Physics 61

JPOB
• It was not until the 16th and 17th centuries that our
modern understanding of motion was established.

• Mechanics is the study of the motion of objects and

related concepts of force and energy
1. Kinematics is the description of how objects
move
2. Dynamics deals with force and why objects move
as they do.
• Translational motion
involves a straight line path
without rotating

• We will often use an idealized

particle (mathematical point)
with no spatial extent (no size)
 • A scalar quantity can be described by a single number.
• A vector quantity has both a magnitude and a direction
in space

• A vector quantity can be represented in boldface italic

type with an arrow over it: A.
• The magnitude of A is written as A or |A|.
University Physics, 13th Edition by Young and Freedman: Lecture by Wayne Anderson
 • Two vectors may be added graphically
using either the parallelogram method
or the head-to-tail method.

University Physics, 13th Edition by Young and Freedman: Lecture by Wayne Anderson
 • Adding vectors graphically provides limited accuracy. Vector components
provide a general method for adding vectors.
• Any vector can be represented by an x-component Ax and a y-component
Ay.
• Use trigonometry to find the components of a vector: Ax = Acos θ and Ay =
Asin θ, where θ is measured from the +x-axis toward the +y-axis.

University Physics, 13th Edition by Young and Freedman: Lecture by Wayne Anderson
University Physics, 13th Edition by Young and Freedman: Lecture by Wayne Anderson
 • We can use the components of a vector to find its
magnitude and direction:
Ay
A= Ax2 + Ay2 and tan =
Ax
• We can use the components of a set of vectors to find the
components of their sum:
Rx = Ax + Bx + Cx + , Ry = Ay + By + Cy +

University Physics, 13th Edition by Young and Freedman: Lecture by Wayne Anderson
 Ay
A= Ax2 + Ay2 and tan =
Ax

Rx = Ax + Bx + Cx + , Ry = Ay + By + Cy +

University Physics, 13th Edition by Young and Freedman: Lecture by Wayne Anderson
Using rectangular components,
solve the resultant vector of the
following two displacements:

2.0m at 40o and

4.0m at 127o 𝑅𝑥 = 1.53𝑚 − 2.41𝑚 = −0.88𝑚
𝑅𝑦 = 1.29𝑚 + 3.19𝑚 = 4.48𝑚
4.48𝑚
𝑅= (0.88𝑚)2 +(4.48𝑚)2 = 4.6𝑚 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜑 =
0.88𝑚
• Any measurement of position, distance, or speed ust be
made with respect to a reference frame or frame of
reference.
• A person walks towards the front of a train at 5km/h. The
rain is moving 80km/h with respect to the ground, so the
walking person’s speed, relative to the ground, is 85km/h.
• To represent a frame of reference, we use a set of coordinate
axes.
• Objects positioned to the right (along x axis) and above
(along the y axis) of the origin of coordinates are usually
considered positive.
• Displacement refers to the change in position of the object.
This is a quantity that has both magnitude and direction.
• Distance is a scalar quantity (magnitude only)
• Displacement may not be equal to the total distance
travelled.

A person walks 70m east, then

30m west.

The total distance travelled is ____.

The displacement is ____.
• Suppose that at some initial time (t1), the object is on the x
axis at the position x1. At some later time, t2, suppose the
object has moved to position x2.
• The displacement of our object is x2-x1.

∆𝑥 = 𝑥2 − 𝑥1

• The ∆x means “the change in x” or “change in position”

An ant starts at x=20cm on a piece of graph paper and walks
along the x axis to x=-20cm. It then turns around and walks
back to x=-10cm. Determine (a) the ant’s displacement and
(b) the total distance travelled.
• “Speed” refers to how far an object travels in a given time interval,
regardless of direction.
• Average Speed of an object is defined as the total distance
travelled along its path divided by the time it takes to travel this
distance.
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑑
𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑠𝑒𝑑
• Velocity is used to signify both the magnitude of how fast an
object is moving and also the direction in which it is moving.
• Velocity is a vector quantity.
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑠𝑒𝑑
• NOTE: Average speed is not necessarily equal to the magnitude of
the average velocity.

𝑥2 − 𝑥1
𝑣ҧ = (Average Velocity)
𝑡2 − 𝑡1
A runner makes one lap around a 200-m track in a time of 25s.
What were the runner’s (a) average speed and (b) average
velocity?
A runner makes one lap around a 200-m track in a time of 25s.
What were the runner’s (a) average speed and (b) average
velocity?
200𝑚
(a) From the definition: 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = = 8.0𝑚/𝑠
25𝑠

(b)Because the run ended at the starting pt, the displacement

vector from the starting point to end point has zero length.
0
𝑣ҧ = = 0𝑚/𝑠
25𝑠 − 0
• If you drive a car along a straight road for 150km in 2.0h, the
magnitude of your average velocity is 75km/h. It is unlikely
that you were moving at precisely 75km/h at every instant.

