UNIT 1 - KINEMATICS

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. UNITS & QUANTITIES

2.1 SI Units
2.2 Basic Quantities
2.3 Speed and Rate of Rotation
2.4 Acceleration and Angular Acceleration

3. VECTORS
3.1 Vectors and Scalars
3.2 Adding and Subtracting Vectors
3.3 Resolution of Vectors

4. COORDINATE SYSTEMS & REFERENCE FRAMES

4.1 Rectangular Coordinates
4.2 Polar Coordinates

5. MOVEMENT MECHANICS

6. EQUATIONS OF MOTION
6.1 Equations of Linear Motion
6.2 Equations of Rotary Motion

SUMMARY
 UNIT 1 - KINEMATICS

OBJECTIVES

On completing your study of this unit you should be able to:

1. Use SI units and scales.

2. List the SI units for distance, time, mass, angle, speed, rate of rotation, acceleration,
and angular acceleration.

3. Convert the angles between radians and degrees.

4. Distinguish between average speed and instantaneous speed.

5. Draw a distance-time graph and use it to find speed.

6. Distinguish between average rate of rotation and instantaneous rate of rotation.

7. Draw an angular distance-time graph and use it to find rate of rotation.

8. Write down the definitions for linear and angular acceleration.

9. Find accelerations using graphs.

10. Describe what a vector quantity is and how it differs from a scalar quantity.

11. List examples of vector and scalar quantities.

12. Add and subtract vectors.

13. Resolve vectors.

14. Describe and make use of rectangular and polar coordinate systems.

15. Discuss constrained motion.

16. Classify movements according to the number of degrees of freedom.

17. Apply the equations of linear and rotary motions.

UNIT 1 - KINEMATICS

1. INTRODUCTION

Kinematics is the study of movement; it is concerned with the ways in which objects KINEMATICS
move but not with the causes of the movement.

Movements can occur in two distinct ways; by a linear (or translational) motion or by a
rotary (or rotational) motion. Complex movements will involve both linear and rotary
motion. In walking the thighs, legs and feet are moved in a rotary manner about the hip,
knee and ankle joints. These rotary motions result in the linear progression of the whole
body.

FIGURE 1. WALKING; ARROWS SHOW THE DIRECTIONS OF LINEAR AND ROTARY MOTION.

In this unit we will look at how such linear and rotary motions can be quantitatively
described.

2. UNITS & QUANTITIES

2.1 SI Units

You are probably aware that there is a choice of units for almost any type of
measurement; we are all struggling with choices between gallons and litres, pounds and
kilograms, and feet and metres! The situation is further complicated because there are
choices to be made in the size range of any particular type of unit. For example, the
main metric unit of distance is the metre but you have a choice of also using
micrometres (µm), millimetres (mm), centimetres (cm) or kilometres (km). This is a
choice of scale, not of fundamental unit type. The scale is usually chosen so that
numbers are neither too big nor too small. Suppose, for example, that a person’s height
is 1.83m. Using the other scales of the metric system, this becomes:

1830000 µm
1830 mm
183 cm
1.83 m
0.00183 km

You can see that for the heights of people, the cm or m scale gives the most convenient
size of number. In the metric system the differences in scale are quite easy to handle
because conversions only involve multiples of ten.

Since 1948 there has been a worldwide effort to establish a single system of units. The
system is called the Système Internationale d’Unités, which is usually abbreviated to

Unit 1 - Kinematics 1
just SI Units. SI units will be used as the main system in this module. There are seven SI UNITS
so-called base units in SI. The three relevant to this module are: BASE UNITS

the metre (m), the standard SI unit of length,

the second (s), the standard SI unit of time, and
the kilogram (kg), the standard SI unit of mass.

There are two supplementary units in SI. The one relevant to this module is: SUPPLEMENTARY
UNITS

the radian (rad), the standard SI unit of angle.

All other units are called derived units and are formed by combining base units. DERIVED UNITS
Examples that occur in later sections are the units of velocity, acceleration and force.
Some derived units are given their own special names, for example, the newton (N)
which is equivalent to kg m s-2.

Table 1 gives the standard SI prefixes and corresponding multiplication factors:

Multiplication Factor Prefix Symbol

9
1 000 000 000 = 10 giga G
6
1 000 000 = 10 mega M
3
1 000 = 10 kilo k
2
100 = 10 hecto h
1
10 = 10 deca da
-1
0.1 = 10 deci d
-2
0.01 = 10 centi c
-3
0.001 = 10 milli m
µ
-6
0.000 001 = 10 micro
-9
0.000 000 001 = 10 nano n
-12
0.000 000 000 001 = 10 pico p
TABLE 1.

The scale factors in bold type are the ones you should remember.

You are probably most familiar with some of these prefixes when used with metres. If
you were an atomic scientist you would know nanometres and picometres but it is more
likely that you would use Ångströms. Astronomers also have their own special units,
parsecs and light-years which they use instead of gigametres. These are typical of the
complications in the use of units still present in the scientific world.

To use units successfully remember to follow these rules:

1. Write prefixes without a space, for example, cm (centimetres).

2. Leave a space between symbols for units, for example, m s-1 (metres per second)
not ms-1, as this reads as “per millisecond”.

