Mechanics Ch. 1 / p.

Chapter 1: Motion I: Position and Movement

Motion involves how an object changes its position within a period of time. Hence we have
to measure both length and time.

Length and time

(1) Length: S. I. unit: metre (m). Other units of length:
1 nm  10-9 m (nanometre 納米), 1 μm  10-6 m (micrometre 微米),
1 mm  10-3 m (millimetre 毫米), 1 cm = 10-2 m (centimetre 厘米),
1 km = 103 m (kilometre 千米)

(2) Time: usually refer to a time interval (duration of an event).

S. I. unit: second (s). Other units of time:
1 ms  10-3 s (millisecond 毫秒), 1 μs  10-6 s (microsecond 微秒)

Maths corner: something you should know!

 Common prefixes:
1 k (kilo) = 103 1 M (mega) = 106 1 G (giga) = 109 1 T (tera) = 1012
1 m (milli) = 10-3 1  (micro)= 10-6 1 n (nano) = 10-9 1 p (pico) = 10-12
 When a quantity is expressed in scientific notation (a10n), the order of magnitude is
its magnitude in powers of ten.
e.g. the order of magnitude of radius of Earth = 106 m ( R  6.37  106 m )
(calculator: 6  3 7 EXP 6)

Measuring length:
Length is usually measured by rulers.
In the figure shown, the ruler is accurate to 1 mm.
The reading error of the measuring instrument = half of the smallest
division on the scale = 0.5 mm.
Note that reading error depends on the instrument used, and cannot be
reduced by repeating the experiment for several times.

Timing devices:
(1) Stop-watches
 Digital stop-watches are accurate to 0.01 s.
Mechanical stop-watches are accurate to 0.2 s.
 Mechanics Ch. 1 / p. 2

 Stop-watches are not suitable for measuring a short time interval. This is because
measuring time involves human response. The time lag between seeing the event and
starting (or stopping) a stop-watch by hand is called the reaction time.
For an average person, the reaction time is about 0.2 s.

(2) Electronic timing devices

 The timing starts and stops automatically, hence error due to reaction time is avoided.

 Usually the time measured is accurate to 0.001 s. It is

often used in sports.
e. g. a light-gate (光閘) connected to a timer-scaler
(計時計數器) or a data-logger (數據記錄器).

Example 1:
(a) Use a stop-watch to measure the time for a pendulum to swing
a complete cycle. This time interval is called a period of the
pendulum.
Results:
Assume overall reaction time (for starting and stopping the stop-
watch) = 0.2 + 0.2 = 0.4 s
Time to swing one complete cycle = period =
Also, the percentage error due to reaction time
reaction time
=  100% =
period

(b) Now, measure the time for the pendulum to swing 10 cycles this time. Assume the
reaction time is the same.
Results:
Time to swing 10 complete cycles =
 The percentage error due to reaction time
reaction time
=  100% =
10 periods
Time to swing one complete cycle = period =

Conclusion:
The period of a pendulum measured by a stop-watch will be more accurate if a greater number
of cycles is timed.
This is because the due to reaction time can be .
(Note that the reaction time or the reading error itself is not reduced.)
 Mechanics Ch. 1 / p. 3

Distance and displacement

1. When an object moves from a point A to a point B, it must follow a certain path.
B (end)
path 1

A (start) path 2

 The length of the actual path that the object travelled is called the distance (距離).
 If the object took a different path, the distance it travelled might be the same or different.
 Distance is non-negative.

2. If we draw a straight line pointing from the starting point to the finishing point with an
arrow, the length and direction of the arrow represent the displacement (位移) of the
object.

B (end)
path 1
Path 1 and path 2 have the
same displacement.
A (start) path 2

 Displacement only depends on the initial and the final positions. Different paths result
in the same displacement.
 Displacement must include direction.

3. The S. I. unit for distance and displacement is metre (m).

4. Distance is a scalar (標量) quantity.

A scalar quantity has a magnitude (i.e. size) (量值) only. It has no direction (方向).
e.g. mass, temperature, time and energy.

Displacement is a vector (矢量) quantity.

A vector quantity has both a magnitude (size) and a direction.
Force, velocity and acceleration are vectors.

