KINEMATICS I

Balogun R.O
 OUTLINES
 Motion in one dimension
Displacement, Speed/Velocity and Acceleration
 Motion with Constant Acceleration in a Straight Line
 Freely Falling Bodies
 Motion in Two or Three Dimensions
 Projectile Motion
 Horizontal Projectile Motion
 Distance-Time Graph
 Velocity-Time Graph
 Relative Motion
 Self-Assessment Questions

2
• The general study of the relationships between motion,
forces, and energy is called mechanics. It can be divided
into the subdisciplines of kinematics, statics, and,
dynamics.
• Motion is a change in position of an object over time.
• The study of motion without regard to the forces or
energies that may be involved is called kinematics.
• The branch of mechanics that deals with both motion and
forces together is called dynamics and
• the study of forces in the absence of changes in
motion or energy is called statics.
 Types of motion in physics
Everything in the universe is in motion.
However, different objects move differently.
Some objects move along a straight line, some
move in a curved path, and some move in
some other way.
There are five types of motion. Which are:

 Translational or linear motion

 Random motion
 oscillatory or vibratory motion
 Rotational motion
 Circular motion
Translational or linear motion: It is the movement of an object in
a straight line. E.g. (1) A moving car.
(2) A person pushing trolley in a supermarket from one point to
another along a straight line.
(3) A boy going to school.
• Random motion: it is the movement of an object with no specific
direction or it is a zig-zag motion.
E.g.
(1) The movement of an insect.
(2) the movement of gas molecules.
(3) the movement of woman in the market.
Oscillatory or Vibratory motion: it is the movement of a body
about a fixed point repeating itself in an equal interval of time along
the same path. E.g.
(1) The to and fro movement of a swinging pendulum bob.
(2) The to and fro movement of the wings of a flying bird.
(3) The motion of a plucked guitar spring or violin.

Rotational motion (rotate): it is the movement of an object or body

that moves in a circle or ellipse and rotates about an axis. E.g.
1. The rotation of a fan blades about a fixed point.
2. The motion of wheel about its axis.
Circular motion (circle): it is the movement of a body or an object
in a circle at a constant speed. E.g.

1. Motion of electron around the nucleus •

The difference between rotation and circular motion is :

• In circular motion the distance between the body’s centre mass

and axis of rotation is fixed.
• In rotational motion distance between the body’s centre mass and
axis of rotation is not fixed. So it changes.
 Dimensions of Motion
• One dimension
• Two dimensions
• Three dimensions
One dimension: it refers to the motion of a
body (object, particle) in a straight line along
the x, y or z axis.
Two dimensions: it refers to the motion of
a body (object, particle) in the x , y plane

Three dimensions: it refers to the motion of

a body (object, particle) in the x, y and z
plane
 Reference Frames
Any measurement of position, distance, or speed must be made with
respect to a reference frame.
A reference frame is a region in space where observations and
physical quantities are measured

For example, if you are sitting

on a train and someone walks
down the isle, their speed with
respect to the train is a few miles
per hour, at most. Their speed
with respect to the ground is
much higher.
 Distance and Displacement
Distance is how far an object travel from its initial position. It is the
length of the path travelled by a body.
It is a scalar quantity. Measured in meters (m)
Displacement is how far the object is from its
starting point, regardless of how it got there.
It is change in position. i.e. change in final
position and initial position.

It is the distance travelled in a specified

direction. • It is a vector quantity. Measured
in meters (m)
 Distance and Displacement

Characteristics of Distance:
• It is the length of the path followed by the object in
certain time.
• The path followed may or may not be along a straight
line.
• It is a scalar quantity.
• It depends on the path followed by the object.
• It is always positive.
• It can be more than or equal to displacement.
• It may not be zero even if the displacement is zero
Distance and Displacement
Characteristics of Displacement:
 It is the difference between the final position and the
initial position of the body.
 It is always along a straight line.
 It is a vector quantity whose direction is from initial
position to final position.
 It is independent of the path followed by the object.
 It may be positive, negative or zero. • It may be equal
but cannot be more than the distance travelled.
 It is zero when the distance travelled is zero.
 Displacement
One general way of locating a particle (or particle-like object) is with a
position vector r, which is a vector that extends from a reference
point (usually the origin) to the particle. In the unit-vector notation
 
r1  x1ˆi  y1ˆj  z1kˆ r2  x2ˆi  y2ˆj  z2 kˆ

If a particle change it position from one

point r1 to another r2. the displacement ∆r
is given by 
r  r2  r1.
t1
t2


r   x2  x1  ˆi   y2  y1  ˆj   z2  z1  kˆ  xˆi  yˆj  zkˆ
 Speed and Velocity
Speed:
The rate of change of distance with time is called the speed of the
body Mathematically,
It is a scalar quantity and
measured in m/s

Uniform Speed
A body is said to move with uniform speed if it covers equal distances in
equal intervals of time throughout its motion.

