Relative Motion

1D & 2D
Presenter Name
 Distance and displacement are two
quantities that may seem to mean the
same thing yet have distinctly different
definitions and meanings.

•Distance is a scalar quantity that refers

to "how much ground an object has
REVIEW covered" during its motion.

•Displacement is a vector quantity that

refers to "how far out of place an object
is"; it is the object's overall change in
position.
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 To test your understanding of this distinction, consider the motion depicted in the
diagram below. A physics teacher walks 4 meters East, 2 meters South, 4 meters West,
and finally 2 meters North.

Even though the physics teacher has walked

Total distance of 12 meters,
displacement is 0 meters.

Displacement, being a vector quantity, must give

attention to direction.

4m East , 2m South , 4m West , 2m North.

Displacement:
4mE – 2mS - 4mW + 2mN = 0

Distance:
4m+2m+4m+2m = 12m

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Now consider another example. The diagram below shows the position of a cross-country skier
at various times. At each of the indicated times, the skier turns around and reverses the direction
of travel. In other words, the skier moves from A to B to C to D.

Use the diagram to determine the resulting displacement and the distance
traveled by the skier during these three minutes.

The skier covers a distance of

(180 m + 140 m + 100 m) = 420 m
and has a displacement of
(180m – 140m + 100m) = 140 m, rightward.

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A football coach pacing back and forth along the sidelines. The diagram below shows several of the coach's
positions at various times. At each marked position, the coach makes a "U-turn" and moves in the opposite
direction. In other words, the coach moves from position A to B to C to D.
What is the coach's resulting displacement and distance of travel?

The coach covers a distance of

(35 yds + 20 yds + 40 yds) = 95 yards
and has a displacement of
-35m + 20m -40m = -55yards
or has a displacement of 55 yards, left.
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1. What is the displacement of the cross-country team if they begin at
the school, run 10 miles and finish back at the school?

The displacement of the runners is 0 miles. While they have

covered a distance of 10 miles, they are not "out of place" or
displaced. They finish where they started. Round-trip motions
always have a displacement of 0.

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2. What is the distance and displacement of the race car drivers in
the Indy 500?

The displacement of the cars is

somewhere near 0 miles since
they virtually finish where they
started. Yet the successful cars
have covered a distance of 500
miles.

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Calculating Average Speed and Average Velocity

The average speed during the course of a motion is often computed

using the following formula:

In contrast, the average velocity is often computed using this formula

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While on vacation, Lisa Carr traveled a total distance of 440 miles. Her trip took
8 hours. What was her average speed?

To compute her average speed, we simply divide the distance of travel by the
time of travel.

That was easy! Lisa Carr averaged a speed of 55 miles per hour. She may not have
been traveling at a constant speed of 55 mi/hr. She undoubtedly was stopped at some
instant in time (perhaps for a bathroom break or for lunch) and she probably was
going 65 mi/hr at other instants in time. Yet, she averaged a speed of 55 miles per
hour. The above formula represents a shortcut method of determining the average
speed of an object.

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Average Speed versus Instantaneous Speed

Since a moving object often changes its speed during its motion, it is common to distinguish
between the average speed and the instantaneous speed. The distinction is as follows.

•Instantaneous Speed - the speed at any given instant in time.

•Average Speed - the average of all instantaneous speeds; found
simply by a distance/time ratio.

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Now let's consider the motion of that physics teacher again. The physics teacher
walks 4 meters East, 2 meters South, 4 meters West, and finally 2 meters North. The
entire motion lasted for 24 seconds. Determine the average speed and the average
velocity.

4m East , 2m South , 4m West , 2m North.

Displacement:
4mE – 2mS - 4mW + 2mN = 0

Distance:
4m+2m+4m+2m = 12m

The physics teacher walked a distance of 12 meters in 24 seconds; thus, her average speed
was 0.50 m/s. However, since her displacement is 0 meters, her average velocity is 0 m/s.
Remember that the displacement refers to the change in position and the velocity is based
upon this position change. In this case of the teacher's motion, there is a position change of
0 meters and thus an average velocity of 0 m/s.
Now consider another example. The diagram below shows the position of a cross-country skier
at various times. At each of the indicated times, the skier turns around and reverses the direction
of travel. In other words, the skier moves from A to B to C to D.

Use the diagram to determine the average speed and the average velocity of the skier during
these three minutes.

The skier covers a distance of The skier has an average speed of

(180 m + 140 m + 100 m) = 420 m (420 m) / (3 min) = 140 m/min
and has a displacement of and an average velocity of
(180m – 140m + 100m) = 140 m, rightward. (140 m, right) / (3 min) = 46.7 m/min, right
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A football coach pacing back and forth along the sidelines. The diagram below shows several of the
coach's positions at various times. At each marked position, the coach makes a "U-turn" and moves in
the opposite direction. In other words, the coach moves from position A to B to C to D.
What is the coach's average speed and average velocity?

The coach covers a distance of Coach has an average speed of

(35 yds + 20 yds + 40 yds) = 95 yards
and has a displacement of
-35m + 20m -40m = -55yards
or has a displacement of 55 yards, left.
(95 yd) / (10 min) = 9.5 yd/min
and an average velocity of
(55 yd, left) / (10 min) = 5.5 yd/min, left

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 In conclusion, speed and velocity are kinematic quantities that have
distinctly different definitions.

Speed, being a scalar quantity, is the rate at which an object

covers distance. The average speed is the distance (a scalar quantity)
per time ratio. Speed is ignorant of direction.

On the other hand, velocity is a vector quantity; it is direction-aware.

Velocity is the rate at which the position changes. The average velocity
is the displacement or position change (a vector quantity) per time
ratio.

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Acceleration. An often confused quantity, acceleration has a meaning much different than the meaning
associated with it by sports announcers and other individuals. The definition of acceleration is:

•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.
Acceleration
Observe the animation of the three cars below. Use the animation to answer the three questions. (If
necessary, review the definition of acceleration.)

1. Which car or cars (red, green, and/or blue) are undergoing an acceleration? Study each car individually in order to
determine the answer.

2. Which car (red, green, or blue) experiences the greatest acceleration?

3. Consider the position-time graph at the right. Each one of the three lines on the
position-time graph corresponds to the motion of one of the three cars. Match the
appropriate line to the particular color of car.
Answers:

1. If you inspect each car individually, you will more likely notice that only the green and the blue cars accelerate. The
red car moves with a constant speed, covering the same distance in each second of the animation.

The green and the blue cars are speeding up, thus covering an increasing distance in each second of the animation.

2. The blue car has a greater acceleration. It is changing its velocity at a more drastic rate.

3. The red car is moving with a constant velocity and must correspond to object B
which has a constant slope.

The green and blue cars have a changing velocity and must correspond to lines with a
changing slopes - objects A and C. The green car is object C which has a more
gradually changing slope than object A (blue car).

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