motion and time

POSITION AND REFERENCE POINT UNDERSTANDING MOTION

A reference point is a starting point used to These are the two important aspects of mo-
describe the position of an object. A reference tion -
point is also called the origin.
(1) A change of position
To describe an object’s position, three things
(2) The passage of time
must be included in the description : (i) a ref-
erence point, (ii) a direction from the reference Moving involves a change of position during
point, (iii) distance from the reference point some time period. Motion is the act or pro-
(the length of the line segment joining the ref- cess of something changing position. The
erence point and the object). motion of an object is usually described with
One way of indicating the direction is to use respect to a stationary object. Such a sta-
a plus (+) or a minus (–) sign. The plus sign tionary object is said to be ‘at rest’.
can be the direction from the reference point Motion is a change in an object’s position
is in the reference direction (see fig.2). A mi- compared to a fixed object. If you ride in a
nus sign means the direction is opposite to the
car, your position changes compared to a
reference direction. For example, plus (+) sign
tree or an electric pole.
can be used to indicate ‘toward the school’ in
the fig.1 on previous page and minus (–) sign An object is said to be at rest if it does not
to indicate ‘away from the school’. change its position with time.
Rest and motion are relative terms.
Imagine that you are traveling in an auto-
Direction opposite to reference point (-) mobile with another person. You know that
you are moving across the land outside
the car since your location on the highway
changes from one moment to another. Ob-
serving your fellow passenger shows that
there is no change of position. You are in
reference point Object motion relative to the ground but you are
not in motion relative to your fellow passen-
reference
ger. The motion of any object or body is the
direction (+)
process of a change in position ‘relative’ to
some reference object or location.

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DIFFERENT TYPES OF MOTION
tion is called curvilinear motion. Motion of a
Translational Motion (Or Translatory Motion) car along a curved or circular path, motion of
an athlete on a circular track are examples of
Motion of a body in which all the points in the curvilinear motion.
body follow parallel paths is called ‘trans-
lational motion’. It is a motion in which
the orientation of an object remains the
same throughout the journey . The path (a) A rectilinear motion
of a translatory motion can be straight or
curved (see fig.5).

(a) A book moved along a straight path without Fig. 6 Rectilinear and curvilinear motion
changing its orientation

Rotational Motion (Rotatory Motion)

Motion of a body turning about an axis is

(b) A book moved along a curved path without
called rotational motion. The path of an ob-
changing its orientation
ject in a rotational motion is always circular
Fig.5 Translational motion (or curved).

Examples of translational motion are Examples of rotational motion are (1) The
Earth’s spin on its axis, (2) Motion of a fan or
(1) A car moving down a highway,
motor, (3) Motion of blades of windmill, (4)
(2) A person walking on the road, Motion of a spinning top and (5) Motion of a
(3) An athlete running on the track, grinding stone.

(4) Motion of piston in the cylinder and

(5) A train running on the rails.
On the basis of the path travelled by an
object, the translational motion can clas-
sified as :
(1) Rectilinear motion -
If an object moves in a straight line, its
motion is called rectilinear motion or one
dimensional motion. Motion of car along
a straight path, motion of a piston in the
cylinder are examples of rectilinear mo-
tion. Axis of rotation
(2) Curvilinear motion
If an object moves along a curved path Fig. 8 Rotational motion : Particles cover
unequal distances in a given time.
without change in its orientation, its mo-

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 DISTANCE AND DISPLACEMENT
Distance
The length of the actual path between initial
and final positions of a moving object is called
(a) Motion of a (b) Motion of Earth (c) Motion of ‘distance’.
ceiling fan about its axis a spinning top
Important points related to distance -
Fig.9 Examples of rotational motion
(1) Distance is a scalar quantity. (2) Distance
Motion of a car or cycle wheels is a combination of depends on the path. (3) Distance is always
translational and rotational motion (see fig.11). taken positive.
Unit of distance - In S.I. system unit of dis-
tance is metre (m). Some other popular units
are millimetre (mm), centimetre (cm), kilo-
Translational
motion metre (km).
Distance travelled by a vehicle is measured
by a device called ‘odometer’.