3. Never pluralise units, for example, 10 ms, means 10 milliseconds not 10 metres.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 2
2.2 Basic Quantities

Four of the basic quantities used in the study of motion and in biomechanics will now
be introduced.

2.2.1 Time

The SI unit of time is the second (s) which is a base SI unit. Time measurement used
to depend on determining the period of rotation of the Earth relative to astronomical
bodies. However, nowadays atomic clocks are used for more precise measurements of
time.

2.2.2 Mass

The unit of mass is the kilogram (kg) which is a base SI unit. In practice, mass is most
commonly measured by comparing the unknown mass with a known mass. The force of
gravity is often used for this purpose in devices such as weighing scales and spring
balances. You might ask: “Where is the kilogram that was used in the first of such
comparisons?”. The answer is that it was (and still is) in The International Bureau of
Weights and Measures in Sèvres, Paris. The mass is a platinum-iridium cylinder that is
defined as the standard kilogram. A useful thing to remember is 1 litre of water has a
mass of 1 kg.

Mass is commonly confused with weight, they are not the same. The ideas that follow
are intended as food for thought and you are not expected to learn these details at
present. There are three ways of telling which of two masses is the greater:

1. Apply an equal force to each and measure the acceleration - the smaller mass has
greater acceleration. Try pushing a lorry and car to see which is easier to accelerate!

2. Measure the force of gravity acting on each, using a spring balance for example - the
greater the mass the greater the force of gravity on it, so the more the spring will
extend.

3. Count the number of protons and neutrons in each (conceptually possible but
impossible in practice) - the larger the mass the greater the number of neutrons and
protons. This is based on the theory that all matter consists of atoms and the mass of
an atom depends on the number of protons and neutrons in its nucleus.

A simple definition of the mass of an object is that it is the quantity of matter in the
object.

2.2.3 Distance

The SI unit of distance is the metre (m) which is a base SI unit. It is based upon the
wavelength of radiation emitted by the krypton-86 atom. This definition replaced the
standard metre bar in 1960. Originally the metre was intended to be one ten-millionth of
the distance from the North Pole to the equator passing through Dunkirk. The error in
this measurement was only 0.023%.

2.2.4 Angle

The common unit of angle is the degree (°) which is 1/360th of a full revolution. In
other words, there are 360° in a complete circle. The SI unit is the radian (rad) which
is a supplementary SI unit. (One radian is equal to about 57.296°.) This unit may be
new to you but it will be important later in the module. It is defined as follows:

One radian encloses an arc with length equal to the circle radius.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 3
 arc = radius
radius

1 radian

radius

FIGURE 2.

This definition is illustrated in Figure 2. There is no need to remember it, what is

important to remember is that there are 2π radians to a full revolution. The symbol π
is the Greek character pi, which represents a constant equal to 3.14159265359 to 12
significant figures. Most modern calculators have a value for π, look and see how many
significant figures yours uses for π.

Since there are 360° and 2π radians to one full revolution then it is evident that:

φ
number of revolutions =
360

θ
number of revolutions =
2π

where φ is the angle in degrees, and

θ is the angle in radians.

Furthermore since there are 360° and 2π radians in one revolution then:

2π radians = 360 degrees

360
⇒ 1 radian = degrees
2π

Thus we now have an equation for converting from radians to degrees:

180
φ= θ
π

Note: The symbols φ and θ are the Greek characters phi and theta respectively;
they are commonly used to represent angles.

Angle in degrees Angle in radians

360 2π
90
π
30
0.7854

Unit 1 - Kinematics 4
2.3 Speed and Rate of Rotation

2.3.1 Speed

An object moving at constant speed travels equal distances in equal periods of time. SPEED
Speed is therefore defined as the distance travelled per unit time. The SI units are
metres per second (m s-1). In practice, objects have speeds that are always changing
and it is impossible for speed to be exactly constant. Because of this, there are two
definitions of speed:

Average speed is distance travelled divided by time taken.

Instantaneous speed is the speed at an instant in time.

Suppose the distance that someone walked was measured at intervals of one second.
The data could be as shown in Table 2:

Time (s) 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0

Distance (m) 0.0 1.5 3.0 4.5 6.0 7.5
TABLE 2.

This data is displayed on a graph in Figure 3 (it is usual to put time on the horizontal
axis):

distance (metres)
10.0

8.0

6.0

4.0

2.0

0.0
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0
time (seconds)

FIGURE 3.

The person walked equal distances in equal periods of time; their walking speed was
constant and the distance-time graph is a straight line. By the term “distance-time” DISTANCE-TIME GRAPH
graph we mean that the distance is on the y-axis (vertical axis) against time on the x-
axis (horizontal axis).

What is the gradient of this line?

From the graph the gradient is 7.5 ÷ 5 = 1.5 m s-1. This is simply distance travelled
divided by time taken and is therefore the walking speed. It can be stated that:

the gradient of the distance-time graph is the speed.

Another set of data is shown in the table below:

Time (s) 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0

Distance (m) 0.0 0.5 2.0 4.5 8.0 12.5
TABLE 3.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 5
and the graph is shown in Figure 4:

distance (metres)
14.0

12.0

10.0

8.0

6.0

4.0

2.0

0.0
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0
time (seconds)

FIGURE 4.

