) CAMBRIDGE IGCSE™ PHYSICS: COURSEBOOK 2.1 Understanding speed Measuring speed If you travel on a major highway or through a large city, the chances are that someone is watching you. Cameras by the side of the road and on ‘overhead road signs keep an eye on traffic as it moves along. Some cameras are there to monitor the flow, so that traffic managers can take action when blockages develop, or when accidents “occur, Other cameras are equipped with sensors to spot speeding motorists, or those who break the law at trafic lights. In some busy places, traffic police may observe the roads from helicopters. In this chapter, we wll look at ideas of motion and speed. In Chapter 3, we will look at how physicists came to understand the forces involved in motion, and how to control them to make our everyday travel possible. Distance, time and speed ‘There is more than one way to determine the speed of a moving object. Several methods to determine speed rely oon making two measurements: © the total distance travelled between two points © the total time taken to travel between these two points. ‘We can then work out the average speed between the two points. adzeluley' speed: the distance travelled by an object unit of time Te average speed: the speed calculated from total distance travelled divided by total time taken. ‘We cannot say whether it was travelling or if its speed was changing. For example sane, a stopwatch to time a friend cycling overa fixed qh for example, 100 metres (sce Figure 2.3) Dividing distance by time would tll you thei average speg they might have been speeding up or slowing down, bu the way. 7 ‘Table 2.1 shows the different units that may be use calculations of speed. SI units are the standard uni” used in physics. The units m/s (metres per second) sh remind you that you divide a distance (in metres, my po time (in seconds, s)to find speed. In practice, many ot units are used. In US space programmes, heights aboye Earth are often given in feet, while the spacecraft’ sree is given in knots (nautical miles per hou). These avcnag not prevent them from reaching the Moon! ‘ong Figure 2.3: Timing a cyclist over a fixed distance. Using « stopwatch involves making judgements as to when the cyclist passes the starting and finishing lines. Ths can introduce an ercor into the measurements. An automatic timing system might be better. ‘Wecan use the equation for speed in it { | the definitic tenants teling ata constant spect i travels 10 metres in 1 second, it will travel 20 metres i 2 seconds. Its speed is 10 m/s. i distance | metre, kilometre, km 5 1 time | second, s hour, h —| speed | metres per second, | kilometres per mis hour, km/h Table 2.1: Quantities, of speed, eh ec symbols and units in measurements RR Scanned with CamScannerA cyclist completed a 1500 Mette stage of 37.55. What was rena OF 8 ace in het average speed? Step: Start by writin ing down what you know, and what you want to know, “ distance = 1500m Step3:. Substitute the values of the quantities on the right-hand side. = 150i See casTise Calculate the answer, speed = 40.m/s Answer Step 4: The cyclist’ average speed was 40 m/s. Questions 1a What was Usain Bolt’ average speed when he achieved his 100 m world record of 9.585 in 20097 b How do you know that his top speed must have been higher than this? A cheetah runs 100m in 3.11's. What is its speed? 3 Information about three trains travelling between stations is shown in Table 2.2. _ Distance ken / Nehicleniea eave _ minutes train A 250 b train B 72 50 trainC 400 150 Table 2.2 22 SS Which train has the highest average speed? b Which train has the lowest average speed? 2 Describing motion, Determining speed in the laboratory ‘There are many experi if you can measure the speed of a movi iments you can do in the laboratory ‘ng trolley or ieee {gomputer). The light gatehasa beam of (invisible) bi infrared radiation. Step2: Now write down the equation, ene Beg START co speed = distance breaks STAR) contol iz infrared beam infrared beam Figure 2.4: Using light gates to measure the speed of a ‘moving trolley in the laboratory. stil ila EL, In the first part of Figure 2.4, the peg attached to the trolley breaks the beam of one light gate to start the timer. It breaks the second beam to stop the timer. The timer then shows the time taken to travel the distance between the two light gates. Se a ee a> Scanned with CamScannerIn the second part of Figure 2.4, a piece of card, called aninterrupt card , ig mounted on the trolley. As the trolley passes through the gate, the leading edge of the interrupt card breaks the beam to start the timer. ‘When the trailing edge passes the gate, the beam is no longer broken and the timer stops. The faster the trolley is moving, the shorter the time for which the beam is broken. Given the length of the interrupt card, the trolley’s speed can be calculated. lighittqntes:: allow the speed of an object passing between them to be calculated electronically interrupttcardi: allows the speed of an object Passing through a light gate to be calculated; a timer starts when the card breaks the beam and stops when the beam is no longer broken Rearranging the equation It is better to remember one