College of Arts & Sciences

Department of Applied Sciences

ADU EmSAT Prep Course

1. Motion in 1D

Dr. Giovanni Piacentini

 Summary
• 1 - Systems of reference
• 2 - Position vs. time graphs
• 3 - Instantaneous and average velocity
• 4 - Acceleration
• 5 - Motion at Constant Acceleration
• 6 - Free falling objects
 1 - Systems of reference
When we want to describe the motion of an object, we need to introduce a reference frame (or frame of reference).

If the motion happen only in one dimension, the reference frame will take the form of an axis with a reference point
called the origin, which corresponds to the zero of our frame of reference.

The position x of an object at a certain instant of time t is defined as its location with respect to the reference frame.

Important:

The value of the position

depends on the reference
frame chosen to describe the
motion: if we change the
origin or the direction of the
reference frame, the position
will change accordingly.
 Displacement

Consider a person walking from position 𝑥1 = 10 𝑚 to position 𝑥2 = 70 𝑚 and then coming back to
𝑥3 = 40 𝑚 in 1 minute.

−40 −30 −20 −10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 x (m)

∆𝒙

• The displacement is how far the object is from the starting point:, ∆𝒙 = 𝒙𝒇 − 𝒙𝒊
regardless of the path it took to get there:

In this example, the displacement is: ∆𝑥 = 𝑥𝑓 − 𝑥𝑖 = 𝑥3 − 𝑥1 = +𝟑𝟎 𝒎

The displacement can be either positive or negative, because it is a vector quantity (vectors in 1D are
either positive or negative values).
 2 - Position vs time graphs
If we plot the position of an object with respect to a reference frame as a function of time, we obtain a
position vs. time graph or x-t graph.
From the x-t graph, it is possible to determine the position of the object at any time.

Example:
a. Determine the following positions:

• 𝑥 𝑡 =0𝑠 =𝑥 0𝑠 = 𝟎𝒎
• 𝑥 𝑡 =3𝑠 =𝑥 3𝑠 = 𝟔𝒎
• 𝑥 𝑡 =5𝑠 =𝑥 5𝑠 = 𝟔𝒎
• 𝑥 𝑡 =8𝑠 =𝑥 8𝑠 = 𝟑𝒎

b. Find the displacement of the object between 𝑡1 = 0 𝑠 and 𝑡2 = 8 𝑠.

Displacement: ∆𝑥 = 𝑥2 − 𝑥1 = 𝑥 𝑡2 − 𝑥 𝑡1 = 𝑥 8 𝑠 − 𝑥 0 𝑠 = 3 𝑚 − 0 𝑚 = 𝟑 𝒎
 3 - Instantaneous and average velocity

• The average velocity 𝒗

ഥ, on the other hand, is the displacement divided by the time elapsed.

∆𝒙 𝒙𝟐 − 𝒙𝟏
ഥ=
𝒗 = (SI units: 𝒎/𝒔)
∆𝒕 𝒕𝟐 − 𝒕𝟏

The velocity can be either positive or negative, because it is a vector quantity (vectors in 1D are either
positive or negative values).
 Example:
Find the average velocity of the object between 𝑡1 = 1 𝑠 and 𝑡2 = 6 𝑠.

• The average velocity is:

P2
𝑥2
∆𝑥 𝑥2 − 𝑥1 3 𝑚
𝑣ҧ = = = = 𝟎. 𝟔 𝒎/𝒔
P1 ∆𝑡 𝑡2 − 𝑡1 5𝑠
𝑥1

𝑡1 𝑡2

Note that the average velocity correspond to the slope of the secant line connecting the points P1 and P2
on the x-t graph.
 Instantaneous Velocity
As the interval of time ∆𝒕 becomes smaller (i.e., 𝒕𝟐 approaches 𝒕𝟏 ), the secant line approaches the tangent line at 𝑃1 :
the slope of the tangent line at 𝑷𝟏 is the instantaneous velocity or just velocity the object at the instant 𝒕𝟏 .

Instantaneous velocity

∆𝒙 𝒅𝒙
𝒗 = lim =
∆𝒕→𝟎 ∆𝒕 𝒅𝒕

In other words, the instantaneous velocity at a time 𝒕𝟏 is the derivative of the position 𝒙 with respect to the time 𝒕,
calculated at time 𝒕𝟏 .

The instantaneous velocity at time 𝒕𝟏 corresponds to the slope of the tangent to the x-t graph at 𝒕𝟏 .

The instantaneous speed is simply defined as the magnitude of the instantaneous velocity: 𝒔= 𝒗
Example:
The position of a particle varies with time according to the graph below.
a. Determine the sign of the instantaneous velocity 𝒗 of the particle at 𝑡 = 3 𝑠, 𝑡 = 4 𝑠 and 𝑡 = 8 𝑠.
b. Find the average velocity 𝒗 ഥ between 𝑡1 = 3 𝑠 and 𝑡2 = 8 𝑠.
𝑑𝑥
a. The instantaneous velocity is 𝑣 = , or the slope of the tangent line at 𝑡.
𝑑𝑡

• The instantaneous velocity at 𝑡 = 3 𝑠 is negative: 𝑣(3𝑠) < 0.

A negative velocity means that the particle is moving towards the

negative direction of the x axis (“backwards”).

• The instantaneous velocity at 𝑡 = 4 𝑠 is zero: 𝑣 4 𝑠 = 0.

A zero velocity means that the particle is instantaneously motionless.