In this case the person did not walk equal distances in equal periods of time; their
walking speed was not constant. The average walking speed for the duration is 12.5 ÷
5.0 = 2.5 m s-1. The average speed over the 2nd second is 1.5 m s-1 and over the 5th
second it is 4.5 m s-1. Since the walking speed was constantly changing it would be
useful to know the instantaneous speed at a particular moment in time. This can be
found by drawing the tangent to the curve at that point to find the instantaneous slope TANGENT TO CURVE
of the graph. The graph below (Figure 5) shows the tangent drawn at the time of 3.0 s.

distance (metres)
14.0

12.0

10.0

8.0

6.0

6
4.0

2.0
2
0.0
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0
time (seconds)

FIGURE 5.

Thus, by calculating the gradient of the tangent the instantaneous walking speed can be
found. In the above case it is 6 ÷ 2 = 3 m s-1.

2.3.2 Rate of rotation

A rotating object has a rate of rotation which is the angular distance travelled per unit RATE OF ROTATION
time. Its SI units are therefore radians per second (rad s-1). As with speed there are two
definitions for the rate of rotation:

Unit 1 - Kinematics 6
 Average rate of rotation is the angular distance travelled divided by time taken.
Instantaneous rate of rotation is the rate of rotation at an instant in time.

The object may be rotating itself (e.g. ice skater performing a spin) or about an external
fixed point (e.g. a gymnast swinging on a horizontal bar) as shown in Figure 6.

FIGURE 6.

Angle-time graphs can be plotted to find the rate of rotation which is given by the ANGLE-TIME GRAPH
gradient. For instantaneous rate of rotation a tangent to the curve should be drawn and
the gradient of the tangent found using trigonometry.

Remember: when drawing a graph always remember to label the axes with the
quantity, its units and scale.

Time (s) 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0
Angular Distance (rad) 0.0 3.0 8.0 15.0 24.0 35.0 48.0 63.0

2.4 Acceleration and Angular Acceleration

2.4.1 Acceleration

Acceleration is the rate of change of speed. Consider a car starting from rest. It must
build up its speed from zero to (say) 50 kilometres per hour. To do so it must accelerate.
The SI units of acceleration are metres per second squared (m s-2). As with speed,
objects have accelerations which are always changing so there are two definitions of
acceleration:

average acceleration is the change in speed divided by the time taken.

instantaneous acceleration is the acceleration at an instant in time.

The average acceleration can be expressed in the form of an equation as:

change in speed
acceleration =
time taken

Unit 1 - Kinematics 7
Consider a sprinter whose running speed will increase from zero up to 10 m s-1 as he/she
starts off the blocks. During this period of time the acceleration will not be constant but
will decrease. The data for the first 7 seconds of his/her run is shown in Table 4.

Time (s) 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0
-1
Speed (m s ) 0.0 4.0 6.0 7.5 8.5 9.3 9.7 10.0
TABLE 4.

This data can be plotted on a speed-time graph as shown in Figure 7: SPEED-TIME GRAPH

speed (metres)
12.0

10.0

8.0

6.0

4.0

2.0

0.0
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0
time (seconds)

FIGURE 7.

The gradient of a speed-time graph is simply running speed divided by time taken and is
therefore the acceleration.

It can be stated that:

the gradient of the speed-time graph is the acceleration.

Deceleration occurs when an object is slowing down. For example, a car coming to a DECELERATION
halt decelerates. During deceleration the calculated acceleration is negative since the
change in speed will be negative.

2.4.2 Angular acceleration

The angular acceleration of a rotating object is the rate of change of the rate of ANGULAR
ACCELERATION
rotation. For example the wheels of a car accelerating from rest will undergo angular
acceleration. Its SI units are radians per second squared (rad s-2). The gradient of rate
of rotation-time graphs is the angular acceleration.

There are of course two definitions of angular acceleration:

average angular acceleration is the change in rate of rotation divided by the time
taken.
instantaneous angular acceleration is the angular acceleration at an instant in
time.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 8
The average angular acceleration can be expressed in the form of an equation as:

change in angular speed

angular acceleration =
time taken

3. VECTORS

3.1 Vectors and Scalars

If you are asked to draw an arrow on a piece of paper placed in front of you, you have
two decisions to make: what length to make it and in which direction to draw it. An
arrow is said to have both magnitude (its length) and direction. On the other hand,
when telling someone your mass, you would only state one quantity. This is because
mass has magnitude only, since it is simply a measure of the quantity of matter in an
object.

All the physical quantities that you will meet in this module can be placed in one of
these two categories and these are the definitions of them that you should learn:

A scalar is a quantity that has magnitude only.

A vector is a quantity that has magnitude and direction.

The following is a list of quantities classified as vectors or scalars. You will encounter
most of these quantities during the module.

Scalar Vector
distance displacement
speed velocity
angle angular displacement
rotation rate angular velocity
mass force
temperature momentum
energy acceleration

The quantities in the first two rows (distance and displacement, speed and velocity) are
words that are interchangeable in everyday speech. However in mechanics they do not
have exactly the same meaning and it is therefore necessary to distinguish between
them.

