AASTU

College of Natural & Applied Sciences

General Physics
( Phys1001 )
Unit -2

KINEMATICS OF PARTICLES

Part-I
Outline
• Displacement, Velocity and Acceleration in 1D and 2D
• kinematics in 1D/Motion with Constant Acceleration
• Free Fall Motion
•Kinematics in 2D
• Projectile motion

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Mechanics is the study of physics of motion and how it relates to the physical factors that affect them.

It can categorized in to two parts.

1.Kinematics:- describes the motion of an object without considering its causes of motion

2.Dynamics :- the motion of object considering the causes of motion

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Kinematics terms (Quantities)
motion :- a continuous change in position of a body with respect to a given
reference frame.

Position
• is the location of an object with respect to a chosen reference point.
Distance (S)
• is the actual length of the path an object takes from its initial
position to its final position while it is set into motion.
• is a scalar quantity.
Displacement
• is the shortest distance between its initial and final positions.
• is a vector quantity.
• is a change in position in some time interval.

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 Average velocity
 is the rate of change of the displacement of a moving object over an interval of time
 is the velocity of a moving object over a certain interval of time
 is the total displacement divided by the total time.

Average Speed: -
 is the total distance traveled by the moving object divided by the total elapsed
time.

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Instantaneous velocity
 is the time rate of change of the displacement of a moving object at a particular instant of time.
 is the velocity of a moving object at a specific instant of time during its journey.

Acceleration
 is the time rate of change of velocity of a moving object/body

Average acceleration
 is the time rate of change of the velocity of the object over an interval of time

Instantaneous acceleration
 Is the time rate of change of the velocity of the object at a particular instant of time

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Examples
1. a) suppose you walk from home to the shop in 100 seconds time, then what is your average speed and your average
velocity?
b) If you forgot your money so you turn around and go back home in 120 more seconds, then what is your round trip speed
and velocity?

2. A student walked at 12km/hrs for 2hrs and run at a speed of 16km/hr for 5hrs on a straight road. Calculate his average
speed. 8
3.

4. A car travels north at 60 m/s for 10 min. It then travels south at 50 m/s for 20 min. What are the
average speed and velocity of the car?
Solution:
Average speed = total distance / total time
= (s1 + s2) / t
= {(60 m/s)(10 min) + (50 m/s)(20 min)}/(30 min)
= 1600 m/s min / 30 min
= 53.33 m/s
Average velocity = total displacement / total time
= {(60 m/s)(10 min)j - (50 m/s)(20 min)j}/(30 min)
= - 400 m/s min j / 30 min
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= 13.33 m/s towards south
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6.

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7. The position of a particle is given by x = at3 + bt2, where a and b are constant. Find the
dimension of a and b. In addition, find both the velocity and acceleration as a function of time. Find
the instantaneous velocity and acceleration at t = 1, 3, and 5 seconds

8. A particle moves in such a way that its position vector at any time t is ⃗r = tˆi + 12t2ˆj .
Find
a, the velocity,

b, the speed,
c, the acceleration,
d, the magnitude of accereleration.

9. The velocity of an object is given as a function of time by v = 4t − 3t 2, where v is in m/s

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10. Acar is stopped at a traffic light. It then travels along a straight road so
that its distance from the light is given by: x(t) = 3t2 – t3
Calculate
(a) the average velocity of the car b/n t = 0 and t = 1 s;
(b) the velocity of the car at t = 0;
(c) the average acceleration of the car b/n t = 0 and t = 1 s;
(d) the acceleration of the car at t = 1 s.

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 Kinematics in one dimension

Motion with constant acceleration (u.a.m) in one dimension

- acceleration is constant
• the average acceleration can be replaced by the constant acceleration 𝑎 , and we have :

(This is not true in general, when the acceleration is not constant and the
velocity-time graph is curved).

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Examples

(c) Find the distance travelled during the 9th second.

3. An object moving with uniform acceleration has a velocity of 12 m/s in the positive x direction when its
coordinate is 3 m. If its coordinate 2 s later is 5m, what is its acceleration?

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4. A fellow student found in the performance data for his new car the velocity-versus-time graph shown in the Fig.
below.

[a] Find the average acceleration of the car during each of the segments I, II, and III.

[b] What is the distance traveled by the car from t = 0 s to t = 24 s?

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 Free Fall
• The most common example of motion with (nearly) constant acceleration is that of a body falling toward the
earth
• In the absence of air resistance it is found that all bodies, regardless of their size or weight, fall with the same
acceleration at same point on the earth’s surface; and if the distance covered is small compared to the radius
of the earth, the acceleration remains constant throughout the fall.
• The effect of air resistance and the decrease in acceleration with altitude will be neglected.
• This idealized motion is spoken of as “free fall,” although the term includes rising as well as falling motion.
• The acceleration of a freely falling body is called acceleration due to gravity, or the acceleration of gravity,
and is denoted by the letter g.

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• For freely falling bodies the motion is vertical along y- axis so that 𝑎 is replaced by g and x is replaced by y in
the equations of motion for rectilinear motion.

