CHAPTER 3

Motion Along a Straight Line

FIGURE 3.1 A JR Central L0 series five-car maglev (magnetic levitation) train undergoing a test run on the Yamanashi Test Track. The
maglev train’s motion can be described using kinematics, the subject of this chapter. (credit: modification of work by “Maryland
GovPics”/Flickr)

CHAPTER OUTLINE
3.1 Position, Displacement, and Average Velocity
3.2 Instantaneous Velocity and Speed
3.3 Average and Instantaneous Acceleration
3.4 Motion with Constant Acceleration
3.5 Free Fall
3.6 Finding Velocity and Displacement from Acceleration

INTRODUCTION Our universe is full of objects in motion. From the stars, planets, and galaxies; to the motion of
people and animals; down to the microscopic scale of atoms and molecules—everything in our universe is in motion.
We can describe motion using the two disciplines of kinematics and dynamics. We study dynamics, which is
concerned with the causes of motion, in Newton’s Laws of Motion; but, there is much to be learned about motion
without referring to what causes it, and this is the study of kinematics. Kinematics involves describing motion
through properties such as position, time, velocity, and acceleration.

A full treatment of kinematics considers motion in two and three dimensions. For now, we discuss motion in one
dimension, which provides us with the tools necessary to study multidimensional motion. A good example of an
object undergoing one-dimensional motion is the maglev (magnetic levitation) train depicted at the beginning of this
chapter. As it travels, say, from Tokyo to Kyoto, it is at different positions along the track at various times in its
journey, and therefore has displacements, or changes in position. It also has a variety of velocities along its path and
it undergoes accelerations (changes in velocity). With the skills learned in this chapter we can calculate these
quantities and average velocity. All these quantities can be described using kinematics, without knowing the train’s
mass or the forces involved.
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3.1 Position, Displacement, and Average Velocity

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
• Define position, displacement, and distance traveled.
• Calculate the total displacement given the position as a function of time.
• Determine the total distance traveled.
• Calculate the average velocity given the displacement and elapsed time.

When you’re in motion, the basic questions to ask are: Where are you? Where are you going? How fast are you
getting there? The answers to these questions require that you specify your position, your displacement, and your
average velocity—the terms we define in this section.

Position
To describe the motion of an object, you must first be able to describe its position (x): where it is at any particular
time. More precisely, we need to specify its position relative to a convenient frame of reference. A frame of reference
is an arbitrary set of axes from which the position and motion of an object are described. Earth is often used as a
frame of reference, and we often describe the position of an object as it relates to stationary objects on Earth. For
example, a rocket launch could be described in terms of the position of the rocket with respect to Earth as a whole,
whereas a cyclist’s position could be described in terms of where she is in relation to the buildings she passes
Figure 3.2. In other cases, we use reference frames that are not stationary but are in motion relative to Earth. To
describe the position of a person in an airplane, for example, we use the airplane, not Earth, as the reference frame.
To describe the position of an object undergoing one-dimensional motion, we often use the variable x. Later in the
chapter, during the discussion of free fall, we use the variable y.

FIGURE 3.2 These cyclists in Vietnam can be described by their position relative to buildings or a canal. Their motion can be described by
their change in position, or displacement, in a frame of reference. (credit: modification of work by Suzan Black)

Displacement
If an object moves relative to a frame of reference—for example, if a professor moves to the right relative to a
whiteboard Figure 3.3—then the object’s position changes. This change in position is called displacement. The word
displacement implies that an object has moved, or has been displaced. Although position is the numerical value of x
along a straight line where an object might be located, displacement gives the change in position along this line.
Since displacement indicates direction, it is a vector and can be either positive or negative, depending on the choice
of positive direction. Also, an analysis of motion can have many displacements embedded in it. If right is positive
and an object moves 2 m to the right, then 4 m to the left, the individual displacements are 2 m and m,
respectively.