3.1.1 Distance and displacement

If you wanted to go for a five mile jog, it would make no difference whether you ran in
a straight line or went round a circuit; you would still do your five miles. You are
interested in how far you travel and not in the direction. The word to use is distance, not
displacement, and since it has magnitude only it is a scalar.

If, on the other hand, a bomb had been placed at the point where you start your jog,
timed to go off in fifteen minutes you might decide to take your five mile jog in a
straight line rather than go in a circuit! The direction of travel would be as important to
you as the distance. You would want to displace yourself as far from the bomb as
possible. The word to use here is displacement, which is a vector because it has
magnitude and direction. Your displacement could be something like 5 miles North-
East for example.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 9
To summarise, distance is simply the total distance travelled regardless of direction and
displacement consists of a straight-line distance and a direction; it is a vector DISPLACEMENT
quantity.

3.1.2 Speed and velocity

In everyday language speed and velocity are interchangeable; in mechanics there is a VELOCITY
distinction between the two. In this module you will need to learn the meaning that is
applicable to mechanics. Speed is the distance travelled divided by the time taken and:

Velocity is speed and direction of travel.

Velocity is thus a vector quantity.

The advertising literature for a car usually contains the fuel consumption measured at a
steady 90 kilometres per hour. It is irrelevant whether the car is travelling due north, due
south or going round and round in circles. Direction is unimportant and therefore the
scalar quantity speed, not velocity, is correct. However, if we wish to travel somewhere
the direction is as equally important as the speed (if not more so) and therefore velocity
should be used and not speed.

To summarise, speed is the distance travelled divided by the time taken and velocity
consists of a straight-line speed and a direction. Remember the word “velocity” should
not be used unless the direction of motion is given as well as the speed.

3.1.3 Rate of rotation and angular velocity

An object that is rotating has a rotation rate and an axis of rotation about which it
rotates. The axis of rotation points in a certain direction. Rotation is therefore a vector
since it has both a magnitude and a direction. This seems quite straightforward; to
describe angular velocity you simply give the rotation rate and the direction that the ANGULAR VELOCITY
axis points in. However, there are two ways for an object to rotate about an axis. For
example, a bicycle wheel can rotate clockwise or anti-clockwise about its hub.
Fortunately, there is a convention for deciding which direction is positive and which is
negative; this is the right-hand grip rule. Imagine gripping an axis of rotation with RIGHT-HAND GRIP RULE
your right hand with your thumb pointing in the direction of the axis. Your fingers will
then point in the positive direction of rotation. This is illustrated in Figure 8.

(A) (B)

FIGURE 8. (A) CLOCKWISE (B) ANTICLOCKWISE.

It is therefore very important that both the magnitude of the angular velocity and its
direction of rotation are stated.

3.1.4 Angle and angular displacement

If you are happy with the fact that angular velocity is a vector, then you will easily
appreciate that an angular displacement is a vector. Consider a tap. It may be turned

Unit 1 - Kinematics 10
about an axis vertically up through the tap in either a clockwise or anticlockwise
direction. Obviously the direction in which the tap is turned is as important as the
magnitude of the turn, so if you instructed someone to turn a tap you would tell them
both the direction and the angle through which to turn it depending upon whether you
wish to increase or decrease the water flow. You would be specifying an angular
displacement.

To summarise, an angular distance is simply the total angle turned through, whilst an
angular displacement has a magnitude (the angle) and direction (the direction of the
rotation about an axis); it is therefore a vector quantity.

3.1.5 Acceleration and angular acceleration

Acceleration and angular acceleration are also vector quantities since they are derived
from vector quantities - velocity and angular velocity respectively:

change in velocity
acceleration =
time taken

change in angular velocity

angular acceleration =
time taken

The direction of the acceleration will be dependent upon the directions of the velocities.
The addition and subtraction of vectors is described in the next section.

3.1.6 Summary of motion vectors

 Displacement is distance and direction. For example the displacement of the head
during standing up.

 Velocity is speed and direction. For example, the velocity of walking.

 Acceleration is acceleration and direction. For example, the acceleration of a

sprinter off the blocks.

 Angular displacement is angle and axis direction. For example, flexion and
extension of the leg at the knee joint.

 Angular velocity is rate of rotation and axis direction. For example, the angular
velocity of a wheelchair’s wheel.

 Angular acceleration is angular acceleration and axis direction. For example, the
angular acceleration of a golf club during a swing.

With all vector quantities there are occasions when just the magnitude is of interest and
the vector can be treated as a scalar. However, the fact that a quantity is really a vector
must always be borne in mind. This is particularly important when vector quantities are
added or subtracted, as the next section will show.

3.2 Adding and Subtracting Vectors

“Good News - Bad News”

Good news - Scalars can be added together using the ordinary rules of arithmetic and
you have nothing new to learn. For example, mass is a scalar quantity so to find the sum
of two masses they are simply added together.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 11
Bad news - Vectors cannot be added using ordinary arithmetic and you need to learn
special methods.

This section on vectors started by pointing out that an arrow has magnitude and
direction; it is therefore a vector. This is important because it means that any other
vector, such as displacement or velocity, can be represented by an arrow. For example, a
displacement of 4 km in a NE direction would be drawn as shown in Figure 9.

10 mm = 1 km

4 km
2 km

45°

FIGURE 9.

