Introductory Physics - I
Chapter 2 – Part 1
Motion along a straight line
Position, displacement, velocity, speed
Lecture 4 – September 19
Outline – Chapter 2
• Position and displacement
• Average velocity
• Speed and velocity; distance travelled
• Graphs of motion
• Instantaneous velocity
• Average acceleration
• Instantaneous acceleration
• Motion with constant acceleration
Free fall
• Integrals and motion
Before we start
Two simplifying assumptions:
1.The moving object is a particle or behaves like a
particle i.e. there is no rotation (point like object).
2.The motion under consideration may be vertical,
horizontal, or on a slope but is in a straight line.
Physical quantities used in this
chapter
• displacement • distance travelled
• velocity • speed
• acceleration
vectors scalars
• For motion along a straight line (1d case) the
direction of the vector is indicated by the sign.
• We won’t use the arrow notation.
• But they are still vectors!
Position, displacement, motion
Position 1 Position 2
x2 or x(t2)
x1 or x(t1)
- origin +
(reference for motion)
• Motion – a change in position, relative to a reference
frame
• The change in position is measured by displacement.
• Remember, displacement is a vector.
• Motion is relative – depends on the reference frame; there
is no absolute reference frame so no absolute motion.
Position and Displacement
• Position is measured by x or y relative to
the origin (zero position).
• Typically, x is used for horizontal motion
and y is used for vertical motion.
• We choose a convenient origin and a
positive direction.
• The opposite direction is the negative
direction.
Position and Displacement
• Displacement is the Change of Position.
D x = x2 – x1
• represents the change in a quantity.
• The displacement is independent of the position of
the origin of co-ordinates. (but it depends on the
state of motion of the origin)
• The displacement is an example of a vector
quantity.
Average Velocity
(vector)
The average velocity is defined by
Alternative notations:
x x0 x x0
vave vave (if to=0)
t t0 t
Average Speed
(scalar)
The average speed is defined by
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑
𝑣 𝑎𝑣𝑒 =
𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑠𝑒𝑑𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
• Velocity is a vector, distance travelled (d.t.) is a scalar.
• Average speed is not the magnitude of the average
velocity.
• (d.t.) is equal to the magnitude of displacement only
for motion along a line without turning points.
Graphical representation of motion
Pillar (origin)
Post
x2=-80m x1=200m
- +
280m
a) Speed – need distance travelled: d.t.=200m+280m = 480m
b) Velocity – need displacement (note: initial x is x0=0)
Δ 𝑥 =𝑥 𝑓 − 𝑥 𝑖 =𝑥2 − 𝑥 0=− 80 𝑚
For both (a) and (b) we need the time elapsed from pillar to post.
𝑑.𝑡 . 𝑑.𝑡 .
𝑣 𝑎𝑣𝑒 = Δ 𝑡=
Δ𝑡 𝑣 𝑎𝑣𝑒
(speed)
First segment
𝑑 . 𝑡 .=200 𝑚
Δ 𝑡 1=40 𝑠
5m/s
Δ 𝑡=110 𝑠
Second segment
280m
Δ 𝑡 2=70 𝑠
4m/s
Δ 𝑡=110 𝑠
a) d.t.= 480 m
1 480 𝑚
𝑣 =
𝑎𝑣 =4.4 𝑚/ 𝑠 (speed)
110 𝑠
b) displacement= -80 m
2 − 80 𝑚
𝑣 =
𝑎𝑣 =− 0.73 𝑚/ 𝑠 (velocity)
110 𝑠
Instantaneous Velocity
x dx
v Lim
t 0 t dt
•v is obtained by differentiating the position
function with respect to time.
• v is the slope of the x - t graph.
• v is a vector
•The sign of v gives the direction of the velocity at
that instant.
Velocity and the slope of the tangent
Instantaneous Velocity at a given time –
slope of the tangent to the curve at that time
x
Positive Slope
Positive Velocity
Negative Slope
Negative Velocity