Non-Uniform or Variable Speed

A body is said to move at a non-uniform speed if it covers unequal
distances in the same intervals of time.
 Speed and Velocity
• There are two ways to measure the Instantaneous Speed: When
speed of an object the speed of a body changes
1. average speed continuously with time, its
2. instantaneous speed speed at any instant is known
as instantaneous speed. (limit
Average Speed: The ratio of the total of average speed at time
distance travelled by the body to the interval tends to zero)
total time of the journey is called
average speed.

When a body is moving with uniform speed,

then the instantaneous speed and average
speed are equal.
 Average Velocity
Velocity: The rate of change of displacement of a body
with respect to time is called the velocity of the body.
•
Mathematically,
• It is a vector quantity, its S.I. unit is m/s
Uniform Velocity:
When the magnitude and direction of the velocity of a body remain
the same at any instant, then the body is said to have uniform
velocity. For uniform velocity acceleration a = 0.

Non-Uniform Velocity: When the magnitude of velocity or the

direction of velocity or both changes at any instant the body is said to
have non-uniform velocity or variable velocity. When a body has
variable velocity, then it has acceleration. (graph rep.)
 Average Velocity
There are two ways to measure the velocity of an object
1. average velocity 2. instantaneous velocity
Average Velocity: If the velocity of a body moving in particular
direction changes with time, then the ratio of displacement to total
time is called average velocity.

Instantaneous Velocity: For body moving

with nonuniform velocity, the velocity of the
body at an instant is called instantaneous
velocity.
 Average Velocity
There is a second difference between speed and velocity: namely, the
average velocity is defined in terms of displacement, rather than total
distance traveled:
 Speed and Velocity

Acceleration
The rate of change of velocity with respect to time is called
acceleration.

It is vector quantity its S.I. unit is m/s2

 Acceleration
Uniform Acceleration: When equal changes take place in
velocity of a body in equal interval of time, then the
acceleration is called uniform acceleration. e.g. the motion
under gravity.
Non-uniform or Variable Acceleration: When The change
in the velocity of a body in equal interval of time is not
constant, then the acceleration is called non-uniform
acceleration.
Average Acceleration: Average acceleration is defined as
the ratio of change in velocity to the change in time for a
given interval
 Acceleration
where, aav is the average velocity, vi is the initial velocity, vf
is the final velocity, ti is the initial time and tf is the final
time.
Also, if the object shows different velocities, such as for different
time intervals such as respectively, the average acceleration is
calculated using the following formula
𝒂𝒗 = , 𝒗 𝟏+ 𝒗 𝟐 +𝒗 𝟑 … … . + 𝒗 𝒏
𝒕 𝟏 +𝒕 𝟐 +𝒕 𝟑 … … . +𝒕 𝒏

Instantaneous Acceleration:
The instantaneous acceleration is the average acceleration in the
limit as the time interval becomes infinitesimally short.

dvx ˆ dv y ˆ dvz ˆ

a  lim
v dv d
 
t dt dt
ˆ  ˆ ˆ
vx i  v y j  vz k  
dt
i
dt
j
dt
k  a xˆi  a yˆj  a z kˆ

t  0
 Acceleration
Note: Unlike velocity, the acceleration vector does not have any
specific relationship with the path.

The three acceleration components

are given by the equations

dvx dv y dvz
ax  ay  az 
dt
dt dt

 dv
a
dt
 TUTORIAL
A car travels in the direction (x) as a function of time (t) as follows:
𝟐
𝒙 = 𝟐𝟓 + 𝟓. 𝟎 𝒕 ,𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑥 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠
(a) Find the displacement of the car between t1= 2.0s and t2= 4.0s
(b) Find the average velocity during the same interval
(c) Find the instantaneous velocity at time t=5.0s
The position of a projectile travelling in a 2-D space is given by
𝟑 𝟐 𝟐
𝒙 𝒕 = 𝟐𝒕 + 𝟒𝒕 + 𝟑𝒕 + 𝟒 𝒎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝒚 𝒕 = 𝟑𝒕 − 𝟔𝒕 + 𝟑ሿ𝒎.
ሺ ሻ ሺ ሻ ሺ ሻ ሾ
Calculate the magnitude of the projectile’s displacement and the average velocity
between time interval t= 2s and t=4s
 TUTORIAL

• A rabbit runs across a parking lot on which a set of

coordinate axes has been drawn. The coordinates (meters) of
the rabbit’s position as functions of time t (seconds) are given
by

(a)At t = 15 s, what is the rabbit’s position vector in unit vector

notation and in magnitude-angle notation?

