Chapter 2

Motion Along a Straight Line

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
One-dimensional
kinematics

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average Velocity

 Kinematics is the classification and comparison of

motions.
 For this chapter, we restrict motion in three ways:
1. We consider motion along a straight line only.
2. We discuss only the motion itself, not the forces that cause it.
3. We consider the moving object to be a particle.
 A particle is either:
 A point-like object (such as an electron)
 Or an object that moves such that each part travels in the
same direction at the same rate (no rotation or stretching)

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average Velocity

 Position is measured relative to a reference point:

o The origin, or zero point, of an axis
 Position has a sign:
o Positive direction is in the direction of increasing numbers.
o Negative direction is opposite the positive.

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average Velocity

 A change in position is called displacement

o ∆x is the change in x; (final position) – (initial position)

Examples A particle moves . . .

o From x = 5 m to x = 12 m: ∆x = 7 m (positive direction)
o From x = 5 m to x = 1 m: ∆x = ‒ 4 m (negative direction)
o From x = 5 m to x = 200 m to x = 5 m: ∆x = 0 m

 The actual distance covered is irrelevant!

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average Velocity

 Displacement is a vector quantity

o Direction: along a single axis, given by sign (+ or −)
o Magnitude: length or distance, in this case meters or feet
 Ignoring sign, we get its magnitude (absolute value)
o The magnitude of ∆x = -4 m is 4 m

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average Velocity

 Average velocity is the ratio of:

o A displacement, ∆x
o To the time interval in which the displacement occurred, ∆t

 Average velocity has units of (distance) / (time)

o Meters per second, m/s

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average Velocity

 On a graph of x vs t, the average velocity is the slope of the

straight line that connects two points
 Average velocity is therefore a vector quantity
o Positive slope means positive average velocity
o Negative slope means negative average velocity

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average Velocity

 Average speed is the ratio of:

o The total distance covered
o To the time interval in which the distance was covered, ∆t

 Average speed is always positive (no direction)

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-2 Instantaneous Velocity and Speed

 Instantaneous velocity, or just velocity, v, is:

o At a single moment in time
o Obtained from average velocity by shrinking ∆t
o The slope of the position-time curve for a particle at an
instant (the time derivative of position)
o A vector quantity with units (distance) / (time)
o The sign of the velocity represents its direction

 Speed is the magnitude of (instantaneous) velocity

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-2 Instantaneous Velocity and Speed

 The graph shows the

Example position and velocity of an
elevator cab over time
 The slope of x(t), and so
also the velocity v, is zero
from 0 to 1 s, and from 9s
on
 During the interval bc, the
slope is constant and
nonzero, so the cab moves
with constant velocity (4
m/s)

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-3 Acceleration

 A change in a particle's velocity is acceleration

 Average acceleration over a time interval ∆t is

 Instantaneous acceleration (or just acceleration), a,

for a single moment in time is:
o Slope of velocity vs time graph

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-3 Acceleration

 Combining the equation for v:

 Acceleration is a vector quantity:

o Positive sign means in the positive coordinate direction
o Negative sign means the opposite
o Units of (distance) / (time squared)

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-3 Acceleration

 The graph shows the velocity

Example and acceleration of an elevator
cab over time
 When acceleration is 0 (e.g.
interval bc) velocity is constant
 When acceleration is positive
(ab) upward velocity increases
 When acceleration is negative
(cd) upward velocity decreases
 Steeper slope of the velocity-
time graph indicates a larger
magnitude of acceleration: the
cab stops in half the time it
takes to get up to speed

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-4 Constant Acceleration

 In many cases
acceleration is constant,
or nearly so
 For these cases, 5
special equations can
be used
 Note that constant
acceleration means a
velocity with a constant
slope, and a position
with varying slope
(unless a = 0)

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-4 Constant Acceleration

 First basic equation

o When the acceleration is constant, the average and
instantaneous accelerations are equal
o Rewrite the equation for aavg and rearrange

 This equation reduces to v = v0 for t = 0

 Its derivative yields the definition of a, dv/dt

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-4 Constant Acceleration

 Second basic equation

o Rewrite the equation for vavg and rearrange

o Average = ((initial) + (final)) / 2:

o Substitute into

o Substitute into

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-4 Constant Acceleration

 These two equations can be obtained by integrating a

constant acceleration
 Enough to solve any constant acceleration problem
o Solve as simultaneous equations
 Additional useful forms:

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-4 Constant Acceleration

 Table shows the 5 equations and the quantities missing

from them

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-5 Free-Fall Acceleration

 Free-fall acceleration is the rate at which an object

accelerates downward in the absence of air
resistance
o Varies with latitude and elevation
o Written as g, standard value of 9.8 m/s2
o Independent of the properties of the object (mass,
density, shape, etc.)

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-5 Free-Fall Acceleration

 The equations of motion in Table 2-1 apply to objects

in free-fall near Earth's surface
o In vertical flight (along the y axis)
o Where air resistance can be neglected
 The free-fall acceleration is downward (-y direction)
o Value -g in the constant acceleration equations

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-6 Graphical Integration in Motion Analysis

 Integrating acceleration:
o Given a graph of an object's acceleration a versus time t,
we can integrate to find velocity
 The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus gives:

 The definite integral on the right can be evaluated

from a graph:

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-6 Graphical Integration in Motion Analysis

 Integrating velocity:
o Given a graph of an object's velocity v versus time t, we
can integrate to find position
 The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus gives:

 The definite integral on the right can be evaluated

from a graph:

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2-6 Graphical Integration in Motion Analysis

Example  The graph shows the

acceleration of a person's
head and torso in a whiplash
incident
 To calculate the torso speed
at t = 0.110 s (assuming an
initial speed of 0), find the
area under the pink curve:
- area A = 0

- area B = 0.5 (0.060 s) (50 m/s2) = 1.5 m/s

- area C = (0.010 s) (50 m/s2) = 0.50 m/s
- total area = 2.0 m/s

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2 Summary

Position Displacement
 Relative to origin  Change in position (vector)
 Positive and negative Eq. (2-1)
directions

Average Velocity Average Speed

 Displacement / time (vector)  Distance traveled / time

Eq. (2-2) Eq. (2-3)

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

2 Summary

Instantaneous Velocity Average Acceleration

 At a moment in time  Ratio of change in velocity to
change in time
 Speed is its magnitude

Eq. (2-4) Eq. (2-7)

Instantaneous Acceleration Constant Acceleration

 First derivative of velocity  Includes free-fall, where
a = -g along the vertical axis
 Second derivative of position

Eq. (2-8) Tab. (2-1)

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.