Displacement
Rotational motion The shortest distance between the initial po-
Fig.10 Motion of a cycle wheel is a combination of sition and the final position of the particle is
translational and rotational motion. Motion of a
wheel is also called ‘rolling motion’. called displacement.
It is also defined as the change in the position
of the particle.
Periodic Motion
Displacement = xf – xi
Where, xf = final position ; xi = initial position.
A motion that occurs when an object moves
in a repeated pattern (a cycle) over equal Important points related to displacement -
periods of time is called a periodic motion. (1) Displacement is a vector quantity, its di-
Examples - Motion of a pendulum, rotation- rection is always taken from initial posi-
al motion of Earth, revolution of Earth around tion to final position.
the Sun, all are periodic motions. (2) Displacement depends only on initial po-
sition and final position, but does not de-
pend on path.
Oscillatory Motion
(3) Displacement of a particle in motion can
A motion that occurs when an object moves be positive, negative or even zero.
to and fro about its mean position over equal Unit of displacement - Units of distance and
periods of time is called an oscillatory motion displacement are same as both represent
or vibratory motion. some length. Thus, in S.I. system unit of dis-
Examples - Motion of a simple pendulum, placement is metre (m). Some other popular
motion of a vibrating stretched string, motion units are millimetre (mm), centimetre (cm),
of an oscillating spring. kilometre (km).

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 Let us understand the distance and displace- Multiple Choice Questions
ment using some real life situation. Suppose
an athlete is running on a circular path. Let in ENTRANCE CORNER
a certain time interval, he moves from posi- 01. Which part of the moving cycle undergoes
tion A to position B as shown in fig.17(b). The rotational motion ?
distance travelled by the athlete is the arc
length APB = x, while the displacement of the
athlete is line segment AB.

(Vertical direction)
+
y -axis

(Horizontal direction)

- +
x -axis
(1) Only A (2) A and B
(3) A and C (4) B and D

-
Fig.17(a) Sign conventions Fig.17 (b) Understanding distance
for displacement. and displacement

ENTRANCE CORNER

02. In question no.4, the cyclist shows which

type of motion ?

Illustration In the fig.18, a squirrel runs on the (1) Rectilinear motion

ground from the 20 cm mark (its initial posi- (2) Curvilinear motion
tion) to the 100 cm mark. After that, it reverses (3) Rotatory motion
(4) Oscillatory motion
and runs to the 50 cm mark (its final posi-
tion). Find the displacement and distance
travelled by the squirrel.

ENTRANCE CORNER

03. If a tunnel is dug along the diametre of

20 cm 50 cm 100 cm
Fig. 18
the earth and a ball is dropped into the
tunnel, it will have
Solution: Given, initial position, xi = + 20 cm ; (1) Linear motion
final position, xf = +50 cm Displacement = xf (2) Circular motion
– xi = (+50) – (+20) = + 30 cm (3) Oscillatory motion
Now, distance travelled by squirrel from A to (4) Translatory motion
C, AC = 100 – 20 = 80 cm

Distance travelled by squirrel from C to B, BC

= 100 – 50 = 50 cm Total distance travelled
by squirrel = AB +BC = 80 + 50 = 130 cm

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 ENTRANCE CORNER ENTRANCE CORNER

04. Xylem institute is at 5 km distance from 08. A bird flying in the sky possesses the mo-
Gokulam cineplex. Here – tion called
(1) Gokulam cineplex is reference point (1) Oscillatory (2) Periodic
(2) Xylem is reference point
(3) Random (4) Linear
(3) Both are reference point
(4) None of these

ENTRANCE CORNER
ENTRANCE CORNER
09. When you look at the objects on the plat-
05. Rest and motion are _____ terms form from the window of a moving train,
you observe the objects and the platform?
(1) Absolute (2) Relative
(3) can’t say (4) None of these (1) At rest
(2) Both are moving in opposite direction
(3) Both are coming closer
(4) Receding away

ENTRANCE CORNER

06. When a body spins, the body is in

(1) revolutionary motion
(2) rectilinear motion ENTRANCE CORNER

(3) rotatory motion 10. A body at rest is in .............. state.