5. A vector is represented graphically by an arrow. The vector AB is the arrow joining

point A (starting point) to point B (end point).

B (end)
* The length of AB gives the magnitude. (e.g. 3.2 cm)

* The tip of the arrow gives the direction. (e.g. due NE)
A (start)
 Mechanics Ch. 1 / p. 4

Finding total displacement (or resultant displacement)

 For straight line motion, sign (符號) should be assigned to indicate direction.
e.g. Forward: positive, backward: negative
e.g. Upward: positive, downward: negative

Example 2:
Doraemon (assumed as a point object) jumps vertically into a swimming pool from a diving
board as shown below. He reaches a maximum height of 3 m and finally dives for 6 m under
water. Find the (a) total distance and (b) total displacement travelled.
Solution: 3m
Take upwards as positive.
(a) Total distance
10 m
了 + l0 + 6
=
1 qm

water surface

(b) Total displacement = 3 + ( 37 t (

- -
) +(
10 -
)
6 = -

16 m

6m
 displacement = -
16 m

 For motion on a plane, two (or more) displacements (say p and q ) may be added by

tip-to-tail method (首尾連接法).

(The magnitude of the total displacement can be found by cosine law or other methods.)

B (end)

total displaceme nt  p  q

A (start)

 Special case: For two perpendicular displacements (say of magnitude x and y), the
magnitude (s) and direction () of the total displacement can be found by the Pythagoras’
theorem. The direction is usually represented by a compass bearing ().

y
B (end) total distance total displacement = s
=x+y
x s s x2  y2

y
Direction: tan 
x
A (start)
 Mechanics Ch. 1 / p. 5

Example 3:
A boy walks 4 m north and then 3 m east. Find the (a) total distance travelled and (b) total
displacement.
Solution: B 3m C
(a) Total distance travelled = 7m
N
(b) Let the total displacement  AC = s . 4m

The magnitude of the displacement

A

⼚
32 + 42
=
5m

The angle between AB and AC is

tang
=
弄
θ= 36 90 .

 The total displacement is 5m

Comparing scalars and vectors:

 When a scalar is negative, it means its magnitude is less than zero. So when we compare
a scalar (say temperature),  10 C <  5 C < + 5 C.

However, the minus sign in a vector refers to its direction. It has nothing to do with its
magnitude. Hence in comparing vectors, we should compare their magnitude only.

e.g. for two forces,  10 N >  5 N

e.g. the two forces  10 N and + 10 N are of the same magnitude
 Mechanics Ch. 1 / p. 6

Speed and velocity

The two terms have different meanings in Physics.
(1) Speed
We use speed (速率) to describe how fast an object moves. It is a scalar.
 The S. I. unit of speed is metre per second (m s-1).
Another common unit is kilometer per hour (km h-1).

1
1 km h-1 = 0 278 ms
-

 1 m s-1 = 3.6 km h-1

e.g. 10 m s-1 = 36 km h-1 70 km h-1 = 19 5

.
m s-1
(running speed) (car speed)

 An object may not move at a constant speed. To get an overall picture, we talk about the
average speed (平均速率) over a whole journey. It is the total distance travelled over
the total time taken, or
total distance travelled
Average speed =
total time taken
It gives no information about the variations of speed within a journey.

 To know the speed at any instant, we talk about instantaneous speed (瞬時速率). It is
the average speed taken over a very short time interval. The shorter the time interval, the
more accurate the speed.
The speedometers in cars and the speed display units on minibuses show the
instantaneous speed (in km h-1) of the vehicle.

Example 4: [2012 DSE Practice Paper 1A Q. 6]

A toy car travelled due east for 10 m in 5 s, then immediately turned north and travelled 5 m
for 1 s. What was the average speed of the car?
A. 1.9 m s-1
B. 2.2 m s-1 15m in 6 s
0
C. 2.5 m s -1

D. 3.5 m s-1
(Bonus: What was the magnitude of the car’s average velocity? Ans: A)
 Mechanics Ch. 1 / p. 7

(2) Velocity
Velocity (速度) describes how fast and in what direction an object moves. It is a vector.
 The S. I. unit of velocity is metre per second (m s-1).
Another common unit is kilometer per hour (km h-1).

