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Kinematics (motion)
1. Key concepts
1.1.1
Scalar
Scalar is a physical quantity which contains information of magnitude only.
Examples:
Temperature, mass, energy, pressure
(It does not act in a specific direction.)
1.1.2
Vector
Vector is a physical quantity which contains information of magnitude and
direction.
Examples:
Force, magnetic field
Properties of vector:
a. Two vectors are the same only if they have same magnitude and direction.
b. Two identical vectors can have different starting points.
c. Vector addition tip-to-tail method.
d. NO vector subtraction, - sign means opposite direction.

p q p ( q )

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1.2.1
Distance (Unit: m, symbol: s)
Distance is a scalar which is a length of path travelled.
1.2.2
Displacement (Unit: m, symbol: s)
Displacement is a vector which is
1. a shortest distance from the initial and final positions of a point and
2. its direction points from the initial to final position.
1.3.1
Speed (Unit: ms-1, kmh-1, symbol: u or v)
Speed is a scalar which is a distance travelled of a short period of time.
(i.e. the rate of change of distance with respect to time.)

s
t

1.3.2
Velocity (Unit: ms-1, kmh-1, symbol: u or v)

s
Velocity is a vector which is a displacement travelled of a short period of v
t
time.
(i.e. the rate of change of displacement with respect to time.)
1.4.
Acceleration (Unit: ms-2, symbol: a)
Acceleration is a vector which is a velocity change in a short period of time.
(i.e. the rate of change of velocity with respect to time.)

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v v u
a

t
t

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2. Other information
2.1 Graph description:
2.1.1
s-t graph (displacement-time graph):
Describe the motion represented by the following graphs.
a.

At t = 0 s, s = ______m
At t = 1 s, s = ______m
At t = 2 s, s = ______m
At t = 3 s, s = ______m
The object is stationary / moving at constant
speed / accelerating.

b.

At t = 0 s, s = ______m
At t = 1 s, s = ______m
In between t = 0 s to t = 1 s, it displaces ______m
v = ______ms-1
At t = 2s, s = ______m
In between t = 1 s to t = 2 s, it displaces ______m
v = ______ms-1
At t = 3s, s = ______m
In between t = 2 s to t = 3 s, it displaces ______m
v = ______ms-1
The object is stationary / moving at constant speed / accelerating.
Slope of the graph

s2 s1 2 1

= = 1 ms-1 = velocity of the object

t 2 t1 1 0

Conclusion: Slope of s-t graph = _______________

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c.

At t = 0 s, s = ______m
At t = 1 s, s = ______m
In between t = 0 s to t = 1 s, it displaces ______m
v = ______ms-1
At t = 2 s, s = ______m
In between t = 1 s to t = 2 s, it displaces ______m
v = ______ms-1
At t = 3 s, s = ______m
In between t = 2 s to t = 3 s, it displaces ______m
v = ______ms-1
The slope of the graph is increasing /decreasing.
The velocity of the object is increasing /decreasing.
The object is stationary / moving at constant speed / accelerating.

2.1.2
a.

v-t graph (velocity time-graph)

At t = 0 s, v = ______ms-1
At t = 1 s, v = ______ms-1
At t = 2 s, v = ______ms-1
At t = 3 s, v = ______ms-1
The object is stationary / moving at constant
speed / accelerating.
Displacement during the 1st second
= 2x1 m = Area of graph from t = 0 to t = 1 s
Displacement during the first 2 s
=
m = Area of graph from t = 0 to t = 2 s
Displacement during the first 3 s
=
m = Area of graph from t = 0 to t = 3 s
Conclusion: Area of v-t graph = ____________________
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b. At t = 0 s, v = ______ms-1
At t = 1 s, v =
______ms-1
v u
50

During the 1st s,

a =
=
t2 t1 1 0
-2
________ ms
At t = 2 s, v = ______ms-1
During the 2nd s, a = ____________ = ________
ms-2
At t = 3 s, v = ______ms-1
During the 3rd s, a = ____________ = ________ ms-2
The object is stationary / moving at constant speed / accelerating.
Slope of the graph

v2 v1 5 0

=
t2 t1 1 0

=5 ms-2 = acceleration of the object

Conclusion: Slope of v-t graph = ____________________

Summary :

Slope of s-t graph = ___________________

Slope of v-t graph = ___________________
Area of v-t graph = ____________________

Important points of v-t graph:

1. NO information about the initial velocity.
2. Above the time-axis displacement is +ve
3. Below the time-axis displacement is -ve
4. Total distance is the sum of absolute value of displacement.