(4) periodic motion. (1) Moving (2) Vibratory
(3) Stationary (4) Oscillatory

ENTRANCE CORNER
ENTRANCE CORNER
11. A man moves 4m east then turns to west
07. Motion of a bus on a straight path is an
and travels 3m. His distance and dis-
example of
placement
(1) periodic motion (2) translatory motion
(1) 7 m, 1m (2)7m, 5 m
(3) rotatory motion (4) oscillatory motion.
(3) 1m, 1 m (4)1 m, 7m

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 ENTRANCE CORNER
Space for keynotes
12. A man moves 4m east then turns to west
and travels 5m. His distance and dis-
placement
(1) 9 m, 1m (2) 9 m, 0m
(3) 9 m, -1m (4) -9 m, -1m

ENTRANCE CORNER

13. A man moves 4m east then turns to west

and travels 4m. His distance and displace-
ment
(1) 8 m, 1m (2)8 m, 0m
(3) 8 m, -1m (4) 8 m, -8m

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SPEED
Uniform speed

The distance travelled by a particle per unit An object is said to be moving with a uniform
time is called speed. speed, if it covers equal distances in equal in-
tervals of time. That is, magnitude of speed is
distance constant.
Speed =
time
Non-uniform speed

An object is said to be moving with a variable

speed, if it covers unequal distances in equal
IMPORTANT POINTS RELATED TO SPEED ARE intervals of time. That is, magnitude of speed
is variable.

• Speed is a scalar quantity, Speedometer of the vehicle measures its

speed.
• Speed depends on the path, distance
Speed =
• Speed gives no idea about the direction time
of motion of the object. Distance = speed × time

• Speed can never be negative.

ditance
Time =
• In motion, it is taken positive ; speed

• At rest, it is zero.
Numerical Ability

Unit of speed - S.I. system - metre/second

(m/s). 01. Calculate the speed of a swimmer who
swims 100 m in 50 s.
C.G.S.system - centimetre/second (cm/s).

Another commonly used unit for measuring

speed is kilometer per hour.(km/h)

NOTE
02. A bullet train travels from A to B, a dis-
1 tance of 360 km, in 1 h. Find the train’s
1cm/s= m/s
100 speed in (i) km/h (ii) m/s.

1m/s=100cm/s

1000 5
1km/h = = m/s
60×60 18

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 Entrance corner - Objective questions
03. A body covers a distance 100cm in 25
second .Find speed in (i)cm/s (ii)m/s
06. Change in position of an object with re-
spect to time is known as
(1) speed (2) distance
(3) motion (4) time.

04. A body covers a distance 120 m in

2minute.Find speed in m/s
07. Unit of speed is
(1) m min–1 (2) km h–1
(3) km s–1 (4) All the above

05. A body covers a distance 200 m in 2Hour.

Find speed in km/h
08. Which of the following has a magnitude
and a direction ?
(1) Speed (2) Distance
(3) Length (4) displacement

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 09. 36 km/h can also be written as – 12. The speed of a body
(1) remains constant irrespective of the dis-
(1)5m/s (2)10m/s
tance
(3)20m/s (4)25m/s
(2) becomes zero with the increase in dis-
tance
(3) decreases with the increase in the ratio of
distance to time
(4) increases with the increase in the ratio of
distance to time.

