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Cambridge O/L PHYSICS (5054) : Motion, Forces and Energy
Cambridge O/L PHYSICS (5054) : Motion, Forces and Energy
2 MOTION
CAMBRIDGE O/L
PHYSICS (5054)
Topic two
1.2 MOTION
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1.2 MOTION
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Define speed as distance travelled per unit time and define velocity as change in
displacement per unit time.
2. Recall and use the equation
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝑠
𝑣=
𝑡
3. Recall and use the equation
𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑
𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛
4. Define acceleration as change in velocity per unit time, recall and use the equation
𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛
∆𝑣
𝑎=
∆𝑡
5. State what is meant by, and describe examples of, uniform acceleration and non-uniform
acceleration
6. Know that a deceleration is a negative acceleration and use this in calculations
7. Sketch, plot and interpret distance-time and speed-time graphs
8. Determine from the shape of a distance time graph when an object is:
a) At rest
b) Moving with constant speed
c) Accelerating
d) Decelerating
9. Determine from the shape of the speed-time graph when an object is:
a) At rest
b) Moving with constant speed
c) Moving with constant acceleration
d) Moving with changing acceleration
10. State that the acceleration of freefall g for an object near to the earth surface of the earth is
approximately constant and is approximately 9.8m/s2
11. Calculate speed from the gradient of a distance-time graph
12. Calculate the area under the speed-time graph to determine the distance travelled for
motion with constant speed or constant acceleration
13. Calculate acceleration from the gradient of a speed –time graph
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1.2 MOTION
Distance
START
Length of the path taken
No specific direction
Scaler quantity 750m
Displacement 300m
Shortest length between the starting
Point and the ending point
Has a direction
Vector quantity
Units: m, cm, km
END
Average speed
Used to calculate for a journey where speed is not constant
𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆
𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒅 =
𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆
Velocity
Change in displacement per unit time
𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕
𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 =
𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆
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1.2 MOTION
Example:
If a man drove a car from city A to another city B and he took route AOB and completed his
journey in 10hrs as show in figure. Then his
Example:
If a man drove a car from city A to another city B., he took route AOB and completed his
journey as shown in figure. Then his
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 =
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
400+300𝑘𝑚
=
20+15ℎ
700𝑘𝑚
= Time: 20hrs
35ℎ
= 20𝑘𝑚ℎ−1
Time: 15hrs
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
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1.2 MOTION
ACCELERATION
Acceleration is the change in velocity per unit time.
𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚
𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 =
𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏
𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 − 𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚
𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 =
𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏
∆𝒗
𝒂=
∆𝒕
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1.2 MOTION
Non-Uniform acceleration
The acceleration varies with time in non-uniform acceleration.
Acceleration may increase or decrease.
Consider the following journey of a car.
The car is accelerates with 10 m/s-2 .
Suddenly it reduces its speed by 8 m/s due to traffic.
Then it increases its speed by 15 m/s.
The acceleration changes continuously in the above journey.
Therefore This is called a non- uniform acceleration
Negative acceleration
Also known as Deceleration or Retardation
An object is said to have negative acceleration When the velocity decreases
Direction of deceleration is opposite to the direction of motion
Example:
If the initial velocity of a car is 25m/s and is slowed down to a final velocity of 10m/s in 3s. then,
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1.2 MOTION
DISTANCE-TIME GRAPH
Speed of the motion can be obtained from gradient of a distance-time graph gives
the
Object at rest
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1.2 MOTION
Object accelerating
line on this graph is curving
upwards becoming steeper
Distance covered by the object gets
larger with time
Gradient of the graph increases
Speed increases with time
Object is accelerating
Object decelerating
Line on this graph is curving
downwards
Distance covered by object gets
smaller with time
Gradient of the graph decreases
Speed decreases with time
Object Is decelerating
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1.2 MOTION
SPEED-TIME GRAPH
gradient of speed-time graph gives the acceleration of the object
Area under the speed-time graph gives the distance travelled by the object
Object at rest
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1.2 MOTION
Example:
Motion of the object:
Object accelerates from rest and reach 10m/s in 5s.
Then moves with constant speed of 10m/s in next 10s.
finally object decelerates from 10m/s and becomes rest within next 5s
Acceleration:
∆𝑣 10−0
𝑎= = = 2𝑚𝑠 −2
∆𝑡 5−0
Deceleration:
∆𝑣 0 − 10
𝑎= = = −2𝑚𝑠 −2
∆𝑡 20 − 0
Deceleration is 2ms-2
Distance travelled:
1
𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑧𝑖𝑢𝑚 = (𝑎 + 𝑏) × ℎ
2
1
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 = (20 + 10) × 10
2
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 = 150𝑚
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1.2 MOTION
Free fall
Any object that is being acted upon only by the force of gravity is said to be in the state of
free fall.
There are three important motion characteristic that are true for the freely falling objects.
1. Free-falling objects do not encounter air resistance
2. The acceleration of freefall g for an object near to the earth surface of the earth is
approximately constant and is approximately 9.8m/s2
3. Free-falling objects are not affected by the mass and shape of the objects
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