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2.1.3

Acceleration-time graph (a-t graph)

Area under curve = change of velocity .

2.2

Equations of motion for uniform acceleration

2.2.1

Uniform motion
Uniform motion is a motion which travels with constant velocity.
(i.e. Constant speed and moving in a straight line with the same direction)
s = vt

2.2.2

Uniform acceleration
Uniform acceleration is a motion which traval with constant
acceleration.
(i.e. moving in a straight line with the same direction)
v (ms-1)
Study the v-t graph.
The slope of the straight line is ______.
v (8)
The acceleration of the straight line is ______.
Initial velocity = _____
Final velocity = _____
Slope
= _____ = ____
v = u + at

u (2)

(1)

t(s)
Displacement s
s =

= _______ under the graph 0

s = (average speed) t

(2)

On the other hand, displacement = area of rectangle + area of triangle

= ______________ + ________________
= _________________ (v u = at )
2
s = ut + at (3)
Square equation (1)
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t (2)

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v2
v2

=(
)2
= _____________________
= _____________________
= _____________________
v2 = u2 + 2as (4)
Summary :
v = u +at
s = (average velocity) t
s = ut + at2
v2 = u2 + 2as
These equations describe the same process.
The solution can be solved by ONE of the equation.
The equations can only be applied when the acceleration is not changed.
e.g. Motion influence by only gravity
*
Attraction of the Earth.
* Gravitational acceleration g = 9.81 ms-2. (On Earth)
*
Same acceleration for all objects in vacuum.
Acceleration is generally changed for daily cases.
e.g. Factors affecting the acceleration of freely falling
Air resistance is large if the area is large.

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3. Examples:
3.1

A car is travelling with a uniform velocity of 24 m s 1. The driver sees an

obstacle 80 m ahead from his current position and applies the brakes to stop the
car. The figure below shows the velocity-time graph of the car, starting from the
moment when the driver sees the obstacle until the car stops.
velocity / m s1
30
20
10
0

(a)

time / s

Write down the reaction time of the driver.

The reaction time of the driver is 1.2 s.

(b)

Find
(i) the thinking distance, and
Thinking distance = area under the graph from 0 s to 1.2 s
= 24 m s1 1.2 s
= 28.8 m
(ii)

the braking distance. Would the car hit the obstacle? Explain briefly.
[

1
24 (5.4 1.2)]m
2

= 50.4 m
Stopping distance = thinking distance + braking distance
= (28.8 + 50.4) m
= 79.2 m < 80 m

Since the stopping distance is smaller than 80 m, the car will not hit
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the obstacle.
(c)

Draw a labelled diagram to show all the forces acting on the car after the
brake is applied.
normal reaction
friction

weight
(d)

Find the deceleration of the car after the brakes are applied.
Acceleration = slope of the velocity-time graph

(0 24) m s 1
(5.4 1.2) s

= 5.71 m s2 (ve means deceleration)

Deceleration = 5.71 m s2
(e)

If the car is travelling at 20 m s 1, find the new braking distance. Assume

that the reaction time of the driver and the deceleration of the car remains
unchanged.
Applying s

v 2 u2
2a

New braking distance

(f)

0 2 20 2
m = 35.0 m
2 ( 5.71)

When the driver gets off the car, he finds that the tyres are extremely hot.
Explain this phenomenon briefly.
When the car is braking, the kinetic energy is used to overcome the work
done by friction.
As a result some of the kinetic energy is converted into the internal energy
of the tyres and the road (and also sound energy).

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3.2 A ball is projected vertically downwards at 5 m s 1 from a height of 20 m above

the ground. It rebounds to a maximum height of 20 m.
5 m s1

20 m

The velocity-time graph of the ball is shown below. Downward direction is taken
as positive.
velocity / m s1
B

v1
A
5
0

v2

time / s

(a) Explain why the slopes of the lines AB and CD are equal.
The ball has the same acceleration in its upward and downward journeys.
Therefore, the slopes of the lines AB and CD are equal.

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(b) Find the values of v1 and v 2 .