 Average velocity (平均速度) over a time interval can be measured by

total displacement
average velocity 
time taken
Its direction is the same as that of the total displacement.

 Instantaneous velocity (瞬時速度) gives the speed and the direction of motion at an
instant. Its direction is the direction of motion of the object at that instant.

More about speed and velocity:

(1) The magnitude of average velocity is usually different from the average speed.
e.g. Assume a roller-coaster takes 10 s to move from X to Y along a track.
Its magnitude of average velocity is lower than its average speed.

(2) The magnitude of instantaneous velocity is always ditiereut to the instantaneous speed.

(3) Two objects can have the same speed but different velocity.
e.g. Two objects moving in opposite direction (along a straight line)

(4) An object can move at a constant speed with varying velocity.

e.g. A car turns at a roundabout (or a circular track) with a constant speed
v
v

v (Direction of velocity = tangent of circle)

v
v
 Mechanics Ch. 1 / p. 8

(5) An object is said to move in uniform motion (勻速運動) if its velocity is constant, i.e.
it moves at a constant speed along a straight line (both the magnitude and the direction
are fixed).
In this case, instantaneous velocity = average velocity.

Example 5: [2015 DSE Paper 1A Q. 4]

0 5m
4m

3m

(Bonus: what is the average speed for the whole journey? Ans. B)

Example 6: [2022 DSE Paper 1A Q. 4] (Ans: C)

Example 7: [2020 DSE Paper 1A Q. 4] (Ans: A)

2
⑤
2
2

0
 Mechanics Ch. 1 / p. 9

Acceleration
Acceleration (加速度) measures how fast an object changes its velocity. In Physics, it does
not necessarily mean speeding up.

 Acceleration is defined as the rate of change of velocity, i.e.

change in velocity
acceleration 
time taken

Mathematically,
vu
a where v is the final velocity, u is the initial velocity, and t is the time taken.
t

 The SI unit of acceleration is metre per second squared (m s-2). It is a vector quantity.
If an object moves along a straight line with an acceleration of 5 m s-2, it means it
increases its speed by 5 m s-1 in every second. If a is larger, the object takes less time to
speed up to a certain speed. It also travels a longer distance in a given time.

 An object accelerates whenever its velocity changes. Since velocity is a vector, this
happens when
(1) its speed changes (speeds up or slows down), or
(2) its direction changes, or
(3) both.

 When a  0 , we have noaccelevetion.

This happens when:
* the object is in uniform motion, i.e. moves with constant speed along a straight line, or
* the object is staying at rest always (u = v = 0).

 Be careful: when v = 0, it does not imply that a = 0.

An object can have zero speed but non-zero acceleration.
e.g. a car accelerates from rest, throw a stone up until it reaches the highest point, …

Example 8:
A race car can accelerate from rest to 100 km h-1 in 3.9 s on a straight road. In S.I. units, find
the acceleration of the racer car.

230
a
= i 100 x 0 .

a
 Mechanics Ch. 1 / p. 10

Motion along a straight line

Assign forward direction as positive (+) and backward direction as (). We are going to
study the direction of acceleration of an object.

(1) Negative acceleration:

 If a is negative ( a  0 , i.e. points in backward direction), there are two meanings:
(a) An object is slowing down in the forward direction (向前減速), i.e. v  u . We say that
the object has a deceleration (減速度) or retardation.
(b) An object is speeding up in the backwards direction (向後加速).

Example 9:
A boy decelerates uniformly from 5 m s-1 to rest in 2.5 s along a straight line.
Find his (a) average acceleration, and (b) average deceleration.

= 5
0 -

a 5
2 .

( b 2 5m 52
2
(@ 2 5 ms
-

- .
.

In public exam, the term ‘deceleration’ is used to denote the slowing down of an object. It
equals to the magnitude of the negative acceleration. Deceleration is non-negative.

Example 10:
A car moving at 72 km h-1 slows down uniformly at 2 m s-2 for 4 s on a straight road. Find
the final velocity of the car.

a = ⼀上
v
时

。
2
= ⼀ V
=
64 km /h
4

Example 11:
A car is initially at rest. Then it moves backwards with a uniform acceleration until it reaches
a speed of 10 m s-1. The total time taken is 5 s. Find the average acceleration.