(b)find the velocity at time t =15 s.

(c)find the acceleration at time t =15 s.

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 SOLUTION

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Tutoria
l
•For the rabbit in the preceding sample problem, find the
velocity at time t =15 s.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Tutoria
l
• For the rabbit in the preceding two sample problems,
find the acceleration at time t =15 s.

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 Motion at Constant
Acceleration
The average velocity of an object during a time
interval t is

The acceleration, assumed constant, is

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 Motion at Constant
Acceleration
In addition, as the velocity is increasing at a constant
rate, we know that
(2-8)

Combining these last three equations, we find:

(2-9)
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 Motion at Constant
Acceleration
We can also combine these equations so as to
eliminate t:
(2-10)

We now have all the equations we need to solve

constant-acceleration problems.

(2-11a) (2-11c)

(2-11b) (2-11d)

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Motion at Constant Acceleration
Freely Falling Objects
Near the surface of the
Earth, all objects
experience
approximately the
same acceleration due
to gravity

This is one of the most

common examples of
motion with constant
acceleration.
 FREE FALL
 fall: when something falls straight down from a top and
when something is thrown up and it comes straight down.
 in both cases there is no motion in the x-direction, it is only
in the y-direction.
 in free fall there is no air resistance and the a= g= -9.8 m/s
 When something is dropped from a height vi = 0 m/s
 when something is thrown up vf = 0 m/s (at the top)
 the velocity at which an object is thrown upward is +v m/s
 the velocity at which an object thrown up comes back is -v
m/s.
 the time it takes for an object thrown to the top = the time
taken for the object to return to the position where it was
 Freely Falling Objects
In the absence of
air resistance, all
objects fall with
the same
acceleration,
although this may
be hard to tell by
testing in an
environment
where there is air
resistance.
 Kinematics for the
VERTICAL Direction
All 3 kinematics can be used to analyze one dimensional
motion in either the X direction OR the y direction
 The Acceleration due to gravity

The acceleration due to gravity is a special constant that exists in a

VACUUM, meaning without air resistance. If an object is in FREE
FALL, gravity will CHANGE an objects velocity by 9.8 m/s every
second

The acceleration due to gravity:

•ALWAYS ACTS DOWNWARD
•IS ALWAYS CONSTANT near the
surface of Earth
 WORKED EXAMPLES

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 Examples
A stone is dropped at rest from the top of a cliff. It is observed to
hit the ground 5.78 s later. How high is the cliff?
Which variable is NOT given
and NOT asked for?
What do I What do I Final Velocity!
know? want?

v = 0 m/s y=?
oy
y  yo  v t 2 1
g = -9.8 m/s2 oy
y  (0)(5.78)
gt 2 
yo=0 m 4.9(5.78) 2
y  -163.7 m
t = 5.78 s
H =163.7m
 Examples
A pitcher throws a fastball with a velocity of 43.5 m/s. It is determined
that during the windup and delivery the ball covers a displacement
of 2.5 meters. This is from the point behind the body when the ball
is at rest to the point of release. Calculate the acceleration during
his throwing motion. Which variable is NOT given and
NOT asked for?
TIME

What do I What do I
know? want?
vo= 0 m/s a=?
v 2
 v  2a(x  x
2

)
x = 2.5 m o o

v = 43.5 m/s 43.52  0 2  2a(2.5  0)

a 378.5 m/s/s
 Examples
How long does it take a car at rest to cross a 35.0 m intersection after
the light turns green, if the acceleration of the car is a constant
2.00 m/s/s?

Which variable is NOT given and

NOT asked for?
Final Velocity
What do I What do I
know? want? x  xo  vo xt  1 at 2
2
vo= 0 m/s t=?
x = 35 m 35  0  (0)  1 2 (2)t
2
a = 2.00 m/s/s
t 5.92 s
 Examples
A car accelerates from 12.5 m/s to 25 m/s in 6.0 seconds.
What was the acceleration?
What do I What do I Which variable is NOT given and
know? want? NOT asked for?
vo= 12.5 m/s a=? DISPLACEMENT

v  vo 
v = 25 m/s
t = 6s
at 12.5 
25
a(6)
a  2.08 m/s/s
 WORKED EXAMPLES

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
 WORKED EXAMPLES

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.