The picture shown in Figure 9 is called a vector diagram. The most important aspect of VECTOR DIAGRAM

a vector diagram is that it gives a simple method for combining vectors; a process also
known as vector addition.

Suppose BiomechAnnie makes two displacements on her bicycle, 300 m due east and
400 m due south, one after the other. These are shown below on a vector diagram
(Figure 10).

300 m
A
10 mm = 100 m

200 m

400 m

FIGURE 10.

The arrowheads showing the direction are important; without them due east would not
be distinguished from due west.

To find the total displacement of BiomechAnnie, the vectors must be added together. In
other words the vector sum must be found. The result of the addition must give the one
vector that replaces the two vectors. This is called the resultant vector and must RESULTANT VECTOR

represent a displacement of BiomechAnnie that would take her to the same place as the
two displacements. To add the vectors the second vector must start where the first
finishes as in the vector diagram above (Figure 10). The resultant vector is an arrow
joining A to B. Draw this and measure its length, you should get about 50 mm which
represents 500 m and if you measure the angle at A you should get about 53°. The
displacement that replaces the two is therefore:

500 m E 53° S. (The direction means “from the East, 53° clockwise towards the
South.”)

Unit 1 - Kinematics 12
You can see that the sum of the original displacements does not result in a overall
displacement with a magnitude of 700 m (400 m + 300 m) but of one with a magnitude
of 500 m, however the distance travelled by BiomechAnnie was 700 m. In this case the
resultant displacement may be thought of as the distance “as-the-crow flies”.

You have seen that it is possible to measure the resultant vector in a diagram and may
have guessed that it is also possible to calculate its magnitude and direction using
trigonometry.

To calculate the resultant displacement in the diagram, you will first have to spot that
the triangle, formed by the two displacements, has a right-angle at the point C. Then,
because two sides of the triangle are known, the third can be found using Pythagoras’
Theorem:

resultant2 = 3002 + 4002 = 250 000

Therefore the resultant = 500 m

The angle between the resultant and the first vector can be found by using the two sides
of the triangle that are already known. The 400 m side is opposite the angle at A and the
300 m side is adjacent to it. The trigonometric function that uses these sides is the
tangent:

400
tan θ = = 1.3333
300

The final step is to find θ knowing that its tangent is 1.33. This is achieved by using the
inverse tangent: inv tan or tan-1 on your calculator. (tan-1 is the same as saying “the
angle whose tangent is 1.33”).

Follow these instructions:

For older calculators:

type in 1.3333
-1
press tan
The angle 53.13° should appear.
For newer calculators:
-1
press tan
type in 1.3333
press =
The angle 53.13° should appear.

Rounding off the results of the calculations to three significant figures, the displacement
of BiomechAnnie is 500 m, E 53.1 S.

Note: You may be wondering why we are working in degrees when the SI unit is
radians: calculators naturally work in degrees unless set to radians.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 13
 (A)
5.0 m
0.50 m

(B)
6.5 m
4.0 m

FIGURE 11.

3.3 Resolving Vectors

In the above section, you saw that two vectors could be replaced by a single vector
using vector addition. The reverse process can also be carried out where one vector is
replaced by two vectors. (You will not appreciate the full value of this until later on in
this module when force vectors are introduced.) The basic idea is to replace the vector
with a pair at right-angles to each other as shown in Figure 12.

r sin θ r

r cos θ

FIGURE 12. A RESOLVED VECTOR.

This is called resolving the vector into its components. Here is an example of where
resolving a velocity is useful. When an aeroplane lands (at an angle of 10.0° to the
horizontal) it is travelling at about 100 m s-1. It is important that the vertical component
of this velocity is quite small otherwise the undercarriage would be destroyed. Figure 13
shows the aeroplane about to land.

FIGURE 13. DIAGRAM OF AN AEROPLANE ABOUT TO LAND.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 14
This is the vector diagram (Figure 14) that shows the horizontal and vertical velocities
that have a vector sum equal to the velocity of the plane:

VH
horizontal
10°
100
VV

vertical

FIGURE 14.

The horizontal velocity is given by:

vH = 100 cos 10° = 98.5 m s-1

Similarly, the vertical velocity is given by:

vV = 100 sin 10° = 17.4 m s-1

Therefore, fortunately the aeroplane’s vertical velocity is much lower than its actual
landing velocity of 100 m s-1.

4
5 5
40°
100°
30°

(A) (B) (C)

FIGURE 15.

4. COORDINATE SYSTEMS & REFERENCE FRAMES

When the position and motion of objects are stated, it is important that they are given in
relation to some kind of reference frame. Sometimes the reference is so obvious that it
is not necessary to state it; a car that is travelling at 50 kilometres per hour (kph) is
travelling at 50 kph relative to the road. However, in most situations, being unclear
about references can lead to confusion. Suppose, for example, that you are travelling by
air between two airports that are 3200 km apart. Just after take-off “your Captain” tells
you that the aeroplane will be flying at 800 kph at 33,000 feet and the flight will take 4
hours. Five minutes later the Captain speaks again to say that due to head-winds the
flight will take five hours instead! You might think that strange because at 800 kph the
aeroplane will take 4 hours for the distance no matter what head-wind is blowing. The
problem is that you have not been told that the aeroplane’s speed is given relative to the
air. If the head wind (relative to the ground) is 160 kph, then the aeroplane’s speed
(relative to the ground) is only 640 kph so it will take 5 hours for the journey.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 15
In mechanics, and therefore in biomechanics also, all positions and directions are given
in relation to a reference frame. The choice and position of the reference frame will
be dependent upon the movement being studied. For example if you are interested in the
movement of someone walking then you will probably use a reference frame fixed on
the ground. However, if you were interested in how the head moves during walking
then you may choose the reference frame to be fixed on the trunk.