Applying v 2 u 2 2as , we have
2

v1 5 2 2 10 20
v1 20.6 m s 1
2

0 2 v 2 2 10 (20)
v 2 20 m s 1

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(c) Find the time taken for

(i) the downward journey.
Applying v u at , we have
20.6 5 10t
t 1.56 s

The time taken for the downward journey is 1.56 s.

(ii) the upward journey.
Applying v u at , we have

0 20 10t
t 2s

The time taken for the upward journey is 2 s.

(d) Sketch the displacement-time graph of the ball.
displacement / m

20

(e)

1.56

3.56

time / s

Suppose the ball is projected vertically upwards at the same speed. How
will the rebound height of the ball change? Explain briefly.
The rebound height will remain unchanged. When the ball first passes the
point of projection, its downward speed is 5 m s 1 . Therefore, the ball will
rebound to a height of 20 m.

3.3

Jessie starts from A and walks around a square loop as shown below. She returns
to A finally.
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Total distance travelled: ___10 x 4 = 40 m_____________

Total displacement: _______0 m ___________________

3.4 Chris and Edmond start from S and reach P and Q respectively. Their paths are
in the shape of two semi-circular arcs as shown in the figure. Find the distance
and displacement. Take the direction to the right as positive and to be 3.14.

Chris:
The distance is:
6
1
2 ( ) 3 m
2
2

the displacement is 6 m.
Edmond:
The distance is:
6
1
2 ( ) 3 m
2
2

the displacement is +6 m.

3.5 An ant takes 10 minutes to walk from A to B along the path as shown in the
figure.

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(a) What are the distance travelled and the

average speed of the ant?

The distance is 2 x 7 cm = 0.14 m

Average speed is

0.14
2.33 10 4 ms-1
10 60

(b) What are the displacement and the average velocity of the ant?
The displacement is 2 cm = 0.02 m (due N)
Average velocity is

0.02
3.33 10 5 ms-1 (due N)
10 60

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3.5 A racing car accelerates from rest to 100 km h-1 in 4 s. Find its average
acceleration.
v

100 1000
27.778 ms-1, u = 0 ms-1, t = 4s
60 60

v u
t
27.778 0

4
6.94 ms 1

3.6 A driver of moving car suddenly saw a dog running across the road. He applied
the brake 0.5 s later and the car decelerated uniformly to rest. The following v-t
graph shows the variation of velocity
against time of the car.

(a) Find the initial speed of the car in km h-1.

The initial speed is:
20 3600 1000 72 kmh 1

(b) Find the area under the graph and state its physical meaning.
The area is: (0.5 2.5) 20 2 30 m
The distance travelled between noticing the dog and stopping the car is 30
m.

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3.7 A train is moving at a velocity of 25 ms-1, and it brakes with a deceleration of 2

ms-2 before it stops. Find
(a) the time taken for the train to stop, and

(a)
v u at
(0) ( 25) (2)t
t 12.5s

(b) the braking displacement of the train.

v 2 u 2 2as
(0) 2 ( 25) 2 2( 2) s
s 156.25m

3.8 A car is moving at a velocity of 70 km h-1. The driver then sees a 50 km h-1 speed
limit sign at a distance of 30 m ahead. In order not to exceed the speed limit, find
the minimum deceleration of the car.
4
ms 1
9
8
1
v 50kmh 13 ms 1
9
v 2 u 2 2as

u 70kmh 1 19

8
4
(13 ) 2 (19 ) 2 2a(30)
9
9
a 3.09ms 2

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3.9 A raindrop is moving towards the right with a constant velocity of 10 ms-1. A
wind is blowing on it to make it decelerate at 5 ms-2. Suppose the motion of the
raindrop is along a straight line and its deceleration is constant.

(a) Find the velocity and the displacement of the raindrop after 2 s.
v u at
( 10) (10) ( 5)t
t 4s

(b) Find the time when the raindrop travels at 10 ms-1 towards the left

v u at
v (10) ( 5)(2)
v 0ms 1

3.10 A ball is thrown vertically upwards at a velocity of 25 ms-1. Find

(a) its velocity after 2 s.
v u at
v ( 25) ( 10)(2)
v 5ms 1

(b) the time for it to return to its starting point.

v u at
( 25) ( 25) ( 10)t
t 5s

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