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 3.1 • Position, Displacement, and Average Velocity 97

FIGURE 3.3 A professor paces left and right while lecturing. Her position relative to Earth is given by x. The +2.0-m displacement of the
professor relative to Earth is represented by an arrow pointing to the right.

DISPLACEMENT
Displacement is the change in position of an object:
3.1

where is displacement, is the final position, and is the initial position.

We use the uppercase Greek letter delta (Δ) to mean “change in” whatever quantity follows it; thus, means
change in position (final position less initial position). We always solve for displacement by subtracting initial
position from final position . Note that the SI unit for displacement is the meter, but sometimes we use
kilometers or other units of length. Keep in mind that when units other than meters are used in a problem, you may
need to convert them to meters to complete the calculation (see Appendix B).

Objects in motion can also have a series of displacements. In the previous example of the pacing professor, the
individual displacements are 2 m and m, giving a total displacement of −2 m. We define total displacement
, as the sum of the individual displacements, and express this mathematically with the equation

3.2

where are the individual displacements. In the earlier example,

Similarly,

Thus,

The total displacement is 2 − 4 = −2 m along the x-axis. It is also useful to calculate the magnitude of the
displacement, or its size. The magnitude of the displacement is always positive. This is the absolute value of the
98 3 • Motion Along a Straight Line

displacement, because displacement is a vector and cannot have a negative value of magnitude. In our example, the
magnitude of the total displacement is 2 m, whereas the magnitudes of the individual displacements are 2 m and 4
m.

The magnitude of the total displacement should not be confused with the distance traveled. Distance traveled
, is the total length of the path traveled between two positions. In the previous problem, the distance
traveled is the sum of the magnitudes of the individual displacements:

Average Velocity
To calculate the other physical quantities in kinematics we must introduce the time variable. The time variable
allows us not only to state where the object is (its position) during its motion, but also how fast it is moving. How fast
an object is moving is given by the rate at which the position changes with time.

For each position , we assign a particular time . If the details of the motion at each instant are not important, the
rate is usually expressed as the average velocity . This vector quantity is simply the total displacement between
two points divided by the time taken to travel between them. The time taken to travel between two points is called
the elapsed time .

AVERAGE VELOCITY
If and are the positions of an object at times and , respectively, then

3.3

It is important to note that the average velocity is a vector and can be negative, depending on positions and .

EXAMPLE 3.1

Delivering Flyers
Jill sets out from her home to deliver flyers for her yard sale, traveling due east along her street lined with houses. At
km and 9 minutes later she runs out of flyers and has to retrace her steps back to her house to get more. This
takes an additional 9 minutes. After picking up more flyers, she sets out again on the same path, continuing where
she left off, and ends up 1.0 km from her house. This third leg of her trip takes minutes. At this point she turns
back toward her house, heading west. After km and minutes she stops to rest.

a. What is Jill’s total displacement to the point where she stops to rest?
b. What is the magnitude of the final displacement?
c. What is the average velocity during her entire trip?
d. What is the total distance traveled?
e. Make a graph of position versus time.

A sketch of Jill’s movements is shown in Figure 3.4.

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 3.1 • Position, Displacement, and Average Velocity 99

FIGURE 3.4 Timeline of Jill’s movements.

Strategy
The problem contains data on the various legs of Jill’s trip, so it would be useful to make a table of the physical
quantities. We are given position and time in the wording of the problem so we can calculate the displacements and
the elapsed time. We take east to be the positive direction. From this information we can find the total displacement
and average velocity. Jill’s home is the starting point . The following table gives Jill’s time and position in the first
two columns, and the displacements are calculated in the third column.

Time ti (min) Position (km) Displacement (km)

Solution

a. From the above table, the total displacement is

b. The magnitude of the total displacement is .

c.
d. The total distance traveled (sum of magnitudes of individual displacements) is
.
e. We can graph Jill’s position versus time as a useful aid to see the motion; the graph is shown in Figure 3.5.
100 3 • Motion Along a Straight Line

FIGURE 3.5 This graph depicts Jill’s position versus time. The average velocity is the slope of a line connecting the initial and final
points.