So that the positions within the reference frame can be related it must be based upon a
particular coordinate system. The use of these coordinate systems will now be explained
in detail.

4.1 Rectangular Coordinates

Two examples of rectangular coordinate systems have already appeared in this unit. The
first was the x and y axes used for graphs and the second was the compass directions
(N, S, E and W) used in some of the examples. These were applied to flat surfaces: a
sheet of paper and the surface of the earth (which can be taken to be flat over short
distances). These systems were therefore two-dimensional. The real world is three-
dimensional. The basic three-dimensional rectangular coordinate system is called the
Cartesian System (named after René Descartes [1596-1650] the French philosopher
and mathematician). It consists of three axes at right-angles to each other, normally
labelled as the x, y and z axes. A simple way to imagine these axes is as three edges of a
cube (Figure 16).

y
y

x
x

z
z

look in this direction origin

FIGURE 16.

The axes have been labelled x, y and z, but there appear to be six ways of doing this as
shown in Figure 17.

y x z

x z y

z y x

y x z

z y x

x z y

FIGURE 17.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 16
However, there are really only two ways of labelling the axes. This can be appreciated if
you imagine looking at the corner marked “origin” (Figure 16) in the direction shown.
What you see looks like the first of the following views (Figure 18).

(A) y y (B)

z x
x z

FIGURE 18. (A) RIGHT-HANDED AND (B) LEFT-HANDED.

The first three sets of axes in Figure 17 are simply the result of rotating the cube in
Figure 18A. However, the second set cannot be produced using this cube. Instead, the
second cube must be used, Figure 18B. This shows that there are two ways to label the
Cartesian coordinates with the symbols x, y and z. The labelling in Figure 16 is the one
most frequently used. It is called the right-handed set of coordinates and x, y and z
appear in a clockwise direction in the view shown in Figure 18A. The other set is, of
course, called left-handed and uses anti-clockwise labelling, Figure 18B.

In a two-dimensional coordinate system, the position of a point, A, is given by a pair of

coordinates (xA, yA) as shown in Figure 19.

A (xA, yA)
yA

x
xA

FIGURE 19.

The coordinates of the origin are (0, 0). Coordinates can of course be negative since the
origin is usually chosen arbitrarily. This is the same as the system used for graphs.

For a three-dimensional system three coordinates (x, y, z) give the position of a point.
The coordinates of the origin are therefore (0, 0, 0).

Worked Example

In this example the position of a light-bulb in a room will be expressed using

rectangular coordinates. Suppose the room has the dimensions shown in the following
perspective diagram (Figure 20).

Unit 1 - Kinematics 17
 3m
2m

0.2 m
2.7 m

2.5 m

1.5 m

FIGURE 20.

The length of the light flex and the position of its entry into the ceiling are shown.

First the position of the origin has to be chosen; the corner nearest the door is selected
for convenience. The positions of the x, y and z-axes are then chosen; these are
respectively the floor/back wall corner, the back wall/side wall corner and the floor/side
wall corner. These are marked in Figure 21.

3m 3m
2m

0.2 m
2.7 m

switch 2.5 m
x
1.5 m origin

FIGURE 21.

If you examine this diagram you will see that the bulb is:

3 m out from the side wall; x is 3 m,

2.5 m up from the floor; y is 2.5 m and

2 m out from the back wall; z is 2 m.

The coordinates of the bulb are therefore (3, 2.5, 2) in metres.

When the axes are all at right angles to each other, as in the Cartesian system, they are
said to be orthogonal. Orthogonal axes are independent; a change in position on one
axis does not result in a change in position on another one. Imagine travelling along the
x-axis. Your position on that axis will change but your position on the y and z-axes
remains the same. Now if the x-axis is at 70° to the y-axis, then travelling along the x-
axis will cause both the position on the x-axis and on the y-axis to change. This is
illustrated in Figure 22.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 18
 y

(A)

x
y

z
70° x
(B)

FIGURE 22. (A) ORTHOGONAL AXIS SYSTEM AND (B) NON-ORTHOGONAL AXIS SYSTEM.

4.1.1 Planes

A plane is a flat surface (like a very thin piece of paper). In mathematics, planes are PLANES
regarded as having zero thickness and are two-dimensional (Figure 23).

The coordinate axes are the familiar x, y, z axes but they have been drawn in the
negative as well as the positive directions. The plane that is marked is called the x-y
plane. This is because the x and y axes lie in it. You can see that it divides “space” into
two parts: one where z is only positive and one where z is only negative.

z x

FIGURE 23. FIGURE OF AN X-Y PLANE.

The x-y plane has been drawn again in Figure 24.