• The instantaneous velocity at 𝑡 = 8 𝑠 is positive: 𝑣 8 𝑠 > 0.

A positive velocity means that the particle is moving towards the

positive direction of the x axis (“forwards”).

∆𝑥 𝑥 8 𝑠 −𝑥(3 𝑠) 0− −15 𝑚
b. The average velocity of the particle between 3 and 8 s is: 𝑣ҧ = = = = 3 𝑚/𝑠.
∆𝑡 8 𝑠−3 𝑠 5𝑠
 4 - Acceleration
• The average acceleration 𝒂ഥ is defined as the change in velocity ∆𝒗 ∆𝒗 𝒗𝟐 − 𝒗𝟏
divided by the time interval ∆𝒕 during which that change occurred: ഥ=
𝒂 = (SI units: 𝒎/𝒔𝟐 )
∆𝒕 𝒕𝟐 − 𝒕𝟏

• The instantaneous acceleration 𝒂 (or just acceleration), on the other ∆𝑣 𝒅𝒗

hand, is the derivative of the velocity with respect to the time: 𝒂 = lim =
∆𝑡→0 ∆𝑡 𝒅𝒕

Therefore, the (instantaneous)

acceleration is the slope of the
v-t graph at time t.

Just like the velocity, the acceleration is a vector quantity: in

1D it can be either positive or negative depending on the
direction it points to.
 5 - Motion at Constant Acceleration
If the acceleration of an object doesn’t change over time, then it is easy to derive the equations of motion for the object.

The equations of motion are the equations that describe the position and velocity of the object at any instant of time.
𝒕 𝒕
𝒅𝒗
Since 𝒂 = , then: 𝒗 − 𝒗𝟎 = න 𝒂𝒅𝒕 = න 𝒂𝒅𝒕 If we consider the initial instant to be 𝒕𝟎 = 𝟎.
𝒅𝒕
𝒕𝟎 𝟎

Since the acceleration a is constant, we obtain: 𝒗 − 𝒗𝟎 = 𝒂𝒕

This is the equation of motion for the velocity

Rearranging the equation, we obtain: 𝒗 = 𝒗𝟎 + 𝒂𝒕 for a one-dimensional motion with constant
acceleration.

In this equation:

• 𝒗𝟎 = 𝒗(𝒕 = 𝟎) is the initial velocity of the object.

• 𝒗 = 𝒗(𝒕) is velocity at a time 𝒕.
• 𝒂 is the constant acceleration.
In the same way, we can find the position of the object as a function of time by integrating the velocity:

𝒕 𝒕
𝒅𝒙 𝟏
Since 𝒗 = , then: 𝒙 − 𝒙𝟎 = න 𝒗𝒅𝒕 = න (𝒗𝟎 +𝒂𝒕)𝒅𝒕 We therefore obtain: 𝒙 − 𝒙𝟎 = 𝒗𝟎 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕𝟐
𝒅𝒕
𝟎 𝟎 𝟐

Rearranging the 𝟏 𝟐 1 2
equation, we obtain: 𝒙 = 𝒙𝟎 + 𝒗𝟎 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕 Or alternatively: ∆𝑥 = 𝑣0 𝑡 + 𝑎𝑡
𝟐 2

This is the equation of motion for the position for a one-dimensional motion
with constant acceleration.

In this equation:

• 𝒙𝟎 = 𝒙(𝒕 = 𝟎) is the initial position of the object.

• 𝒙 = 𝒙(𝒕) is position at a time 𝒕.
• ∆𝒙 = 𝒙 − 𝒙𝟎 is the displacement between 0 and 𝑡.
To summarize, the equations of motion of an object moving with constant acceleration in 1D are the
following:

Position as a 𝟏 𝟐 Displacement as a 𝟏 𝟐
function of time
𝒙 = 𝒙𝟎 + 𝒗𝟎 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕 function of time
𝚫𝒙 = 𝒗𝟎 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕
𝟐 𝟐

Velocity as a
function of time 𝒗 = 𝒗𝟎 + 𝒂𝒕

Velocity as a function Obtained by substituting the

of position 𝒗𝟐 𝟐
− 𝒗𝟎 = 𝟐𝒂 𝒙 − 𝒙𝟎 equation for 𝑣 into eq. for 𝑥.
 6 - Freely falling objects
In the absence of air resistance, all objects dropped near a planet’s surface fall toward the ground with the
same constant acceleration under the influence of gravity.
On Earth, the acceleration of gravity (near the surface) is: 𝒈 = 𝟗. 𝟖 𝒎/𝒔𝟐 .
The gravitational acceleration 𝒈 of the object is always directed downwards.

If the object is released from rest or it has no lateral component of its velocity, we can treat the motion of a
free-falling object as a one-dimensional motion with constant acceleration along the vertical direction
(usually described as the y direction).

𝑦
Usually, the zero of the system of reference 𝟏
𝑦0 𝒚 = 𝒚𝟎 + 𝒗𝟎 𝒕 − 𝒈𝒕𝟐
is placed on the ground, and the y axis is 𝟐
𝒈
directed upwards. 𝒗 = 𝒗𝟎 − 𝒈𝒕
𝒗𝟐 − 𝒗𝟎 𝟐 = −𝟐𝒈 𝒚 − 𝒚𝟎
With these conventions, the acceleration
will be negative: 𝒂 = −𝒈. 𝟏
0 𝒚 − 𝒚𝟎 = 𝒗 + 𝒗𝟎 𝒕
𝟐