Significance
Jill’s total displacement is −0.75 km, which means at the end of her trip she ends up due west of her home.
The average velocity means if someone was to walk due west at km/min starting at the same time Jill left her
home, they both would arrive at the final stopping point at the same time. Note that if Jill were to end her trip at her
house, her total displacement would be zero, as well as her average velocity. The total distance traveled during the
58 minutes of elapsed time for her trip is 3.75 km.

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING 3.1

A cyclist rides 3 km west and then turns around and rides 2 km east. (a) What is their displacement? (b) What is the
distance traveled? (c) What is the magnitude of their displacement?

3.2 Instantaneous Velocity and Speed

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
• Explain the difference between average velocity and instantaneous velocity.
• Describe the difference between velocity and speed.
• Calculate the instantaneous velocity given the mathematical equation for the position.
• Calculate the speed given the instantaneous velocity.

We have now seen how to calculate the average velocity between two positions. However, since objects in the real
world move continuously through space and time, we would like to find the velocity of an object at any single point.
We can find the velocity of the object anywhere along its path by using some fundamental principles of calculus.
This section gives us better insight into the physics of motion and will be useful in later chapters.

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 3.2 • Instantaneous Velocity and Speed 101

Instantaneous Velocity
The quantity that tells us how fast an object is moving anywhere along its path is the instantaneous velocity,
usually called simply velocity. It is the average velocity between two points on the path in the limit that the time
(and therefore the displacement) between the two events approaches zero. To illustrate this idea mathematically,
we need to express position x as a continuous function of t denoted by x(t). The expression for the average velocity
between two points using this notation is . To find the instantaneous velocity at any position, we let
and . After inserting these expressions into the equation for the average velocity and taking the
limit as , we find the expression for the instantaneous velocity:

INSTANTANEOUS VELOCITY
The instantaneous velocity of an object is the limit of the average velocity as the elapsed time approaches zero,
or the derivative of x with respect to t:
3.4

Like average velocity, instantaneous velocity is a vector with dimension of length per time. The instantaneous
velocity at a specific time point is the rate of change of the position function, which is the slope of the position
function at . Figure 3.6 shows how the average velocity between two times approaches the
instantaneous velocity at The instantaneous velocity is shown at time , which happens to be at the maximum
of the position function. The slope of the position graph is zero at this point, and thus the instantaneous velocity is
zero. At other times, , and so on, the instantaneous velocity is not zero because the slope of the position graph
would be positive or negative. If the position function had a minimum, the slope of the position graph would also be
zero, giving an instantaneous velocity of zero there as well. Thus, the zeros of the velocity function give the minimum
and maximum of the position function.

FIGURE 3.6 In a graph of position versus time, the instantaneous velocity is the slope of the tangent line at a given point. The average
velocities between times are shown. When , the average velocity
approaches the instantaneous velocity at .

EXAMPLE 3.2

Finding Velocity from a Position-Versus-Time Graph

Given the position-versus-time graph of Figure 3.7, find the velocity-versus-time graph.
102 3 • Motion Along a Straight Line

FIGURE 3.7 The object starts out in the positive direction, stops for a short time, and then reverses direction, heading back toward the
origin. Notice that the object comes to rest instantaneously, which would require an infinite force. Thus, the graph is an approximation of
motion in the real world. (The concept of force is discussed in Newton’s Laws of Motion.)

Strategy
The graph contains three straight lines during three time intervals. We find the velocity during each time interval by
taking the slope of the line using the grid.

Solution
Time interval 0 s to 0.5 s:

Time interval 0.5 s to 1.0 s:

Time interval 1.0 s to 2.0 s:

The graph of these values of velocity versus time is shown in Figure 3.8.

FIGURE 3.8 The velocity is positive for the first part of the trip, zero when the object is stopped, and negative when the object reverses
direction.

