocity is m/s

Average speed and Instantaneous speed

 Average speed of a body is the total distance

travelled divided by the time spent in
travelling the total distance.

 Average speed = total distance

total time
d
v
t
Average speed and Instantaneous speed

 The instantaneous speed of an object is its

speed at a particular instant of time.

 The speed indicated by the speedometer of

cars is instantaneous speed.
Average velocity and Instantaneous velocity

 Average velocity is the total displacement

divided by total time.
 Instantaneous velocity is the velocity at an

instant of time.
 Average velocity = total displacement

total time
d
v
t
Sample problem
3. Every morning, you jog around 250 m track
four times in 30 minutes. What is your (a)
average speed and (b) average velocity?

Ans: a) 0.55 m/s

b) 0
Sample problem
4. A student drives 5.5 km from his home to
school in 35 minutes but make the return trip In
only 25 minutes. What are the average speeds
and average velocities for each half of the
round trip.
Answer: Average speed Average velocity
First half 2.6 m/s 2.6 m/s
Return trip 3.7 m/s -3.7 m/s
Round trip 3.1 m/s 0
Acceleration
 Acceleration is change in velocity with respect
to time.
 Velocity can change in three ways: (a) change

in speed, increase or decrease; (b) change in

direction (c) change in speed as well as
direction.
v
a
 Acceleration = change in velocity t
change in time
Think!!!
 In which case is car accelerating?
 A car changing lanes at constant speed
 A car speeding in an effort to beat the red light
 A car slowing down while making a left turn.
Motion in a straight line
 When describing motion we will use the
Cartesian coordinates plane, as our frame of
reference.
 The origin is the point were the motion started.

 Positions to the right of the origin is positive

and position to left of the origin are negative.

Uniform Motion
 Uniform motion is the simplest type of motion.
 For a uniform motion the velocity is constant,
the acceleration is zero and the instantaneous
velocity is equal to the average velocity.

d x  vt
Sample problem
5. A car moving at constant speed travels 3.0m
in 5s. (a) what is the speed of the car? (b) how
far will the object move in 10 s?

Ans: a) 0.6 m/s

b) 6 m
Uniformly accelerated motion
 A motion in which an object is changing its
velocity at a constant rate.

v f  vo
a
t
Sample problem
6. A Nissan Sentra is stopped at a traffic light.
When the light turns green, the driver
accelerates so that the car’s speedometer reads
10 m/s after 5 s. what is the car’s acceleration
assuming it is constant?

Ans: 2 m/s2
Sample problem
7. A particle moving with uniform accelerated
motion in a straight line was first observed to be
moving at 4.5 m/s. after 10 s, it was moving at
6.8 m/s. find its acceleration.

Ans: 0.23 m/s2

Uniformly accelerated motion
 Arranging the equation we can also find the
final velocity of the object.

v f  vo  at
Uniformly accelerated motion
 The displacement of a uniformly accelerating
object may be obtained from the definition of
average velocity.

1 2
d x  vo t  at
2
Sample problem
8. A racer accelerates from the rest at constant a
constant rate of 2.0 m/s2 (a) how fast will the
racer be going at the end of 6.0 s? (b) how far
has the racer travelled during this time?

Ans: a) 12 m/s
b) 36 m
Uniformly accelerated motion
 Another useful equation may be derived from
the relationship of final velocity, initial velocity,
and acceleration.

2ad x  v f  vo
2 2
Sample problem
9. A car is uniformly accelerated from rest to a
speed of 25 m/s after travelling 75 m. what is
its acceleration?

Ans: 4.2 m/s2

 Free Fall
 “Everything that comes up must come down”
 All falling object will have the same acceleration.

 This idealized motion in which air resistance is

neglected and the acceleration is constant is

called free fall.
 The acceleration of free falling bodies

is -9.8 m/s2.
Free Fall
 Free fall is an example of uniform accelerated
motion. All equations in UAM shall also be
used.
v f  vo
g
t
 Distance above the origin is positive and
distance below origin is negative. The origin is
the point of release.
Free Fall
 The acceleration due to gravity is

9.8 m/s2
Free Fall
 A motion thrown upward and eventually
returning to its starting points shows time
symmetry and speed symmetry.
 Time symmetry means that the time It takes for
it to come up will be the time it take for it to
come back to its original position.
 Speed symmetry means that the speed of the
upward trip is equal to the speed of the
downward trip.
Sample problem:
10. A boy tosses a coin upward with a velocity
of +14.7 m/s. find (a) the maximum height
reached by the coin, (b) time of flight, (c) velocity
when the coin returns to the hand, (d) suppose
failed to catch the coin and the coin goes to the
ground, with what velocity will it strike the
ground? The boy’s hand is 0.49 m above the
ground.
Ans: a) 11 m b) 3.0 s
c)-14.7 m/s d)15 m/s
Sample problem
11. A clown standing on a 23.5 m high platform
tosses a ball vertically upward into the air at a
speed of 6.50 m/s. the ball leaves his hand 3.40
m above the platform. (a) how high from the
floor will it go? (b) suppose that the clown fails to
catch the ball, with what velocity will it hit the
floor?

Ans: a) 2.2 m =29.1 m b) -24 m/s