Chapter 2

Motion along a Straight Line (part 01)

In this chapter we will discuss motion along a straight
line.

What is motion ?
 Position (units : m)

Vector quantity. Location of an object in space

relative to a reference point.

Position of a particle at time t, relative to the origin is

given by x(t).
 Displacement (units : m)
This is a vector quantity defined as the change in
position relative to a reference point (origin)
∆x can be positive or
negative
xf = final position xi = initial position
Example:
Final Initial

What’s the displacement of the object?

 Displacement
Initial Final

How about the above one ?

 Distance (units: m)
Distance is the total length of travel. This is a scalar
quantity. The magnitude of displacement and the
distance are not necessarily the same.

Distance can
only be positive.

Find Distance &

Displacement ?

m
 Graphical representation of Position
One method of describing the motion of an object
is to plot its position x(t) as a function of time t

A stationary object

A moving armadillo
7
 Average Velocity (unit : m/s)
This is a vector and is defined as the displacement
divided by the elapsed time.

Here xf and xi is the position x(tf) and x(ti),

respectively The time interval Δt is defined as:

Average Velocity can be positive or negative.

 Graphical determination of Avg. Velocity
On a graph of x vs. t, the average velocity is the slope
of the straight line that connects two points.

For the give time interval, the slope

is constant, so the avg. velocity is
also constant.
Graphical determination of Avg. Velocity

object at rest object has positive object has negative

avg. velocity that is avg. velocity that is
constant. constant
 Average Speed (units: m/s)
This is a scalar. Defined as distance traveled divided
by elapsed time.
Average speed

Average Speed can only be positive.

The average velocity and the average speed for the

same time interval, can be quite different!
 Average Velocity vs Average Speed
Example 01: A particle moves from x = 3 m to
x = -3 m and then back to x = 3 m in 2 seconds.
Determine the average velocity and the average
speed.
 Instantaneous Velocity (unit : m/s)
This is a vector and is defined as the velocity at some
specific time.

Instantaneous Velocity can be positive or negative.

Instantaneous speed is just the magnitude of the

instantaneous velocity.
Instantaneous Velocity, v

At which point(s) is v positive?

At which point(s) is v negative?
At which point(s) is v zero ?
Instantaneous Velocity

At which point(s) is v positive?

At which point(s) is v negative?
At which point(s) is v zero ?
 Average Acceleration (unit : m/s2)
This is a vector and is defined as the change in
velocity divided by the elapsed time.

Average Acceleration can be positive or negative.

Instantaneous Acceleration (unit : m/s2)

This is a vector and is defined as the acceleration at
some specific time.

Instantaneous Acceleration can be positive or negative.

Example 02: If a car with velocity v = 25 m/s
increases its velocity to 50 m/s in 5 seconds, what
would be its avg. acceleration ? Now suddenly it
breaks, and comes to a stop in 10s, what its avg.
acceleration for the second part of the travel ?
 Motion with Constant Acceleration

Main
Subscript 0 Equations

means initial
value!
Example 03: A car starts with a velocity v0 =
2.0m/s to the right and accelerates to the right with a
constant a= 3.0m/s2.

a. What is the car’s velocity at t =10s ?

b. Now to avoid an accident, the moving car needs
to come to a complete stop in 3s. Find the new
acceleration.
Example 04: You are driving at 30m/s and sees a
stop sign. You apply breaks, which results in an
acceleration of -6m/s2.
a. How long does it take for you to stop the car?
b. How far do you travel before stopping ?
Motion under gravity or free fall motion(part 02)

A common example for motion with constant

acceleration.
 Free fall is the motion of an object subject only to

the influence of gravity.

 An object is in free fall as soon as it is released,

whether it is dropped from rest, thrown

downward, or thrown upward.
 Free fall is motion with a constant downward

acceleration of magnitude g (=9.8m/s2),

where g is the acceleration due to gravity.
 Free-fall Motion
If we take the y-axis to point upwards, then the
acceleration of an object in free fall is a = -g. The
main kinematics equations take the following form:
B a y

a = -g!

A
 Motion with Constant Acceleration

Main
Subscript 0 Equations

means initial
value!
 Free-fall Motion
If we take the y-axis to point upwards, then the
acceleration of an object in free fall is a = -g. The
main kinematics equations take the following form:
B a y
v  v0  gt
1 2
y  y0  v0t  gt
2
v  v  2 g ( y  y0 )
2 2
0

A
 Recipe for One-Dimensional Kinematics
Problems
1. Draw a simple diagram of the problem.
2. Choose the axis and label it on the diagram.
3. Draw the vectors for the initial velocity v0 and the
acceleration a on the diagram.
4. Write all three equations of kinematics using the
appropriate algebraic sign for v0 and a.
5. Choose which equation(s) to use in order to solve
the problem.
 Dropped vs. Thrown Down

Dropped/Released from Rest Thrown Down

Upward is positive
Initial velocity is zero
(v0 = 0)
Free fall acceleration is
a = -9.8 m/s2
Upward is positive
Initial velocity is not zero. (v0
≠ 0) and negative!
Free fall acceleration is
a = -9.8 m/s2

y y
+ve v0 = 0 +ve v0 ≠ 0

a a
Example 05: A particle is projected upward with an initial
velocity, v0 .
1. Find the time it takes to reach maximum height.
2. Find the maximum height.

Two important things!

1. At the maximum height, the velocity
(or the speed) along the y direction
is zero! v0
2. Motion is symmetric. That is,
timeup = timedown
vlanding = same size as v0 but opposite direction
Example 06: A boy throws a ball 30m/s vertically upward.
How long does it take to hit the ground 2m below where he
released it?
Graphical representation of free fall motion.

Consider an object thrown upward with a certain velocity.

Neglect air resistance, and select upward as the positive
direction. Sketch the following for the motion of the object.

Position vs. Time, ( also called displacement vs. time )

Distance vs. Time,
Velocity vs. Time,
Speed vs. Time
Acceleration vs. Time graphs.