10 O
-
-

a
= —
5

a
= -
Ims
 Mechanics Ch. 1 / p. 11

(2) Positive acceleration:

 If a is positive ( a  0 , i.e. in the forward direction), there are two meanings:
(a) An object is speeding up in the forward direction (向前加速), i.e. v  u .
(b) An object is slowing down in the backward direction (向後減速).

Example 12:
A car is initially moving forward at a speed of 10 m s-1. It accelerates uniformly to a speed
of 20 m s-1. The total time taken is 5 s. Find the average acceleration of the car.

( 20
-
10 )
⑫
与
^

∴ns

Example 13:
A car is initially moving backward at a speed of 10 m s-1. It continues to move backwards
with a uniform acceleration until it slows down to a speed of 5 m s-1. The total time taken is
10 s. Find the average acceleration of the car.

≥
-
5-
C
- 10
a ⼀
2
_
≥
0 5 ms
.

Summary:
1. No matter the acceleration is positive or negative, the object can be speeding up or
slowing down, depending on its moving direction.
2. Positive a = speeding up (forward movement) or slowing down (backward movement)
Negative a = slowing down (forward movement) or speeding up (backward movement)
3. direction of a  direction of motion
 direction of a  speed up or slow down
4. When the direction of a and v are the same, the object must be accelerating .
Otherwise it must be deceleratiuny .
 Mechanics Ch. 1 / p. 12

Accelerated motion with a change in direction

Example 14:
Take forwards as positive. A car is moving with an initial velocity of + 8 m s-1 with a uniform
acceleration of  2 m s-2.

(a) Fill in the following table.

time t / s 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

velocity v / m s-1 +8 +6
⼗4 t2 O -
2 -

4 - 6
-

(b) With a diagram, describe the motion of the car from t = 0 to t = 8 s.

From t = 0 to t = 4 s, the car decelerates in the forward direction.

At t = 4 s, the car is at rest (v = 0).

From t = 4 s to t = 8 s, the car accelerates in the backward

direction.

(c) What is the acceleration of the car at (i) t = 0, (ii) t = 2 s, (iii) t = 4 s, and (iv) t = 6 s?

In all cases, acceleration = -

2ms (i.e. a = constant) .

Other similar motions:

 Projecting a ball upwards along an inclined plane.
 Throwing an object vertically upwards with a certain initial speed.
 Mechanics Ch. 1 / p. 13

Example 15: [2018 DSE Paper 1A Q. 7] (Ans: B)

茕
0

(Hint: X is slowing down while Y moves at constant speed.

At instant 3, which moves faster? How about at instant 6?
As they travel the same distance from instant 4 to instant 5, what is your conclusion?)

Example 16: [2018 DSE Paper 1A Q. 9] (Ans: A)

0 5 - 0. 5
0
- .

⼀
0. 2

Example 17: [2017 DSE Paper 1A Q. 5] (Ans: A)

Which of the following statements about the motion of any two objects is correct?
0
A. The object that takes a shorter time to complete the same path must have greater average
speed.
B. The object that travels a greater distance in 1 s must have greater average velocity.
C. The object with greater velocity must have greater acceleration.
D. If the two objects have the same acceleration, they must be moving in the same direction.
 Mechanics Ch. 1 / p. 14

Example 18: [2016 DSE Paper 1A Q. 5] (Ans: D)

票 60

2孔

(Hint: eliminate all wrong answers!)

Optional: More about change in velocity (vector subtraction)

We know that acceleration is a vector quantity. As acceleration is defined as the rate of
change of velocity, to be exact, we have

change in velocity v v  u
a  
time taken t t

To find the change in velocity (  v ), we have to subtract two vectors v and u .

Instead of subtracting two vectors, we find vector  u first. Then, we add two vectors v
and  u together by tip-to-tail method.

 v  v  u  v  ( u )

Refer to example 18.

Initial velocity u  80 km h -1 (due east),
final velocity v  60 km h -1 (due north).
Step 1: Reverse the initial velocity and we have  u  80 km h -1 (due west).

Step 2: Apply tip-to-tail method to add v and  u . The resultant vector gives the change

in velocity  v . Its magnitude and direction can be found accordingly.