Position

Mechanics
• Describes your location

Physics
• Use a known point to specify position – reference point (zero
position)

• Also need a set of directions to accurately pinpoint your position

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Frame of reference Position

• A point of view from which you are measuring things • To determine a objects exact position relative to a reference
point, direction must be taken into account
• Includes a:
• To define position you need a reference point as well as set
− Reference point (0) of directions
− Set of directions or axis / coordinate system
For e.g. school is 2
• For e.g. a Cartesian plane km east of house

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Position Example
Jan walks in an Easterly direction along a straight line toward his
• Position can be negative house. On the way he crosses a stop sign.

What is the position of:

• School: +2 km (2 km East of house)
• Shop: – 1,2 km (1,2 km West of house)
a) Jan relative to the stop sign?
b) The house relative to the stop sign?
Symbol: 𝑥 or 𝑦
c) The stop sign relative to Jan?
d) The house relative to Jan?
Unit: m
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Motion Relative motion
• Motion is the change in position of an object with respect to • Motion is relative to your frame of reference
a frame of reference
10 km.h-1

• Motion in 1 dimension: motion along a straight line (a object

may move forward and backward along this line)

120 km.h-1

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Relative motion Relative motion

• Motion is relative to your frame of reference • Sitting in a moving car, you are stationary relative to the car,
but you are moving 120 km.h-1 relative to the ground
10 km.h-1

• Standing still you are stationary relative to the

earth, but moving relative to a point in space
120 km.h-1
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Relative motion Example

• When you are in a car on the freeway, a car passing you looks You are traveling in a school bus with a velocity of 8 m.s-1 East,
as if it is travelling slowly, whereas in actual fact it is travelling you walk with a velocity of 1 m.s-1 toward the front of the bus.
faster than you are. Your mom is waiting for you and is observing you from the road.

At what velocity do you appear to be moving:

1) from your mom’s frame of reference?

2) relative to Anna sitting on the bus?

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 Distance Displacement
Distance: the total path length travelled Displacement: the change in position

• Distance is scalar • Displacement is vector ∆𝑥 = 𝑥𝑓 − 𝑥𝑖

• Symbol: D • Symbol: ∆𝑥 or ∆𝑦

• Unit: m A • Unit: m A
B B
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Example Example
A teacher walks from her desk to the board (2 m) and back. A man walks from point A to point B, then walks to point C.

5m 20 m
What is her distance travelled?
C A B
What is her displacement?
What is the man’s displacement at point B?

What is the man’s displacement at point C?

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Example Average speed

A 100 m B
Jane runs from point A to
point B to point C to point D 50 m Average speed: the total distance travelled per unit time
and back to point A. What is
Jane’s: D C • Speed is a scalar 𝐷
𝑠=
1) Distance from A to C? 𝑡
2) Displacement from A to C?
• Symbol: s
3) Distance A to D?
4) Displacement A to D?
• Unit: m.s-1
5) Distance from A back to A again? A
6) Displacement A back to A again? B
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Instantaneous speed Example
• The speed at a particular moment in time If you drop a ball from a 125 m building,
the ball takes 5 s to reach the ground. 125 m

The ball hits the ground at 50 m.s-1.

• As you are driving from here to Cape Town, you might drive
120 km.h-1 on the freeway, but sometimes you are driving faster The ball fell 45 m after 3 s and 80 m after 4 s.
or slower
1) What is the ball’s instantaneous speed after 3,5 s?
2) What is the ball’s instantaneous speed after 4,5 s?
• Instantaneous speed = magnitude of the instantaneous velocity
3) What is the ball’s average speed?

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Velocity Converting speed units

Velocity: the rate of change of position OR change in
position per unit time
1 km = 1000 m
• Velocity is a vector ∆𝑥 1000 m
𝑣=
∆𝑡
1 km∙h-1 =
1h = 60 x 60 = 3600 s 3600 s
• Symbol: 𝑣

• Unit: m.s-1 A
B
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Example Example
Convert: As you walk from one class (A) to the next (B), you walk a total
distance of 180 m in 2 min.
a) 72 km.h-1 to m.s-1

b) 5 m.s-1 to km.h-1
A B
90 m

What is your average speed and velocity?

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Example
Mary walks to school, 2 km away from home, in 30 minutes. She
then walks back home along the same path, also in 30 minutes.
Calculate Mary’s average speed and velocity.
Example
Susan walks to the shop, 1,2 km from her home in 18 minutes.
She then walks to school (2 km from her home) in 35 min.
Disregard the time spent inside the shop.
Calculate Susan’s average speed and velocity for her journey
from home to school.