version of an equation and how to rearrange it than to try to remember three different versions. The equation = distance a) allows us to calculate speed from measurements of distance and time. This equation can also be written in symbols: This is sometimes known as the instantaneous speed, which is the speed at a particular instant or moment in time, whereas average speed is worked out over a longer time interval. Beware, s in this equation means distance (or displacement) and not speed. We can rearrange the ‘equation to allow us to calculate distance or time, For example, a railway signaller might know how fast a train is moving, and needs to be able to predict where it will have reached after a certain length of time: distance = speed x time or s=vt Similarly, the crew of an aircraft might want to know hhow long it will take for their aircraft to travel between {wo points on its flight path: distance gy p= A spacecraft is orbiting the Earth at a steady speed of 8.0kmis (see Figure 2.5). How long will it take to complete a single orbit, a distance of 44 000 km? Start by writing down what you know, and what you want to know. speed (v) = 8.0 kmis distance (s) = 40000 km time (t) =? Step 1: Step2: Choose the appropriate equation, with the unknown quantity, time, as the subject (on the left-hand side). Substitute values — it can help to include units 40000 km 8.0 km/s Perform the calculation. t= 5000s The time to complete a single orbit (440000 km) is 5500s This is about 92 minutes (5500 + 60 = 91.667). So, the spacecraft takes 92 minutes to orbit the Earth once. Scanned with CamScannerWorked Example 2. illustrates thei looking atthe unit Benue speed nea of distance is in km, we do not need to convert to m/s and metres. We would get the sam if we dic es answer if we did the time = £0000000 m 3000 m/s = 5000s Questions 4 Anaircraft travels 900 m What is its speed? 5 Acar travels 400 km in 3.5 hour Whi 3.Shours. What of the car in km/h and m/s? Paes at ‘The Voyager spacecraft is moving at 17000 m/s. How far will it travel in one year? Give your answer in km, tres in 3.0 seconds 6 Running with the wind behind you In 2011, Justin Gatlin ran 100 metres in 9,45 seconds (faster than Usain Bolt’s world record by 0.13 seconds). However, he was pushed along by a 20m/s tailwind generated by giant fans as part ofa Japanese game show. A 100m or 200m sprint record can stand only if a tailwind does not exceed 2m/s. Why does this rule not apply to longer events? First, think about how you might approach this problem. ‘The day Roger Bannister ran a mile in four minutes (6 May 1954) he almost decided not to race because itwas too windy, Imagine there is a tailwind along the final straight section of a 400m track which speeds you up, and a headwind on the opposite straight section which slows you down. Why do the effects of the tailwind and headwind not cancel out? (Hint: you need to think about the time it would take you to run the straight sections.) 1 Imagine that you are a 400m runner who can run the distance in 40s (a new world record) at the same average speed of 10 mm/s, Assume that the 400m track is equally divided so that the straight sections and bends are each 100m long. 2. Describing motion Calculate how many minutes it takes sunlight to reach Us from the Sun, Light travels at 3 « 10" m/s and the Sun is about 144 million km away. A cheetah can maintain its top speed of 31 ms ‘over a distance of 100 metres while some breeds of sazele, such as Thomson's gazelle, have a top speed of 25im/s This question considers how close the cheetah needs to be to catch the gazelle if they have both just reached top speed. a b How long does it take a cheetah to cover 100m? ‘What is the closing speed of the cheetah, that is, what is the difference in speed between the cheetah and the gazelle? © How far ahead of the cheetah would the gazelle need to be to escape? (Hint: you need the time you calculated in a and the closing speed you calculated in b,) How long would it take the cheetah to catch the eazelle with the closing speed you calculated in band the distance apart you calculated in &? Plot your time for the 400m (y-axis) against wind speed (x-axis), When you are running against the wind on the straight section opposite the finish line, subtract the wind speed from your normal running speed. When you are running with the wind on the final straight section before the finish line, add the wind speed to your normal running speed. For example, if there is a wind speed of 1 m/s, your speed along the straight opposite the finish line will be 9rn/s while it will be 11 m/s along the straight section before the finish line. Then you need to add the times for each straight section to the 20s for the bends. Repeat this, increasing the wind speed by 1 m/s each time, until you reach 10rn/s. Could you have reached the answer without plotting a graph? Discuss whether it is realistc to add or subtract, the wind speed to your normal running speed. Design an experiment to test how wind speed affects running speed. You might need to include equipment that you do not have access to (such as the giant fans used on the Japanese game show). ay Scanned with CamScanner