PHYSICS FOR ENGINEERS

MODULE 2

KINEMATICS

TOPIC LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Perform vector addition analytically and graphically(CLO1)

Differentiate uniform motion from accelerated motion, solve problems on Free fall and Projectile motion(CLO1)
Enumerate and understand the effects of friction and apply Newton’s laws of motion(CLO2)

WHAT IS A FORCE?

✓ FORCE is push or pull of an object.

✓ It is an interaction between two objects or between an object and its environment.
✓ Force is a vector quantity.

FOUR COMMON TYPES OF FORCES

1. NORMAL FORCE
When an object pushes on a surface, the surface pushes back on the object perpendicular to the surface.
It is a contact force.

2. FRICTION FORCE
This force occurs when a surface resists the sliding of an object and is parallel to the surface. It is a
contact force.

3. TENSION FORCE
A pulling force exerted on an object by a rope or cord.

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4. WEIGHT
The pull of gravity on an object. This is a long-range force.

GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION

Several forces acting at a point on an object have the same effect at their vector sum acting at the same
point.

WHAT IS KINEMATICS?

Kinematics is the study of motion. Kinematics is the science of describing the motion of objects using
words, diagrams, numbers, graphs, and equations. Kinematics is a branch of mechanics. The goal of any study
of kinematics is to develop sophisticated mental models that serve to describe (and ultimately, explain) the
motion of real-world objects.

DISCUSSION:

Two quantities used to describe the motion of an object are distance and displacement. Both are
measured in terms of length.

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A. DISTANCE AND DISPLACEMENT:

✓ Distance (scalar) is defined as the total length of the path covered by a particle.
✓ Linear displacement (vector) is describing how far out of place did the particle went from its original
to its final position (or at a certain position at the time being considered).

∆𝒙 = 𝒙𝒇 − 𝒙𝒊 − 𝑆𝐼 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡: 𝑚

B. SPEED AND VELOCITY:

✓ The time at which an object moves is called speed.

✓ The average speed of a moving object is the total distance covered per unit time.
𝒙
𝒗= − 𝑆𝐼 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡: 𝑚/𝑠
𝒕

∆𝒙 𝒙𝒇 − 𝒙𝒊 𝑚
∆𝒗 = = − 𝑆𝐼 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡:
∆𝒕 𝒕𝒇 − 𝒕𝒊 𝑠
✓ The rate of change of the displacement of an object is called the velocity of the object and can be
computed by:
̂
𝒙
⃑ =
𝒗 − 𝑆𝐼 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡: 𝑚/𝑠
𝒕
✓ The average velocity is given by:
̂ 𝒙𝒇 − 𝒙𝒊
∆𝒙
⃑ =
𝒗 = − 𝑆𝐼 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡: 𝑚/𝑠
∆𝒕 𝒕𝒇 − 𝒕𝒊

C. ACCELERATION:

✓ The rate of change of velocity is called acceleration. Thus, acceleration is given by:
⃑𝒗 𝑚
⃑ =
𝒂 𝑆𝐼 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡: 2
𝒕 𝑠
✓ Acceleration is a vector quantity. Average acceleration is given by,
⃑
∆𝒗 𝒗𝒇 − 𝒗𝒊
⃑ =
∆𝒂 = 𝑆𝐼 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡: 𝑚/𝑠 2
∆𝒕 𝒕𝒇 − 𝒕𝒊

D. MOTION WITH A CONSTANT ACCELERATION: KINEMATIC EQUATIONS

𝑑𝑣
𝑎(𝑡) =
𝑑𝑡
𝑎(𝑡)𝑑𝑡 = 𝑑𝑣
𝑣𝑓
∫ 𝑎(𝑡)𝑑𝑡 = ∫ 𝑑𝑣
𝑣𝑖

𝑎𝑡 = 𝑣𝑓 − 𝑣𝑓

⃑ 𝒕 + 𝒗𝒇  𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 1
𝒗𝒇 = 𝒂

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𝑑𝑥
𝑣(𝑡) =
𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑥
𝑎𝑡 + 𝑣𝑖 =
𝑑𝑡
(𝑎𝑡 + 𝑣𝑖 )𝑑𝑡 = 𝑑𝑥
𝑡 𝑥𝑓
∫ (𝑎𝑡 + 𝑣𝑖 )𝑑𝑡 = ∫ 𝑑𝑥
0 𝑥𝑖
𝑡 𝑡 𝑥𝑓
∫ 𝑎𝑡𝑑𝑡 + ∫ 𝑣𝑖 𝑑𝑡 = ∫ 𝑑𝑥
0 0 𝑥𝑖

𝑎𝑡
+ 𝑣𝑖 𝑡 = 𝑥𝑓 − 𝑥𝑖
2
⃑𝒕
𝒂
𝒙𝒇 = 𝒙𝒊 + 𝒗𝒊 𝒕 +  𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 2
𝟐

From equation 1:

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E. FREE-FALLING BODIES

✓ Free fall is the motion of an object under the influence of only gravity. The velocity change is the same
in each time interval, so the acceleration is constant.

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✓ Aristotle thought that heavy bodies fall faster than light ones, but Galileo showed that all bodies fall
at the same rate. If there is no air resistance, the downward acceleration of any freely falling object
is g=9.81 m/s2 = 32 ft/s2.
✓ An object is in free fall even when it is moving upward. Refer to the figure for up-and-down motion.

✓ The vertical velocity, but not the acceleration, is zero at the highest point.

PROBLEMS:

1. Two horizontal forces, 225 N and 165 N, are exerted in the same direction on a crate. Find the net
horizontal force on the crate.
2. The 225 N force is exerted on the crate toward the west and the 165 N force is exerted toward the
east. Find the magnitude and direction of the net force.
3. A car moves 65 km due east, then 45 km due west, what is the car's total distance and displacement?
4. You walk 30m south and heads 30m east. What is your resultant displacement?
5. A car moving east at 45 km/h turns and travels west at 30 km/h. What are the magnitude and direction
of the change in velocity?
6. Light from the sun reaches Earth in 8.3min. The velocity of light is 3.00x108 m/s. How far is earth from
the sun?
7. A car is moving down a street at 55 km/hr. A child suddenly runs into the street. If it takes the driver
0.75s to react and apply the brakes, how many meters will the car have moved before it begins to slow
down?
8. An Indy 500 race car’s velocity increases from 4.0 m/s to 36 m/s over a 4.0-s time interval. What is its
average acceleration?
9. The race car in problem 1 slows from 36 m/s to 15 m/s over 3.0s. What is its average acceleration?
10. A car is coasting downhill at a speed of 3.0 m/s when the driver gets the engine started. After 2.5 s, the
car is moving uphill at a speed of 4.5 m/s. Assuming that uphill is the positive direction, what is the car’s
average acceleration?
11. If a car accelerates from rest at constant 5.5 m/s2, how long will it need to reach a velocity of 28 m/s?
12. A car slows from 22 m/s to 3.0 m/s at a constant rate of 2.1 m/s2. How many seconds are required
before the car is travelling at 3.0 m/s?
13. A bus, travelling at 30 km/hr, speeds up at a constant rate of 3.5 m/s2. What velocity does it reach 6.8
seconds later?

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14. A brick is dropped from a high scaffold,

(a) What is its velocity after 4.0s?
(b) How far does the brick fall during this time?
15. A tennis ball is thrown straight up with an initial speed of 22.5 m/s. It is caught at the same distance
above the ground. a. How high does the ball rise? b. How long does the ball remain in the air? Hint: The
time it takes the ball to rise equals the time it takes to fall.

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