SCIE6004 – Physics I

Week 2
Motion & Two- Dimensional
Motion
Motion Along a Straight Line
The study of motion is called kinematics.
Here we will study motion that takes place in a
straight line.
Forces cause motion, we will find out, as a result of
application of force, if the objects speed up, slow
down, or maintain the same rate.
The moving object here will be considered as a
particle. If we deal with a stiff, extended object, we
will assume that all particles on the body move in the
same fashion. We will study the motion of a particle,
which will represent the entire body.
1. Position and displacement, velocity, and acceleration
a. Position and displacement
The location of an object is usually given in terms of a standard
reference point, called the origin. The positive direction is taken to
be the direction where the coordinates are increasing, and the
negative direction as that where the coordinates are decreasing.
A change in the coordinates of the position of the body describes
the displacement of the body.
For example, if the x-coordinate of a body changes from x1 to x2,
then the displacement, Δx = (x2-x1).

y ΔX
x
0
X1 X2
Displacement is a vector quantity. That is, a quantity that
has both magnitude and direction information.
An object’s displacement is x = -4 m means that the object
has moved towards decreasing x-axis by 4 m.
The direction of motion, here, is toward decreasing x.
b. Velocity
Average Velocity
Average velocity, or vavg, is defined as the displacement
over the time duration.

The average velocity has the same sign as the

displacement
Instantaneous Velocity and Speed
The instantaneous velocity of a particle at a particular instant is
the velocity of the particle at that instant.
Here ∆t approaches a limiting value:

v, the instantaneous velocity, is the slope of the tangent

of the position-time graph at that particular instant of
time.
Velocity is a vector quantity and has with it an associated
sense of direction.
Example
You drive a beat-up pickup truck along a straight road for 8,4 km at
70 km/h, at which point the truck runs out of gasoline and stops.
Over the next 30 min, you walk another 2,0 km farther along the
road to a gasoline station.
(a) What is your overall displacement from the beginning if your
drive to your arrival at the station?
(b) What is the time interval ∆t from the beginning of your drive
to your arrival at the station?
(c) What is your average velocity Vavg from the beginning of your
drive to your arrival at the station? Find it both numerical and
graphycally
(d) Suppose that to pump the gasoline, pay for it , and walk back to
the truck takes you another 45 min. What is your average speed
from the beginning of your drive to your return to the truck
with the gasoline?
c. Accelerations
Average acceleration
Average acceleration is the change of velocity over the
change of time. As such, v2  v1 v
aavg  t  t 
2 1 t
Here the velocity is v1 at time t1, and the velocity is v2 at
time t2
dv
Instantaneous acceleration a
The instantaneous acceleration is defined as: dt
In terms of the position function, the acceleration can be defined
as: 2
dv d dx d x
a  ( ) 2
dt dt dt dt
The SI units for acceleration are m/s2.
If a particle has the same sign for velocity and acceleration,
then that particle is speeding up.
Conversely, if a particle has opposite signs for the velocity
and acceleration, then the particle is slowing down.
Our bodies often react to accelerations but not to velocities.
A fast car often does not bother the rider, but a sudden
brake is felt strongly by the rider. This is common in
amusement car rides, where the rides change velocities
quickly to thrill the riders.
The magnitude of acceleration falling near the Earth’s

surface is 9.8 m/s , and is often referred to as g
2
.
Example, acceleration:
A particle’s position on the axis is given by
x = 4 - 27t + t3 with x in meters and t in seconds
a.Find the particle’s velocity function V(t) and acceleration
function a(t)
b. Is there ever a time when v =0 ?
c. Describe the particle’s motion for t >=0
 2. Constant acceleration
When the acceleration is constant, its average and instantaneous
values are the same.
v  v0
a a avg  , mean that : v  v0  at ...... (1)
t 0
Here, velocity at t  0 is v0
x  x0
Similiarly : v avg  , wich mean that : x  x0  vavg t
t 0
1
x  x0  v0t  at 2 .......... (2)
2
Eliminating t from the Equations (1) and (2):

v  v  2a ( x  x0 )
2 2
0 .......... (3)
 then the equations of motion along a straight line :
v  v0  a t
x  x0  v0t  (1/ 2)a t 2
v2  v02  2a(x  x0 )

