Motion

By the end of the topic’s students should be able to;

❖ State what is mean by speed and velocity.

❖ Calculate the average speed using total distance/time taken.
❖ State what is mean by uniform and non uniform acceleration.
❖ Plot and interpret distance-time and speed-time graphs.
❖ Recognize from the shape of a speed-time graph when a body is
➢ At rest
➢ Moving with uniform speed,
➢ Moving with uniform acceleration
➢ Moving with non-uniform acceleration.
❖ Calculate the area under speed-time graph to determine the distance travelled.
❖ Calculate acceleration from the gradient of a speed–time graph
❖ Describe the motion of objects falling in a uniform gravitational field with and without
air/ liquid resistance (including reference to terminal velocity

ACCELERATION

(Rate of change of velocity)

UNIFORM NON-UNIFORM

(Velocity of the body changes (Velocity of the body changes

equally in equal intervals of time) unequally in equal intervals of time)

ACCELECRTION DECELERATION ACCELERATION DECELERATION

Velocity of the body Velocity of the body Velocity of the body Velocity of the body

Increases equally in decreases equally in increases unequally in decreases unequally

equal intervals of time. equal intervals of time. equal intervals of time. in equal intervals of time

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 MOTION GRAPH

gives information about the motion of an object. They can tell

you how far something has travelled, how fast it is moving.

Distance-time graph(s-t graph) speed-time(v-t graph)

The graph obtained when the distance covered The graph obtained when the speed

by a moving object is plotted against time. of a moving object is plotted against time.

Distance-time graph ( s-t graph)

Distance on y-axis

Time on x- axis

The slope or gradient of a distance-time graph gives the speed.

Gradient = y/x = distance/time = speed(m/s)

For eg. Distance –time graph for a cycle ride is shown below

Distance/m 10 20 30 40 50 60
Time/s 1 2 3 4 5 6

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Finding gradient.

Speed = y/x = (400-100)/(70-50)

Speed = 300/20

Speed = 15 m/s.

Distance-time graph for different kinds of motion.

1) Stationary object. 2) Constant speed

3) Decreasing speed (Deceleration) 4) Increasing speed (Accceleration)

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 Speed-time graph ( v-t graph)

Speed on y-axis

Time on x-axis

The slope or gradient of a speed-time graph gives the acceleration.

Gradient = y/x = speed/time = acceleration(m/s2)

The area under the speed-time graph gives the distance travelled.

speed-time graph for different kinds of motion.

1) Stationary object. 2) Constant speed

Speed speed m/s

m/s

time/s time /s

3) Uniform acceleration 4) Uniform deceleration

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5) Increasing acceleration 6) Decreasing Acceleration

7) Increasing deceleration 8) Decreasing deceleration

Eg.

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 Acceleration of Free Fall
• In the absence of air resistance, all objects fall with the same acceleration
• This is called the acceleration of freefall (this is also sometimes called acceleration
due to gravity)

In the absence of air resistance, Galileo discovered that all objects (near Earth's
surface) fall with an acceleration of about 9.8 m/s2

• This means that for every second an object falls, its velocity will increase by 9.8 m/s

Falling Objects without Air Resistance

• In the absence of air resistance, all objects falling in a uniform gravitational field, fall with
the same acceleration, regardless of their mass

• So long as air resistance remains insignificant, the speed of a falling object will increase at
a steady rate, getting larger the longer it falls for.

• In the absence of air resistance objects fall with constant acceleration

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Terminal velocity
➢ When a sky diver jumps from an aircraft, at first; the only force acting on the sky diver will be
gravitational force. ie, he will fall freely.
➢ As he falls down faster, the air resistance on his body increases.
➢ This continues until the downward force (weight of the sky diver) balances with the air
resistance acting upwards.
➢ At this stage the sky diver falls down with a constant velocity. This velocity is called

Terminal velocity.

➢ When the skydiver opens the parachute, the air resistance increases. This is due to the
increased surface area of the parachute opening.

➢ The upward force of air resistance on the skydiver increases, slowing the acceleration of the
skydivers fall. The skydiver decelerates

➢ Eventually, the forces balance out again, and a new slower terminal velocity is reached

➢ The size of terminal velocity depends on condition of air and size, shape and weight of the sky
diver.

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 Graphical representation of speed- time graph when a parachute falls downwards.

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