CHAPTER 2 One-Dimensional Kinematics

Distance
Distance traveled during a time interval is the total path length the object moved during such interval, which is a scalar, denoted by .

Displacement
The displacement during a time interval is the change of position of an object during such interval, which is a vector, denoted by x .

Speed
(I) Average Speed
The average speed is the average rate of move of an object, defined by the distance traveled over the time interval

Savg

(2.1)

(II) Instantaneous Speed

The instantaneous speed is the rate of move during an infinitesimal time interval, that is, the speed at a given moment

S lim

t 0

d dt

(2.2)

Velocity
(I) Average Velocity
The average velocity is the average rate of change in position of an object, defined by the displacement of the time interval

Vavg

x t

(2.3)

(II) Instantaneous Speed

The instantaneous velocity is the rate of change in position of an object during an infinitesimal time interval, that is, the velocity at a given moment

V lim

t 0

x dx t dt

(2.4)

Note
Since the object can not turn direction in an infinitesimal time interval, that is, the instantaneous speed is just the magnitude of instantaneous velocity

Acceleration
(I) Average Acceleration
The average acceleration is the average rate of change in velocity of an object, defined by the change in velocity during the time interval

aavg

v t

(2.5)

(II) Instantaneous Acceleration

The instantaneous acceleration is the change of velocity of an object during an infinitesimal time interval, that is, the acceleration at a given moment

a lim

t 0

v dv d 2 x t dt dt 2

(2.6)

Motion Under Constant Acceleration

For the motion under constant acceleration, the acceleration will be equal to average acceleration, that is, v v0 a t t0 And since acceleration is the derivative of velocity, that is, the slope of v-t diagram, since the acceleration is constant, that is, the v-t curve is a line, hence the average velocity during a time interval is

vavg

v v0 2
(2.7)

From the two equations above, setting the reference time to be zero, we have v v0 at

Replace the Vavg and V in the second equation above by Eq.(2.3) and Eq.(2.7) with respectively, we have

1 x x0 v0t at 2 2
Now express t by Eq.(2.7) and substitute it into Eq.(2.9), then we have
v 2 v02 2a ( x x0 )

(2.8)

(2.9)

Freely Falling Object

Freely falling object is most common type of motion under constant acceleration, the acceleration is the

gravitation acceleration g=9.8 m/s, usually we choose upward as positive direction, hence the acceleration in freely falling object will be g, and the equations for constant acceleration motion are listed below
v y v0 y gt

y y0

v y v0 y 2

1 y y0 v0 y t gt 2 2
2 v2 y v0 y 2 g ( y y 0 )

Motion Under Variable Acceleration

From Eq.(2.4), we multiply dt both side then integral over a time interval

x0

dx vdt
t0

Where x and x0 is the position corresponding to the time t and t0, hence, we can obtained
x x 0 vdt
t0 t

(2.10)

Similarly, we have
v v 0 adt
t0 t

(2.11)

and from calculus, we have the mean value of velocity can be given by 1 t 1 t vavg vdt vdt t t0 t0 t t0 thus, Eq.(2.10) and Eq.(2.11) can be expressed by
x x0 vavg t v v0 aavg t

(2.12) (2.13)

When constant acceleration, Eq.(2.12) and Eq.(2.13) becomes Eq.(2.6) and Eq.(2.7).