Uniform Motion
If the velocity of an object is the same throughout the entire
time, it has a constant (uniform) velocity and a zero
acceleration (a = 0).
v  v0 x  x 0  v0t
3. Free-Fall Acceleration
In this case objects close to the Earth’s surface fall
towards the Earth’s surface with no external forces
acting on them except for their weight.
Use the constant acceleration model with “a” replaced
by “-g”, where g = 9.8 m/s2 for motion close to the
Earth’s surface.
The equations of motion for free fall are very similar to
those discussed previously for constant acceleration:
1
ay  g v y  v y 0  gt y  y0  v y 0t  gt 2
2
where y and v are the position and the velocity of
0 0
the object at t  0
Two- Dimensional Motion
1. Position and Displacement, Velocity, and acceleration
a) Position and Displacement:
The position of a particle can be described by a position
vector, with respect to a reference origin.

The displacement of a particle is the change of the position

vector during a certain time.
b. Velocity
Average Velocity
If a particle moves through a displacement of Δr in Δt
time, then the average velocity is:
 Instantaneous velocity
The limit that the Δt time shrinks to a single point in time, the
average velocity is approaches instantaneous velocity. This
velocity is the derivative of displacement with respect to time

 d ˆ ˆ ˆ dx ˆ dy ˆ dz ˆ ˆ
v  ( xi  yj  yk )  i  j  k  vxi  v y ˆj  vz kˆ
dt dt dt dt
The direction of the instantaneous velocity of a particle
is always tangent to the particle's path at the particle's
position.
c. Acceleration
Following the same definition as in average velocity,
If we shrink ∆t to zero, then the average acceleration value
approaches to the instant acceleration value, which is the
derivative of velocity with respect to time:
3. Projectile motion
A particle moves in a vertical plane, with the only
acceleration equal to the free fall acceleration,
g.

In projectile motion, the horizontal motion and the

vertical motion are independent of each other,
that is, neither motion affects the other.
 
The initial velocity of the projectile is: v  vx 0iˆ  v yo ˆj
y Here, v x 0  v0Cosθ 0
v y 0  v0Sinθ 0

vy0 v

θ0 x
vx0
 Horizontal Range, assuming no external forces:
The horizontal range of a projectile is the horizontal distance when it
returns to its launching height

The distance equations in the x- and y- directions

respectively:

Eliminating t:
Example, projectile motion:
A rescue plane flies at 198 km/h and constant height h=500 m toward a point
directly over a victim, where a rescue capsule is to land. What should be the
angle φ of the pilot’s line of sight to the victim when the capsule release is
made. (b) As the capsule reaches the water, what is its velocity V in unit-
vector notation and in magnitude-angle notation .
2. Constan Acceleration
X- components Y- components

vx  vx 0  a xt v y  v y 0  a yt
1 1
x  x0  v x 0t  a x t 2
y  y0  v y 0 t  a y t 2
2 2

v  v  2a x ( x  x0 )
2
x
2
x0
v y2  v y20  2a y ( y  y0 )
6. Uniform Circular Motion

The speed of
the particle is
constant
Uniform
circular
+ motion
A particle
travels
around a
circle/circular
arc
 As the direction of the velocity of the particle changes,
there is an acceleration !!!

CENTRIPETAL (center-seeking) ACCELERATION

Here v is the speed of the particle and r is the radius of

the circle.
Horizontal Motion: Vertical Motion;
no acceleration acceleration = g

Eliminate time, t:
gx 2
y  (tan 0) x 
2(v0 cos 0) 2
Sample problem, top gun pilots
We assume the turn is made with uniform circular motion.
Then the pilot’s acceleration is centripetal and has
magnitude a given by a = v2/R.
Also, the time required to complete a full circle is the period
given by T =2πR/v.
Because we do not know radius R, let’s solve for R from the
period equation for R and substitute into the acceleration eqn.

Speed v here is the (constant) magnitude of the velocity during

the turning.
To find the period T of the motion, first note that the final
velocity is the reverse of the initial velocity. This means
the aircraft leaves on the opposite side of the circle from
the initial point and must have completed half a circle in
the given 24.0 s. Thus a full circle would have taken T
48.0 s.
Substituting these values into our equation for a, we find
Reference.
Halliday D.; Resniick R. and Walker J. (2010). Fundamentals Of
Physics , ninth Edition , John Wiley & SONS Inc, New York,
ISBN: 978-0-470-55653-5
Thank You