10. A car with non-uniform motion trav-

els 200 km in 5 hours. What can be said
about the speed of the car?
(1) Its speed is 40 km/h for most of the jour-
ney.
(2) Its average speed is 40 km/h during the
journey.
(3) Its speed is constant at 40 km/h during 13. A train leaves a station X at 5:00pm and
the journey. reaches to another station Y at 11:00pm.
Distance between X and Y is 180km .
(4) Its speed is 40 km/h at the beginning and Speed of the train ?
at the end of the journey and varies in (1) 30 km/h (2) 60 km/h
between.
(3) 30m/s (4) 60 m/s

11. The speed of a bus is 90 km/h whereas

the speed of a car is 15 m/s. Which one of 14. A body is moving with a speed of 20m/s.
these is moving faster? The time taken by the body to complete
(1) Bus its journey of 100 m is
(1) 6 s (2) 6 h
(2) Car
(3) 5 s (4) 5 h
(3) Both with same speed
(4) Data insufficient

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 Fill in the blanks
15. A body is moving with a speed of 54
km/h. The time taken by the body to
complete its journey of 30 m is 19. 1 km/h = _______ m/sec.
(1) 1 s (2) 2 s
(3) 1 h (4) 2 h

20. 72km/h=………..……..……..m/s

16. A body is moving with a speed of 72 km/h.

The time taken by the body to complete
its journey of 4 km is
(1) 1/18 h (2) 18 h
(3) 4 h (4) 5 h

21. 20m/s=……….cm/s

17. A body is moving with a speed of

20m/s. distance covered by the body
in 6s is
22. 20cm/s=……….m/s
(1) 100m (2) 50m
(3) 60m (4)120m

23. 54km/h=………m/s

18. A body is moving with a speed of 144

km/h. distance covered by the body in
6s is
(1) 240 m (2) 120 m
(3) 60 m (4) 30 m 24. 54km/s=……..m/s

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 True or False
25. 70cm/s=……..m/s

31. Speed is the total distance covered di-

vided by the total time.

True / False

26. 60m/minute=…….m/s

32. A higher speed indicates that a given

distance covered in a shorter time.
True / False

27. A motion in which a body covers equal

distances in equal intervals of time is
called ………….motion.

33. If the speed of an object moving along a

straight line keeps changing, its motion
is said to be uniform.
28. The ____ of an object is the shortest
possible path covered by it. True / False

29. Displacement is a ____ quantity.

34. Speed of a moving body can never be

zero.
True / False
30. Speed is defined as the ratio of ____
to the ____ taken

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MEASUREMENT OF TIME SIMPLE PENDULUM

The working of clocks is rather complex. But all

Our ancestors noticed that many events in
of them make use of some periodic motion.
nature repeat themselves after definite inter-
One of the most well-known periodic motions
vals of time. For example, they found that the
is that of a simple pendulum.
sun rises everyday in the morning. The time
between one sunrise and the next was called A simple pendulum consists of a small metallic
a day. Similarly, a month was measured from ball or a piece of stone suspended from a rig-
one new moon to the next. A year was fixed as id stand by a thread [see fig.(a)]. The metallic
the time taken by the earth to complete one ball is called the bob of the pendulum. Fig.(a)
revolution of the sun. shows the pendulum at rest in its mean posi-
tion. When the bob of the pendulum is released
In 1657, Christian Huygens invented a clock
after taking it slightly to one side, it begins to
that used a pendulum to keep time.
move to and fro [see fig.(b)]. The to and fro
motion of a simple pendulum is an example of
a periodic or an oscillatory motion.

o
fig (a)
Fig. An ancient A wall clock Mean
water clock. position

fig (b)
A
o
A digital clock Fig. An hourglass Extreme
Extreme
(sand clock) position Mean position
position

The pendulum is said to have completed

one oscillation when its bob, starting from its
mean position O, moves to A, to B and back to
O. The pendulum also completes one oscilla-
tion when its bob moves from one extreme
position A to the other extreme position B and
comes back to A.
The time taken by the pendulum to complete
Fig. A pocket
watch Fig.A wrist watch one oscillation is called its time period.