N:B

• It is convenient to set 𝑔 = +9.8 𝑚 /𝑠2 for downward motion and 𝑔 = −9.8 𝑚/𝑠2 for upward motion to directly use
the equations of rectilinear motion without change following direction of the acceleration due to gravity which is
always directed down ward.)

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Example on free fall:
1. A body is released from rest and falls freely. Compute its position and velocity after 1 and 2s. Take the
origin at the elevation of the starting point, the y-axis vertical, and the upward direction as positive.

2. A stone is thrown from the top of a building with an initial velocity of 20 𝑚/ 𝑠 straight upward. The
building is 50 𝑚 high, and the stone just misses the edge of the roof on its way down. Determine
(a) the time needed for the stone to reach its maximum height,
(b) the maximum height,
(c) the time needed for the stone to return to the level of thrower,
(d) the velocity of the stone at this instant, and
(e) the velocity and the position of the stone at 𝑡 =5𝑠 .
(f) the velocity of the stone just before it hits the ground

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3. You are on the roof of the physics building, 46.0 m above the ground (see
Fig. shown below). Your friend, who is 1.80 m tall, is walking alongside
the building at a constant speed of 1.20 m/s. If you wish to drop an egg on
your friend’s head, where should he be when you release the egg?
Assume that the egg is in free fall. (Use: g = 10 m/s2)
Solution:
Distance traveled by an egg
h = 46.0 m - 1.80 m
= 44.2 m
The time taken by an egg to reach the head of
your friend:
h = ut + 1/2gt2 22
h = ut + 1/2gt2
44.2 = 1/2 (10) t2
5t2 = 44.2
t2 = 8.84
t = (8.84)1/2
t = 2.97 sec
Distance of your friend to travel to the roof of the physics building :
s = ut + 1/2at2
s = (1.2)(2.97) m + 0
a = 0 is due to the person walks at constant speed (uniform motion)
s = 3.56 m
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Kinematics in Two Dimensions

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Kinematics in Two Dimensions
• Projectile Motion
• projectile :- is any object launched through air under the action of gravitational force.

• projectile motion:- is the two dimensional motion of an object that is thrown into the air under the action of
gravitational force.

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Characteristics of a projectile motion

1. Projectile motion can be described as a superposition of two independent motions in the x- and y-directions
i.e. uniform motion with constant velocity in the horizontal direction and uniformly accelerated motion with
constant acceleration in the vertical direction.
2. Provided air resistance is negligible, the horizontal component of the velocity 𝑉𝑥. remains constant because there
is no force acting on the projectile.

3. The vertical component of the acceleration is equal to the free-fall acceleration −𝑔.
4. the vertical component of the velocity 𝑉𝑦 is not constant since gravitational force is acting and also the vertical
component of the velocity 𝑉𝑦 and the displacement in the y - direction are identical to those of a freely falling body.

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Equations of motion for a projectile motion

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 Special terms in a projectile motion

Total time of flight(T)

Range of a projectile(R)
• is the maximum horizontal distance travelled from the point of launching to the point of landing

• for a given initial velocity 𝑉o there are two complementary angles that give the same value of range (R)
Maximum height(H/hmax)
• is the maximum vertical displacement produced by a projectile while it is in motion

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Examples on projectile motion
1. A man throws a ball upward from the top of a building at an angle of 30.0° above the horizontal
and with an initial speed of 20.0 m/s, as in Figure below. The point of release is 45.0 m above the
ground.
(a) How long does it take for the ball to hit the ground?
(b) Find the ball’s speed at impact/just before it strikes the ground .
(c) Find the horizontal range (x)of the ball. Neglect air resistance.

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2. A rescue plane, moving horizontally at constant speed of 40 m/s at an altitude of 100 m, drops a
package of emergency rations to drought stricken areas in Ethiopia as shown in the Figure below.
Neglect air resistance.
(a) Where does the package strike the ground relative to the point at which it was released?
(b) What are the horizontal and vertical components of the velocity of the package just before it
hits the ground?
(c) What is the angle of the impact?

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3. A place kicker kicks a football at an angle of θ = 40.0° above the horizontal axis, as Animated
Figure below shows. The initial speed of the ball is υ0 = 22 m/s. Ignore air resistance, and
a) find the maximum height H that the ball attains.
b) determine the time of flight between kickoff and landing
c) calculate the range R of the projectile.

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4. A projectile is fired into the air from the top of a 200-m cliff above a valley as shown below. Its initial velocity is 60 m/s at
60° above the horizontal. Calculate
(a) the maximum height,
(b) the time required to reach its highest point,
(c) the total time of flight,
(d) the components of its velocity just before striking the ground, and
(e) the horizontal distance traveled from the base of the cliff.

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Soluti ons For the Examples

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 Solution ( Examples on Motion with constant acceleration)

Example 1.

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Free Fall (solutions)

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Cont…

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, as measured from the position of throw.

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(c) The time required to return to the level of the thrower is twice of the time calculated in part (a)
which is 4.082s, or calculated with the assumption that displacement is zero.

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Projectile motion (solutions)
1.

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2.

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3. a)

b)

c)

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