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Acceleration Acceleration
• When you see a red robot ahead, you decrease velocity until • Acceleration is a vector and is in the same direction as the net
you come to a stop → deceleration force causing the acceleration

• When the robot turns green, you speed up (increase your

• Acceleration does not have to be in the same direction as the
velocity) → acceleration
motion
• Your velocity is changing
• Symbol: 𝑎 ∆𝑣
𝑎=
Acceleration: the rate of change of velocity OR ∆𝑡
the change in velocity per unit time • Unit: m.s-2
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Examples Δv = vf – vi Acceleration
a) A car travels at 6 m.s-1 East. After 6 s it travels 30 m.s-1 East. • Acceleration can be positive or negative (it is a vector – has
Calculate the car’s acceleration. direction)

• The sign (+ or – ) implies direction

b) A cyclist travelling East at 15 m.s-1 decreases velocity to 3 m.s-1 • In the previous example, the cyclist was travelling East, but
in 3 s. Calculate her acceleration. her acceleration was West

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Acceleration Acceleration
• Negative acceleration does not necessarily mean deceleration!
• Negative acceleration can mean:

+v +v
* Speeding up in the negative direction
+a -a

OR

-v -v * Slowing down in the positive direction

-a +a
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Acceleration Acceleration
• Positive acceleration can mean: * Speeding up:
→ The acceleration and the velocity is in the same direction
(either both positive of both negative)
* Speeding up in the positive direction → Velocity is increasing

OR * Slowing down:
→ The acceleration and the velocity is in opposite directions
* Slowing down in the negative direction (one is positive and the other negative)
→ The velocity is decreasing
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Homework Ticker timer

Choose East as positive. Frequency = 50 Hz
a) A car (A) travels at 20 m.s-1 East, and after 10 seconds it
travels at 30 m.s-1 East. Calculate the acceleration of the car
during the 10 seconds.

b) Another car (B) travels at 20 m.s-1 West, and after 10 seconds

it travels at 30 m.s-1 West. Calculate the acceleration of the car
during the 10 seconds. Did the car accelerate or decelerate? In
which direction?
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 Ticker tape Ticker tape
• A ticker timer makes a dot on a ticker tape every 0,02 s
(if its frequency is set to 50 Hz)

• The distance between each dot is the distance the trolley

moved in 0,02 s
• Dots equally spaced: equal distance covered every 0,02 s

• Constant / uniform velocity

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Ticker tape Ticker tape

• Distance between the dots increases • Distance between the dots decreases

• More distance per unit time → velocity increasing • Less distance per unit time → velocity decreasing

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Example Describing motion

• In words
3 mm − direction of motion
− velocity (increasing, decreasing or constant)
A B C D E F G
17 mm 24 mm 31 mm 38 mm − acceleration (positive, negative or zero)
> acceleration = 0 if velocity if constant
10 mm > acceleration is always constant

Ticker timer frequency: 50 Hz • Using graph

− Position-time graph
− Velocity-time graph
− Acceleration-time graph
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What is a tangent? What is a tangent?
A line that touches a curve at one point A line that touches a curve at one point
(does not go through the curve)
Gradient of the tangent represents the
gradient of the curve at that point

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Position time graphs

0 – 5 s:

@ 5 s:
position (m)
position (m)
position (m)

position (m)

5 – 10 s:
5 10 12 time (s)
time (s) time (s) time (s) @ 10 s:

10 – 12 s:

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Position-time graphs A person is walking initially North

Position time graphs
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10
position (m)

5
position (m)

position (m)

position (m)

0 50
10 20 30 40 60 time (s)
time (s) time (s) time (s)
5

10

-15
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 Velocity-time graphs Acceleration-time graphs

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acceleration (m.s-2)
2,4
velocity (m.s-1)

0 0
10 20 30 40 50 time (s) 10 20 30 40 50 time (s)

-16 -1,6

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Equations of motion Equations of motion

𝑣𝑓 = 𝑣𝑖 + 𝑎∆𝑡 vf : final velocity (m.s−1 ) • Choose an appropriate formula according to the given
information
vi : initial velocity (m.s−1 )
𝑣𝑓 2 = 𝑣𝑖 2 + 2𝑎∆𝑥
• Choose a reference direction (for e.g. to the right as positive)
a: acceleration m.s−2
∆𝑥 = 𝑣𝑖 ∆𝑡 + ½𝑎∆𝑡 2 • Substitute (take into account direction!!)
∆t: time taken (s)
𝑣𝑓 + 𝑣𝑖 • Calculate & leave answer as a positive answer with a direction
∆𝑥 = ( )∆𝑡 ∆𝑥: displacement (m) (or ∆𝑦)
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Road safety & stopping distance Example 1

• Stopping distance = thinking distance + braking distance
∆𝑥
𝑣=
∆𝑡
The distance travelled (at
constant velocity) before
the brakes are applied
∆𝑡 is your reaction time
A car travelling at constant velocity of 100 km.h-1 sees a orange
robot 60 m ahead. He takes 0,9 s to react before applying brakes.
He then decelerates at 10 m.s-2.
𝑣𝑓 2 = 𝑣𝑖 2 + 2𝑎∆𝑥
or a) Will he be able to stop before he reaches the robot?
∆𝑥 = 𝑣𝑖 ∆𝑡 + ½𝑎∆𝑡 2
The distance that the car travels b) Calculate the acceleration needed to be able to stop at the
from the moment that the brakes robot.
are applied to the moment that
the car stops
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Example 2
A car travelling at constant velocity of 120 km.h-1 sees a sheep in
the road 90 m ahead of him.
He takes 0,6 s to react after seeing the sheep.
It takes him 4,76 s to come to a complete stop.

a) Will he collide with the sheep?

b) Calculate the acceleration needed so as to not collide with

the sheep.
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