AS-Level Maths:

Mechanics 1

Kinematics

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Contents Motion graphs

Motion graphs

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Kinematics

Kinematics involves the study of how things move.

It is only concerned with the motion itself, not the forces that
cause motion.

The kinematics of an object is described in terms of its

distance,
displacement,
speed,
velocity,
acceleration.

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Distance and displacement

Distance is a scalar quantity.

The distance a body has travelled is the amount of ‘ground’ it
has covered during its motion.
Displacement is a vector quantity.
Displacement describes how far a body is from its starting
point and in what direction.
Distance and displacement are measured in metres, m.

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Speed, velocity and acceleration

Speed is a scalar quantity.

The speed of a body relates to how fast the body is travelling.
Velocity is a vector quantity.
The velocity of a body relates to how fast the body is travelling
and in what direction. It is the rate at which a body changes its
position.
Speed and velocity are measured in metres per second, ms–1.
Acceleration can be a scalar or a vector quantity.
Acceleration is the rate of change of speed or velocity.
It is measured in metres per second per second, ms–2.
Negative acceleration is often called deceleration or
retardation.

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Motion graphs

The kinematics of a body can be represented graphically.

The most common graphs are position-time, speed-time,
velocity-time and acceleration-time graphs.
The gradient of a distance-time graph gives speed.
The gradient of a displacement-time graph gives velocity.
The gradient of a velocity-time graph gives acceleration.
The area under a speed-time graph gives the distance
travelled.
The area under a velocity-time graph gives the change in
displacement.
The area under an acceleration-time graph gives the change
in velocity.

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Displacement-time graph

This graph shows a journey of 2000 m. It includes a stop of 1

hour after travelling 1000 m metres. The person then returns
to their starting position.
The gradient of this graph
1000 gives velocity.
Displacement (m)

800
For the first part of the journey,
600
1000
400 velocity =
20
200
= 50 metres per minute
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
For the second part of the
Time (mins)
journey the velocity is zero.
1000
For the last part, velocity =
30
= –33.3 metres per minute
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Distance-time graph

This graph also shows a journey of 2000 m with a 1 hour stop.

However, for this graph there is no indication of direction.
The gradient of this graph
2000
gives speed.
Distance (m)

1600
For the first part of the journey,
1200
800
1000
speed =
400 20
0 = 50 metres per minute
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
For the second part of the
Time (mins)
journey the speed is zero.
1000
For the last part, speed =
30
= 33.3 metres per minute
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Velocity-time graph

The area under a velocity-time graph gives displacement.

12.5 In this example, the area

Velocity (ms–1)

10
under the graph is given by a
7.5
trapezium with height 12.5
and parallel sides of length
5
130 and 90.
2.5

0 Displacement = 21 (130 + 90)×12.5

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (s) = 1375 m
The gradient of the graph gives acceleration.
The first part of the graph shows an acceleration of 0.42 ms–2,
the second part no acceleration, and the last part a
deceleration of 1.25 ms–2.

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Acceleration-time graph

This graph shows constant acceleration.

Acceleration (ms–2)
4

0 Time (s)
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
–2

–4

–6

The first part shows an acceleration of 4 ms–2.

The second part shows a deceleration of 6 ms–2.
The last part shows constant velocity.

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Acceleration-time graph

The area under an acceleration-time graph gives change in

velocity.
6

Acceleration (ms–2)
4

0 Time (s)
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
–2

–4

–6

For the first part, change in velocity = 4 × 8 = 32 ms–1

For the second part, change in velocity = –6 × 3 = –18 ms–1
There is no change in velocity for the last part.

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Graphs example 1

A man travels in a lift from the top floor of a hotel to reception

on the ground floor.
The lift accelerates with a constant acceleration of 1 ms–2
until it reaches a constant velocity of 4 ms–1.
It then travels at this constant velocity for t seconds before
decelerating with a constant deceleration of 2 ms–2 until it
reaches the ground floor.
Given that the man has descended 44 m,
a) sketch the velocity-time graph of the lift and use it to find t
b) sketch the acceleration-time graph of the lift.

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Graphs solution 1

The velocity-time graph for the lift can be sketched as follows:

The distance travelled is given
Velocity (ms–1)

4
by the area under the graph, so
( 21 × 4 × 4) + (4t ) + ( 21 × 2× 4) = 44
8 + 4t + 4 = 44
4 t 2 4t = 32
Time (s) t = 8 secs

1
Acceleration (ms–2)

The acceleration-time
graph for the lift can 0 Time (s)
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
then be sketched as
–1
follows:
–2

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