PHYSICS FOR ENGINEERS – CALCULUS BASED

Displacement, Time, Velocity and Acceleration

Objectives
After the discussion and lined up activities, students should be able to:
⮚ Define distance, average speed and instantaneous speed.
⮚ Define displacement, average velocity and instantaneous velocity.
⮚ Describe motion in one dimension in terms of the kinematical quantities above.
⮚ Define average and instantaneous acceleration.
⮚ Describe motion in one dimension in terms of average and instantaneous
accelerations.
⮚ Analyze one-dimensional motion using verbal, graphical and algebraic
representations.

DISTANCE
It is the space or amount of space between two points, lines, surfaces or objects.
“The distance between the earth and the sun is about 93 million miles.”

DISPLACEMENT
It is the difference between the initial position of something and its final position.
DISTANCE vs DISPLACEMENT

Distance - total length of the path taken (scalar)

Displacement only depends on the starting and final position, not on the actual path
taken. (vector)

TIME
⮚ Time states when and how long the motion occurs.
⮚ Time is an important scalar quantity that describes motion.
⮚ It is used in referring to a specific time an object is at a particular point.
 Time interval:

∆t = t2 − t1

time = ����������������
����������

Example: A woman standing in front of a cliff claps hear hands and 2.50s later she hears
an echo. How far away is the cliff? Assume that the speed of the sound is 343 m/s.
Solution: d = speed x time = (343 m/s) (2.50 s) = 858m

AVERAGE VELOCITY

Average velocity – rate of displacement (change in position) over a time interval.

Vav-x = ��2−��1
��
��2−��1=
��

Units of m/s
AVERAGE SPEED
Average speed is defined as the total distance travelled by the body in total time.
Average Speed =Total distance / Total time interval. It is a scalar quantity. Its unit
is m/s.

Example: A boy covers a circle of radius 100 m in 100 s.

Example: A man traveling with his car 150m to the east and then 70m to the west,
 calculate the average speed and velocity of the car if the travel takes10 seconds.

Average Velocity=Displacement/Time Interval

=150m-70m=80m / 10s – 0s = 10s

Average Velocity= 80m/10s=8m/s east

Average Speed=Total Distance Traveled/Time Interval

Average Speed= (150m+70m)/10s

Average Speed=22m/s

INSTANTANEOUS SPEED and INSTANTANEOUS VELOCITY

Instantaneous velocity is defined as the rate of change of position for a time

interval which is very small (almost zero). Measured using SI unit m/s. Instantaneous
speed is the magnitude of the instantaneous velocity. It has the same value as that of
instantaneous velocity but does not have any direction.

Difference between Instantaneous Speed and Instantaneous Velocity

Instantaneous speed Instantaneous velocity

Instantaneous velocity is the change in

Instantaneous speed is the magnitude of
position taking place at a small change in
instantaneous velocity
time

Instantaneous speed is a scalar quantity Instantaneous velocity is a vector quantity

Formula of instantaneous speed Formula of instantaneous velocity

is Speed(i)=ds/dt is Vi=limΔt→0ds/ dt

INSTANTANEOUS VELOCITY
In simple words, the velocity of an object at that instant of time. Instantaneous
velocity definition is given as “The velocity of an object under motion at a specific
point of time.”

If the object possesses uniform velocity, then the instantaneous velocity may be
the same as its standard velocity.

Instantaneous velocity formula is given by

 Vi=limΔt→0����
����

Where,

⮚ Δt is the small-time interval.

⮚ Vi is the instantaneous velocity.
⮚ s is the displacement.
⮚ t is the time.
The SI unit of instantaneous velocity is m/s. It is a vector quantity.
Example:
If the displacement of the particle varies with respect to time and is given as
(6t2 + 2t + 4) m, the instantaneous velocity can be found out at any given time by:

s = (6t2 + 2t + 4)

Velocity (v) = ds/dt

= d(6t2+2t+4)/ dt
= 12t + 2
So, if we have to find out the instantaneous velocity at t = 5 sec, then we will put the
value of t in the obtained expression of velocity.