• Instantaneous velocity is
defined as the average velocity
over an infinitesimally short time
interval.
∆𝑥
𝑣 = lim
∆𝑡→0 ∆𝑡
• Note that instantaneous speed is always equal to the
magnitude of the instantaneous velocity.
• Reason: The distance travelled and the magnitude of the
displacement become the same when they become
infinitesimally small.
What is your instantaneous speed at the instant you turn
around to move in the opposite direction? (a) depends on how
quickly you turn around; (b) always zero; (c) always negative;
(d) none of the above
• Acceleration specifies how rapidly the velocity of an object
is changing.
• Average acceleration is defined as the change in velocity
divided by the time to make this change.
𝑣2 − 𝑣1 ∆𝑣
𝑎ത = =
𝑡2 − 𝑡1 ∆𝑡
• Instantaneous acceleration is the average acceleration
over an infinitesimally short time interval at a given instant.
∆𝑣
𝑎 = lim
∆𝑡→0 ∆𝑡
Conceptual Question:

(a)If the velocity of an object is zero, does it mean that the

acceleration is zero?

(b)If the acceleration is zero, does it mean that the velocity is

zero? Think of some examples.
Conceptual Question:

A car moves along the x axis. What is the sign of the car’s
acceleration if it is moving in the positive x direction with (a)
increasing speed or (b) decreasing speed? What is the sign of
the acceleration if the car moves in the negative x direction
with (c) increasing speed or (d) decreasing speed?
• We use the definitions of average velocity and acceleration
to derive a set of valuable equations that relate x, v, a, and t
when a is constant.
• We choose the initial time in any discussion to be zero:
t1=t0=0 and let t2=t
∆𝑥 𝑥 − 𝑥𝑜 𝑥 − 𝑥𝑜 𝑣 − 𝑣𝑜
𝑣ҧ =
∆𝑡
=
𝑡 − 𝑡𝑜
=
𝑡
𝑎=
𝑡

𝑥 = 𝑥𝑜 + 𝑣𝑡ҧ 𝑣 = 𝑣𝑜 + 𝑎𝑡
• Because the velocity increases at a uniform rate, the average
velocity between the initial and final velocities:
𝑣𝑜 + 𝑣
𝑣ҧ = (𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑂𝑁𝐿𝑌)
2
• Thus,

1 2
𝑥 = 𝑥𝑜 + 𝑣𝑜 𝑡 + 𝑎𝑡
2
• Using the definition of acceleration:
𝑣 − 𝑣𝑜
𝑡= (𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑂𝑁𝐿𝑌)
𝑎
• Thus,

𝑣 2 = 𝑣𝑜2 + 2𝑎(𝑥 − 𝑥𝑜 )
Runaway design

You are designing an airport for small planes. One kind of

airplane that might use this airfield must reach a speed before
takeoff of at least 27.8m/s, and can accelerate of 1.00m/s2.

(a)If the runway is 150m long, can this airplane reach the
required speed for takeoff?
(b)If not, what minimum length must the runway have?
• One of the most common examples of uniformly
accelerated motion is that of an object allowed
to fall freely near the Earth’s surface.
• The speed of a falling object is not proportional
to its mass.
• All objects would fall with the same constant
acceleration in the absence of air or other
resistance.
• This acceleration is called the acceleration due to gravity at
the surface of the Earth

g=9.80m/s2 (acceleration due to gravity at surface of Earth)

Falling from a tower

Suppose that a ball is dropped (vo=0) from a

tower. How far will it have fallen after a time
t1=1.00s, t2=2.00s, and t3=3.00s? Ignore air
resistance.
Falling from a tower

1 2
𝑦1 = 𝑣𝑜 𝑡1 + 𝑎𝑡1
2
𝑦1 = 4.90𝑚
𝑦2 = 19.6𝑚
𝑦3 = 44.1𝑚
Velocity as Slope

The small (shaded) triangle on the graph indicates the slope

of the straight line:
∆𝑥
𝑆𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒 =
∆𝑡
Slope and Acceleration

• We can also draw a graph of v vs t. Then, the average

acceleration over time interval (∆t) is represented by a
slope.

• Instantaneous acceleration at any time is the slope of the

tangent to the v vs t curve at that time.
Slope and Acceleration
Physics 7th edition by Douglas C. Giancoli

University Physics, 13th Edition by Young and Freedman: Lecture by Wayne

Anderson