Significance
During the time interval between 0 s and 0.5 s, the object’s position is moving away from the origin and the position-
versus-time curve has a positive slope. At any point along the curve during this time interval, we can find the
instantaneous velocity by taking its slope, which is +1 m/s, as shown in Figure 3.8. In the subsequent time interval,
between 0.5 s and 1.0 s, the position doesn’t change and we see the slope is zero. From 1.0 s to 2.0 s, the object is
moving back toward the origin and the slope is −0.5 m/s. The object has reversed direction and has a negative
velocity.

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 3.2 • Instantaneous Velocity and Speed 103

Speed
In everyday language, most people use the terms speed and velocity interchangeably. In physics, however, they do
not have the same meaning and are distinct concepts. One major difference is that speed has no direction; that is,
speed is a scalar.

We can calculate the average speed by finding the total distance traveled divided by the elapsed time:

3.5

Average speed is not necessarily the same as the magnitude of the average velocity, which is found by dividing the
magnitude of the total displacement by the elapsed time. For example, if a trip starts and ends at the same location,
the total displacement is zero, and therefore the average velocity is zero. The average speed, however, is not zero,
because the total distance traveled is greater than zero. If we take a road trip of 300 km and need to be at our
destination at a certain time, then we would be interested in our average speed.

However, we can calculate the instantaneous speed from the magnitude of the instantaneous velocity:
3.6

If a particle is moving along the x-axis at +7.0 m/s and another particle is moving along the same axis at −7.0 m/s,
they have different velocities, but both have the same speed of 7.0 m/s. Some typical speeds are shown in the
following table.

Speed m/s mi/h

Continental drift

Brisk walk 1.7 3.9

Cyclist 4.4 10

Sprint runner 12.2 27

Rural speed limit 24.6 56

Official land speed record 341.1 763

Speed of sound at sea level 343 768

Space shuttle on reentry 7800 17,500

Escape velocity of Earth* 11,200 25,000

Orbital speed of Earth around the Sun 29,783 66,623

Speed of light in a vacuum 299,792,458 670,616,629

TABLE 3.1 Speeds of Various Objects *Escape velocity is the velocity at which an
object must be launched so that it overcomes Earth’s gravity and is not pulled back
toward Earth.

Calculating Instantaneous Velocity

When calculating instantaneous velocity, we need to specify the explicit form of the position function . If each
term in the equation has the form of where is a constant and is an integer, this can be differentiated
104 3 • Motion Along a Straight Line

using the power rule to be:

3.7

Note that if there are additional terms added together, this power rule of differentiation can be done multiple times
and the solution is the sum of those terms. The following example illustrates the use of Equation 3.7.

EXAMPLE 3.3

Instantaneous Velocity Versus Average Velocity

The position of a particle is given by .

a. Using Equation 3.4 and Equation 3.7, find the instantaneous velocity at s.
b. Calculate the average velocity between 1.0 s and 3.0 s.

Strategy
Equation 3.4 gives the instantaneous velocity of the particle as the derivative of the position function. Looking at the
form of the position function given, we see that it is a polynomial in t. Therefore, we can use Equation 3.7, the power
rule from calculus, to find the solution. We use Equation 3.6 to calculate the average velocity of the particle.

Solution

a. .

Substituting t = 2.0 s into this equation gives .

b. To determine the average velocity of the particle between 1.0 s and 3.0 s, we calculate the values of x(1.0 s)
and x(3.0 s):

Then the average velocity is

Significance

In the limit that the time interval used to calculate goes to zero, the value obtained for converges to the value of
v.

EXAMPLE 3.4

Instantaneous Velocity Versus Speed

Consider the motion of a particle in which the position is .

a. What is the instantaneous velocity at t = 0.25 s, t = 0.50 s, and t = 1.0 s?

b. What is the speed of the particle at these times?

Strategy
The instantaneous velocity is the derivative of the position function and the speed is the magnitude of the
instantaneous velocity. We use Equation 3.4 and Equation 3.7 to solve for instantaneous velocity.

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