5.0

z x

FIGURE 24.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 19
This time the plane does not contain the origin of the coordinate system. The first x-y
plane passes through the point z = 0 while the second passes through z = 5 but, like any
of the possible x-y planes, it is parallel to the plane containing the origin and the x and
y-axes.

Here are some simple facts about planes: FACTS ABOUT PLANES

1. Two planes can be at right-angles to each other.

2. Three planes, but no more, can mutually be at right angles as in the corner of a cube.

3. A straight line is formed where two planes cross each other.

All these facts are illustrated in Figure 25 which shows how the human body can be
divided by three reference planes: the transverse, coronal and sagittal planes.

sagittal plane

transverse plane

coronal plane

FIGURE 25. REFERENCE PLANES OF THE BODY.

4.2 Polar Coordinates

Angles are not given in the Cartesian coordinate system. For example, suppose you
wished to instruct a painter to paint a line on the back wall of the room shown in Figure
21, which went from the centre of the wall to the corner near the door. Using
coordinates, you would ask for a line between (3,1.35,0) and (0,0,0). The angle between
the line and the floor would not be given but it could be calculated if required.

You could, alternatively, tell the painter the angle of the line (relative to the wall/floor
corner) and its length. In effect, this is using a different kind of coordinate system:
polar coordinates. The difference between polar and rectangular coordinates in two POLAR COORDINATES
dimensions is shown in Figure 26.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 20
 y

O xA
O x
θA

A (rA, θA) yA (xA, yA)

A

2 2 yA
rA = (xA + yA ) θ Α = tan -1 ( )
xA

FIGURE 26.

In three dimensions, polar coordinates have a distance and two angles; where
rectangular coordinates give a point as (x, y, z), polar coordinates give it as (r, θ, φ).

Polar coordinates are more useful than rectangular coordinates in studies of circular
objects and where angles and rotations are important. For example, positions on the
surface of the earth are given using polar coordinates but without the distance; the two
angles are known as longitude and latitude. In biomechanics, polar coordinates can be
useful in describing the motion of joints. For example, in the elbow joint; one angle is
used to describe flexion/extension and the other to describe pronation/supination (which
is largely due to the rotation of the radius about the ulna).

y y

A C
5.0 yC

rA 5.0
80°
xB θA
x
7.0
110° 7.0
5.0

30°
x
yB xC
B

FIGURE 27.

5. MOVEMENT MECHANICS

If you hold an object (say a cup) in your hand, you can move the object up and down,
forward and back, and from side to side. You can also rotate the object in any way. Thus
the object is free to move in all possible ways. A door, on the other hand, has only

Unit 1 - Kinematics 21
limited movement: it is only free to rotate about an axis through the hinges. This is
called constrained movement. CONSTRAINED
MOVEMENT

The first step in developing a system for describing motion is to imagine a free rigid
object placed at the origin of a reference frame using rectangular coordinate system
(Figure 28).

FIGURE 28.

The movement of an object in a straight line with no rotation taking place is called
translation and the movement of an object in a circular path with no translation taking
place is called rotation. An object can translate and rotate at the same time (e.g. a
wheelchair wheel), but any such complex motion can be seen as a combination of
independent translations and rotations (the wheelchair rotary motion can be considered
independent of its translation). The independent translations and rotations of the above
object relative to the reference frame are shown in Figures 29 and 30.

translation along y

translation along x

translation along z x

FIGURE 29. INDEPENDENT TRANSLATIONS RELATIVE TO THE REFERENCE FRAME.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 22
 y

rotation about y

rotation about x

rotation about z

FIGURE 30. INDEPENDENT ROTATIONS RELATIVE TO THE REFERENCE FRAME.

The free rigid object (the cup) can move with three independent translations and with
three independent rotations. Each translation and rotation is defined as a degree of
freedom. Thus an object which is free to move in all directions is said to have six
degrees of freedom. Because the x, y and z-axes are at right-angles to each other, the DEGREES OF FREEDOM
degrees of freedom are independent of each other. Thus an object moving along the x-
axis is increasing its x-coordinate but the y and z-coordinates remain at zero; the object
is not moving in the y and z directions.

Here are some examples in which the rotational degrees of freedom are ignored.

1. A rabbit crawling along its burrow has one translational degree of freedom; it is
constrained to move along a line.

2. An ant wandering about on your desk has two translational degrees of freedom;
it is constrained to move on a surface.

3. A bird in flight has three translational degrees of freedom; it can fly anywhere in
three dimensions.

Now let us look at rotary motion.

As an example, consider the motion of the wheels of a car relative to the car itself. A
rear wheel has one rotational degree of freedom while a front wheel has two rotational
degrees of freedom (Figure 31).

FIGURE 31. THE MOTION OF THE WHEELS OF A CAR RELATIVE TO THE CAR ITSELF.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 23
6. EQUATIONS OF MOTION

Motion with constant acceleration can be simply described by a few equations, which
link together the variables, which define the motion (such as acceleration). The
equations enable the unknown variables to be calculated from the known one. You
should note that, as in the whole of this unit, the cause of the motion is not considered;
it is simply assumed that the necessary forces are present for constant acceleration to
take place.