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TIME PERIOD OF PENDULAM(T)
Note : 1 light year

A light-year is a measurement of distance

The time taken by a freely oscillating pen- and not time (as the name might imply).
dulum to complete one oscillation is called A light-year is the distance a beam of light
Time period (T) travels in a single Earth year, which equates
to approximately 9.7 trillion kilometers.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Time period of a simple pendulum de-

pends upon its
(1) Weight of bob (2) Length
(3) Both (1) and (2) (4) Mass

Let T be the time period of pendulum,the

Time taken from O to A= T/4

Time taken from A to O = T/4

Time taken from O to A and A to O

= T/4 + T/4 = T/2
2. Which of these is not a unit of time?
Time taken from O to B = T/4 (1) Second (2) Light year
Time taken from B to O = T/4 (3) Hour (4) Year

Time taken from O to B and B to O

= T/4 + T/4 = T/2

Its SI unit is second (s)

UNITS OF TIME 3. Nearly all the clocks make use of

(1) Straight line motion
SI unit second(s) (2) Periodic motion

1 minute = 60s (3) Random motion

(4) Circular motion
1 hour = 60minute = 60 × 60s = 3600s

1day = 24 hour = 24 × 60 × 60s = 86400s

1year = 365day = 365 × 24 × 60 × 60s

= 31536000s

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 4. Which of the following is different 7. If a simple pendulum completes 20 oscil-
among these? lations in 40 seconds, then the time taken
by one complete oscillation is
(1) Quartz clock (2) Water clock
(1) 0.2 second (2) 0.5 second
(3) Sundial (4) Sand clock
(3) 2 seconds (4) 1 second

5. On Monday, Barnali spent 20 minutes

on her science homework, 38 min- 8. Two clocks A and B are shown in fig-
utes on english homework and 25 ure. Clock A has an hour and a min-
minutes on mathematics homework. ute hand, whereas clock B has an hour
How much time did she spend on her hand, minute hand as well as a second
homework? hand. Which of the following statement
is correct for these clocks?
(i) 83 minutes (ii) 1 hour 23 minutes
iii) 4980 seconds (iv) 4990 seconds
12 12

(1) (i), (ii) and (iii)

9 3 9 3
(2) (i), (ii) and (iv)
(3) (i) and (ii) 6 6

(4) none of these

(A) (B)

(1) A time interval of 30 seconds can be

measured by clock A.
(2) A time interval of 30 seconds cannot be
measured by clock B.
(3) Time interval of 5 minutes can be mea-
sured by both A and B.

6. How many minutes are there in 6.5 hours? (4) Time interval of 4 minutes 10 seconds
can be measured by clock A.
(1) 390 (2) 590
(3) 490 (4) 290

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 Numerical Ability
11. A simple pendulum executes periodic
motion

9. Time period of the pendulam is 12s

True / False

12. A gap between two events is called

time.
True / False

(i) Time taken from O to A = ………..........

(ii) Time taken from A to O = ………..........

(iii)Time taken from O to A and A to O = ………....

(iv) Time taken from O to B = ……….......... 13. Periodic events are used for the measure-
ment of time.
(v) Time taken from B to O = ………..........
True / False
(vi) Time taken from O to B and B to O = ……….......

Fill in the blanks

True / False 14. Time between one sunrise and next

sunrise was called a ................................

10. Sand clock works only during day time.

True / False

15. 5hour = ……….................. seconds

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16. 120s = ………........................ minutes 22. 2 hour 20 minute = .........………. minutes

17. 7200s = ……….................. hours 23. 2 hour 20 minute = .........………. minutes

18. 34 minute = ........................... seconds 24. 2 hour 20 minute = ……….......... seconds

19. 30 minute = ..........………. hours 25. 2 days = ..........……….. seconds

20. 45 minute = …........……. hours

Space for keynotes

21. 1hour 30 minute= ........……… minutes

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