Speed
It is the rate of change of distance.
Or distance over time
The units are km/h, m/s and mph (miles per hour) but the first two are commonly used.
It measures how fast an object is moving.
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
A runner takes 10 seconds to cover 100m. The speed is 100m/10s = 10m/s.
Average speed
It is the total distance travelled divided by the total time
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 =
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
Average speed does not give the instantaneous speed of the object.
The speed of an object (car) varies with time due to various reasons such as traffic jams, robots.
What we see on the speedometer is the instantaneous speed ie, the speed at that moment in
time.
A sailor sailed 34 560 km in 276 days (6624 hours). His speed varied depending on the strength
of the wind for example. His average speed was 34560/6624 = 5.2km/h.
At some instant he would go faster than 5.2km/h when there is good sailing weather (strong
winds) and at some instants he would travel slower eg when it is calm.
Measurement: precision and accuracy
Accuracy is the closeness of measured values to the true value.
The acceleration due to gravity is known to be 9.81 m/s2 but if one gets 9.79 m/s2 then the
result is deemed inaccurate.
Precision is the closeness of measured values to each other but not the true value.
It is the number of significant figures to which a measured value is given.
The acceleration due to gravity might be measured as 9.75 , 9.76 and 9.77 m/s2. The results are
precise as they are close to each other and expressed to the same degree of significant figures (3
in this case) but they are not accurate as they are not close to the true value.
Reaction time
It the time taken by the brain to process information.
It is the delay in starting or stopping a stopwatch when recording time.
When a starter gun is fired, some athletes react quickly to the time some slowly. That delay
in response to a stimuli is called the reaction time
This results in measurements being less accurate.
The average reaction time of a human being is 0.2 seconds.
The use of electronic timers have helped a lot in eliminating reaction time in a measurement
thereby improving the accuracy of the time.
The use of timing gates (light gates) to measure the time it takes for an object to fall through
1m in air eliminates reaction time and improves accuracy.
Draw a diagram on Page 83 with light gates.
Distance –time graphs (d-t graphs)
A distance-time graph is a way of showing how an object is moving with time.
It gives information on how an object covered a certain distance in a second.
The d-t graph is plotted for the recorded data.(see page 84 of your text book)
From the d-t graph, one is able to calculate the speed of the object form the gradient (slope) of
the graph.
The steeper the slope the faster the object and if it is a gentle slope the slower the object.
from the graph, it can be deduced that A
is travelling more faster than B because it is more
steep
If the slope of a d-t graph is flat
(horizontal), the object is not moving and its speed
is zero.
In conclusion speed is a rate of change
of distance with time.
If there is no change of distance in a
given time interval the object is not moving but
stationary.
Let’s study the d-t graph below of a student going to school
From the graph, B and D shows that the student
was stationary because the slope is flat.
A, C and E shows that the student was moving at
different speeds because the slopes are not the same. At
which point was he fastest.
Speed from d-t graphs
From a d-t graph, we can calculate the speed of the moving object. Eg
Rana covers a distance of 1000 min 10 minutes (600 seconds)
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 1000 𝑚
𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = = = 1.7 𝑚/𝑠.
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 600 𝑠
what is Rana′ s speed at section C and E?
Changing speed
When an object is dropped, its speed gradually increases as it falls.
The d-t graph is not a straight line but rather, a curve.
the slope of the curve is increasing with time and therefore speed
is increasing
A d-t graph for a slowing object is also a curve but the line
becomes less steep with time.
Let’s look at questions on page 85 and try to answer them.
Acceleration and velocity-time graphs
Acceleration – is the rate of change of speed in a specified direction or alternatively
Acceleration – is the rate of change of velocity.
When an object’s velocity changes, it has accelerated and the acceleration gives us information
on how the velocity is changing every second.
Calculating acceleration
From the definition above(in bold), acceleration is calculated as
𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦−𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
= 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
Units of acceleration are m/s2
Example, Sinita accelerates from her house from 0 to 20 m/s in 5s. Her acceleration is
𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦−𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
20−0 𝟐
= = 𝟒 𝒎/𝒔
5
Decelerating
When the final velocity is lower than the initial velocity then the object is decelerating and the
acceleration is negative.
The object will be slowing down as time lapses.
Eg Sinita slows down from 20 to 10 m/s in 2 s. her acceleration is
𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦−𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 10−20
𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = = = −𝟓 𝒎/𝒔𝟐
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 2
Her deceleration is 5 m/s2 or her acceleration is -5 m/s2
Nb: take note of the negative sign.
In summary, to calculate acceleration (/ deceleration), we need
Final velocity
Initial velocity
Time taken for the velocity to change.
Velocity – time graph
show how the velocity changes with time
The gradient of the graph gives you the acceleration of the object.
The area under a velocity–time graph measures the distance travelled.
in this graph the velocity is increasing by 10 m/s every
second
Acceleration is 10 m/s2
The acceleration is constant because the slope remains
constant throughout.ie uniform acceleration
The steeper the gradient/ slope the greater the
acceleration
A horizontal graph depicts uniform velocity ie velocity
remains constant as time increases …acceleration is zero.
the velocity is not changing as time increases
Acceleration is zero
Area under graph is 100m which gives the
distance covered by object.
Terminal velocity
It is when the forward force equals opposing forces (air resistance )
A body accelerates from rest and velocity increase until it can no longer increase
At that point forward force balances backward force ie body no longer accelerates
Air resistance increases with increase in velocity.
Initially it is a steep slope and there is large acceleration
The graph gets less steeper and velocity changes less quickly
Object is not slowing down but velocity is taking longer to change
Eventually the graph flattens and velocity is no longer changing and object has reached terminal
velocity
Questions
Study the graph below and answer the questions that follow.
a) Calculate the acceleration of the object.
b) Calculate the distance covered by the object.