Instantaneous velocity at t = 5 sec = (12×5 + 2) = 62 m/s

Let us calculate the average velocity now for 5 seconds now.

Displacement = (6×52 + 2×5 + 4) = 164 m

Average velocity = 164/5 = 32.8 m/s

INSTANTANEOUS SPEED
We know that the average speed for a given time interval is the total distance
traveled divided by the total time taken. As this time interval approaches zero, the
distance traveled also approaches zero. But the limit of the ratio of distance and time
is non-zero and is called the instantaneous speed. To understand it in simple words we
can also say that instantaneous speed at any given time is the magnitude of

Instantaneous velocity at that time.

The instantaneous speed formula is given by
 Where,

⮚ ds is the distance

⮚ dt is the time interval

⮚ Speed(i) is the instantaneous speed

The SI unit of instantaneous speed m/s. It is a scalar quantity. Instantaneous

velocity can be linear velocity or angular velocity

Example:

If distance as a function of time is known to us, we can find out the

instantaneous speed at any time. Let’s understand this by the means of an example.

Let Distance (s) = 5t3 m Substitute it in the formula Speed(i)=ds/dt we get

Speed(i)=d(5t3)/dt
=15t²
We can now easily find the instantaneous speed at any given time by putting the value
of t in this obtained expression.

ACCELERATION
Acceleration is a vector quantity that is defined as the rate at which an object changes
its velocity. An object is accelerating if it is changing its velocity.

Sports announcers will occasionally say that a person is

accelerating if he/she is moving fast. Yet acceleration has nothing
to do with going fast. A person can be moving very fast and still
not be accelerating. Acceleration has to do with changing how fast
an object is moving. If an object is not changing its velocity,
then the object is not accelerating. The data at the right are representative of a
northward-moving accelerating object. The velocity is changing over the course of time.
In
fact, the velocity is changing by a constant amount - 10 m/s - in each second of time.
Anytime an object's velocity is changing, the object is said to be accelerating; it has an
acceleration.

a = �� ����������−�� ��������������
��/��
�������� =
2
��= m/s
An object whose velocity increases 10 m/s in each second would accordingly have its
acceleration expressed as: a = 10��/��

��= 10m/s2

The car whose motion we have been considering stated out at Vo = 0 and after t= 20s its
velocity was Vf = 5.0 m/s. hence the car’s acceleration is

a = �� ����������−�� ��������������
(5.0−0)��/��
��������=
2
20��= 0.25m/s

If we make the same calculation for the later time t = 40s, Vf is 10 m/s, we also get

a = �� ����������−�� ��������������
(10.0−0)��/��
�������� =
2
40��= 0.25m/s

Constant Acceleration

Sometimes an accelerating object will change its velocity by the same amount each
second. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the data table above show an object
changing its velocity by 10 m/s in each consecutive second. This is referred to as a
constant acceleration since the velocity is changing by a constant amount each second. An
object with a constant acceleration should not be confused with an object with a constant
velocity. Don't be fooled! If an object is changing its velocity -whether by a constant
amount or a varying amount - then it is an accelerating object. And an object with a
constant velocity is not accelerating. The data tables below depict motions of objects with
a constant acceleration and a changing acceleration. Note that each object has a changing
velocity.
References:
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Timothy Joseph T. Abregana — Physics 71: Lecture 3

Modern technical Physics 6th Edition by Arthur Beiser, “Speed” p. 7, “Acceleration” p. 11

https://www.toppr.com/ask/content/concept/average-speed-and-average-velocity-208242/

https://www.physicstutorials.org/home/mechanics/1d-kinematics/speed-velocity-average
and-instantaneous-speed-and-velocity
https://byjus.com/physics/instantaneous-speed-and-instantaneous-velocity/
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/1DKin/Lesson-1/Acceleration