As you may have guessed, since there are two types of motion, linear and rotary, there
are two sets of equations of motion to be considered. These are those which describe
linear motion (i.e. motion along a straight line) and those which describe rotary motion
(i.e. circular motion). These two cases are considered in the following subsections.

6.1 Equations of Linear Motion

For an object moving in a straight line with constant acceleration, there are five
quantities that can be measured:

u is the starting velocity in metres per second (m s-1)

v is the final velocity in metres per second (m s-1)

a is the acceleration in metres per second squared (m s-2)

s is the displacement in metres (m)

t is the time taken in seconds (s)

The above variables are demonstrated by BiomechAnnie in Figure 32.

t
u

FIGURE 32.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 24
In words, the object travels with acceleration a for a time t during which it travels
through a displacement s and changes its velocity from u to v.

There are five equations, each with a different selection of four of the above variables.
The first equation is obtained by rearranging the definition of acceleration given earlier:

change in velocity
acceleration =
time taken

v-u
a=
t

Making v the subject of the equation gives:

v = u + at (1)

The second equation comes from rearranging the definition of average velocity. The
average velocity is given by:

total displacement
average velocity =
total time

u+v s
⇒ =
2 t

Making s the subject of the equation gives:

s = ½(u + v)t (2)

The remaining two equations can be obtained from the first two using algebra. Equation
(2) can be rearranged to give:

2s
t=
u+v

This formula for t can replace t in equation (1) to give:

2as
v=u+
u+v

vu + v2 = u2 + uv + 2as

v2 = u2 + 2as (3)

A similar procedure gives:

s = ut + ½at2 (4)

Table 5 summarises the equations for motion in a straight line:

Variables used Variable not used Equation

uvat s v = u + at
uvst a s = ½(u + v)t
uvas t v2 = u2 + 2as
uast v s = ut + ½at2
TABLE 5.

With these equations as long as three of the variables are known then the remaining two
can be calculated. There is no need for you to learn the above derivations; you will
however be expected to use the equations to solve problems such as the worked
example below.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 25
Worked Example

It takes a man 7 steps to reach his natural walking speed of 1.5 m s-1 from rest. Calculate
the distance covered and the time taken (assuming an average step length is 60 cm).

To calculate the distance use:

s = number of steps × step length = 7 × 60 = 420 cm = 4.2 m

To find the time taken rearrange the second equation:

2s 2 × 4.2
t= = = 5.6 s
u + v 0 + 1.5

Thus, it takes the man 4.2 m over 5.6 s to reach his natural walking speed from rest.

6.2 Equations of Rotary Motion

The equations of motion for a rotating object follow exactly the same pattern as the
equations for straight-line motion. The only difference is that the variables are replaced
by their equivalent rotary variables:

ω0 is the starting angular velocity in radians per second (rad s-1),

ω is the final angular velocity in radians per second (rad s-1),

α is the angular acceleration in radians per second squared (rad s-2),

θ is the angular displacement travelled in radians (rad), and

t is the time taken in seconds (s).

In words, the object rotates with acceleration α for a time t during which it rotates
through an angle θ and changes its angular velocity from ω0 to ω.

Note: The symbols α and ω are the Greek characters alpha and omega; they are
commonly used to represent angular acceleration and angular velocity respectively.

The procedures used for producing the above table are easily repeated for rotary motion
giving:

Variables used Variable not used Equation

ω0 ω α t θ ω = ω0 + αt
ω0 ω θ t α θ = ½(ω0 + ω)t
ω0 ω α θ t ω 2 = ω 20 + 2αθ
ω0 α θ t ω θ = ω0t + ½αt2

Worked Example

A wheelchair wheel slows to a halt from an initial angular velocity of 20 rad s-1 in 30 s.
Calculate the angular deceleration and number of revolutions the wheel makes.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 26
To find the angular acceleration we use the first equation which contains this and the
three known variables. Rearranging for the angular acceleration and substituting in the
known values:

ω − ω 0 0 − 20
α= = = − 0.67 rad s-2
t 30

To find the number of revolutions, first use the second equation for the angular
displacement:

θ = ½(ω0 + ω)t = ½(0 + 20) × 30 = 300 rad

To find the number of revolutions we use the fact that there are 2 π radians in one full
revolution, thus:

θ 300
Number revolutions = = = 48 rev
.
2π 2 × 314

Thus the wheelchair decelerated (slowed down) at 0.67 rad s-2 and finally came to a halt
after 48 revolutions.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 27
SUMMARY

In this unit you have been introduced to kinematics; the study of movement. Kinematics
is useful in describing how people walk and how athletes perform movements. These
are cases where the causes of the movements may not be of interest. Where the causes
of the movements are of interest then a knowledge of kinetics is required. Kinetics is
introduced in Unit 4. In this unit the concepts that have been introduced are:

 SI units,
 basic physical quantities,
 vectors and scalars,
 coordinate systems,
 reference frames,
 constrained motion, and
 linear and rotational motion.

You should now be able to describe how objects move by using the quantities that
describe motion:

 linear and rotational displacement,

 linear and rotational velocity,
 linear and rotational acceleration, and
 time.

When a quantity is unknown then using the equations of motion you should now be able
to calculate its value using the known quantities.

Unit 1 - Kinematics 28