IYOE

Dynamics
 IYOE

Lecture

• Introduction to Dynamics
• Position, velocity and acceleration
• Straight – line motion
• Description of the motion
• Analysis of the motion
• Assessment
 IYOE

Introduction to dynamics

Mechanics is the branch of the physical sciences which deals

with the state of rest or motion of bodies under the action of
forces

At its most basic level, mechanics is the study of forces and their
effects
 IYOE

Statics and Dynamics

Statics (𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎, 𝑎 = 0, at rest or moving at constant velocity)

– The study of objects in equilibrium

Dynamics (𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎, 𝑎 ≠ 0, accelerated motion)

– The study of objects in motion
 IYOE

Position

• Reference frame is simply a coordinate system that is suitable

for specifying positions of points
• Position vector – we can describe the position of a point P
relative to a given reference frame with origin O by the
position vector 𝒓 from O to P. Suppose that P is in motion
relative to the chosen reference frame, so that r is a function
of time t. We express this by notation

𝒓 = 𝒓(𝒕)
 IYOE

Velocity
• The velocity of P relative to the given reference frame at time
t is defined by

𝑑𝑟 𝑟 𝑡 + Δ𝑡 − 𝑟(𝑡)
𝑣= = lim
𝑑𝑡 Δ𝑡→0 Δ𝑡

𝒅𝒔
• The velocity, 𝒗, is the rate of change of the position of P,
𝒅𝒕

𝑟 𝑡 + Δ𝑡 − 𝑟(𝑡) is the
displacement
 IYOE

Acceleration
• The acceleration of P relative to the given reference frame at time
t is defined by
𝑑𝑣 𝑣 𝑡 + Δ𝑡 − 𝑣(𝑡)
𝑎= = lim
𝑑𝑡 Δ𝑡→0 Δ𝑡

• The acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of P at time t

𝒅𝟐 𝒔
(the second time derivative of the displacement 𝟐 )
𝒅𝒕
 IYOE

Derivative – differentiating vectors

• The derivative of a vector shares some of properties of the

derivative of a scalar Function
• Time derivative of the sum of two vector functions u and w is

𝑑 𝑑𝑢 𝑑𝑤
𝑢+𝑤 = +
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡

• The time derivative of the product of a scalar function f and

𝒖 is a vector function
𝑑 𝑓𝑢 𝑑𝑓 𝑑𝑢
= 𝑢 + 𝑓 (Product rule)
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
 IYOE

Differentiating vectors

𝑑 𝑑𝑢 𝑑𝑤
𝑢+𝑤 = +
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡

Example:

𝒔 = 𝑡 6 𝒊 + sin 2𝑡 𝒋 − ln 𝑡 + 1 𝒌

𝑑𝑠 5
1
= 6t 𝒊 + 2 cos 2𝑡 𝒋 − 𝒌
𝑑𝑡 𝑡+1
 IYOE

Description of the motion

• Engineers must analyse straight-line motions in many practical
situations, such as the motion of a vehicle on a straight road
• The position of a point P on a straight line relative to a
reference point O by the coordinate 𝒔, measured along the
line from O to P

• The displacement during an interval of time from 𝒕𝟎 to 𝒕 is

the change in the position, 𝒔 𝒕 − 𝒔(𝒕𝟎 ) where 𝑠(𝑡) denotes
the position at time 𝑡
 IYOE

Description of the motion

• By introducing a unit vector e parallel to the line and pointing in the

positive 𝑠 direction, we can write the position vector of 𝑃 relative to
𝑂 as

𝒓 = 𝑠𝒆

𝑑𝒆
• The magnitude and direction of 𝒆 are constant, so = 0 and so
𝑑𝑡
the velocity of 𝑃 relative to 𝑂 is

𝑑𝒓 𝑑𝑠
𝒗= = 𝒆
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
 IYOE

Acceleration as a function of time – constant

acceleration
𝑑𝑣
𝑎 𝑡 =
𝑑𝑡

𝑑𝑣 = 𝑎 𝑡 𝑑𝑡 separating the variables

Integrating
𝑣 𝑡
𝑑𝑣 = 𝑎 𝑑𝑡
𝑣𝑜 𝑡0

𝑣 − 𝑣0 = 𝑎(𝑡 − 𝑡0 ) or 𝒗 = 𝒗𝟎 + 𝒂(𝒕 − 𝒕𝟎 )
 IYOE

Acceleration as a function of time – constant

acceleration
𝑑𝑣 𝑑𝑣 𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑣 A very useful
𝑎= = =𝑣
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑠 result

𝑣 𝑑𝑣 = 𝑎 𝑑𝑠

𝑣 𝑠
Chain rule
𝑣 𝑑𝑣 = 𝑎 𝑑𝑠
𝑣0 𝑠0

𝑣 2 𝑣02
− = 𝑎(𝑠 − 𝑠0 )
2 2

𝒗𝟐 − 𝒗𝟐𝟎 = 𝟐𝒂(𝒔 − 𝒔𝟎 )
 IYOE

Acceleration as a function of time – constant

acceleration
𝑑𝑠
𝑣= ⇒ 𝑑𝑠 = 𝑣 𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑡
Substitute 𝒗 = 𝒗𝟎 + 𝒂𝒕

𝑑𝑠 = 𝑣0 + 𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑡

𝑠 𝑣
𝑑𝑠 = 𝑣0 + 𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑡
𝑠0 𝑣0
1 2
𝑠 − 𝑠0 = 𝑣0 𝑡 + 𝑎𝑡
2

𝟏 𝟐
𝒔 = 𝒔𝟎 + 𝒗𝟎 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕
𝟐
 IYOE

Example

1. If 𝑎 = (2𝑡) ms-2, where 𝑡 is in seconds,

calculate the particle’s velocity when
𝑡 = 2 s, given that when 𝑡 = 0 and
𝑣 = 2 ms-1

2. When 𝑡 = 0, a particle is located at

𝑠 = 3 m and has a velocity of
𝑣 = 2 ms-1. If its acceleration is 𝑎 = 2 ms-2,
determine its position when 𝑡 = 1 s.