Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Kinematics
Quantities Velocity
Units Acceleration
Vectors Kinematics
Vectors: Scalars:
Displacement Distance
Velocity Speed
Acceleration Time
Momentum Mass
Force Energy
Mass vs. Weight
Mass
Scalar (no direction)
Measures the amount of matter in an object
Weight
Vector (points toward center of Earth)
Force of gravity on an object
5 m/s
42
Units
Units are not the same as quantities!
Quantity . . . Unit (symbol)
Displacement & Distance . . . meter (m)
Time . . . second (s)
Velocity & Speed . . . (m/s)
Acceleration . . . (m/s2)
Mass . . . kilogram (kg)
Momentum . . . (kg m/s)
Force . . .Newton (N)
Energy . . . Joule (J)
SI Prefixes
Little Guys Big Guys
Kinematics definitions
Kinematics branch of physics; study
of motion
Position (x) where you are located
Distance (d ) how far you have
traveled, regardless of direction
Displacement (x) where you are in
relation to where you started
Distance vs. Displacement
You drive the path, and your odometer goes up
by 8 miles (your distance).
Your displacement is the shorter directed
distance from start to stop (green arrow).
What if you drove in a circle?
start
stop
Speed, Velocity, & Acceleration
m/s
a = +2 mph / s a = -3 s = -3 m / s 2
Velocity & Acceleration Sign Chart
VELOCITY
A
C
+ -
C
E Moving forward; Moving backward;
L
E
+ Speeding up Slowing down
R
A
T
I Moving forward; Moving backward;
O
N
- Slowing down Speeding up
Acceleration due to Gravity
Near the surface of the This acceleration
Earth, all objects vector is the
accelerate at the same same on the way
rate (ignoring air up, at the top,
resistance). and on the way
down!
a = -g = -9.8 m/s2
9.8 m/s2
vf = v0 + a t
v = (v0 + vf ) / 2
avg
1 2
x = v0 t +
2
a t
vf2 v02 = 2 a x
(derivations to follow)
Kinematics Derivations
a = v / t (by definition)
a = (vf v0) / t
vf = v0 + a t
x = v0 t + 1 a t 2
2
(cont.)
Kinematics Derivations (cont.)
vf = v0 + a t t = (vf v0) / a
x = v0 t + 1at2
2
1
2
x = v0 [(vf v0) / a] + a [(vf v0) / a] 2
Notevthat
f v 0 = 2 a x
2 the top
2 equation is solved for t and that
expression for t is substituted twice (in red) into the
x equation. You should work out the algebra to prove
the final result on the last line.
Sample Problems
1. Youre riding a unicorn at 25 m/s and come to
a uniform stop at a red light 20 m away.
Whats your acceleration?
A D
starting point
x Tangent
Lines
t
Increasing
Decreasing
t
Graphing Animation Link
Car Animation
x Graphing Tips
t
t
Real life
Note how the v graph is pointy and the a graph skips. In real
life, the blue points would be smooth curves and the green
segments would be connected. In our class, however, well
mainly deal with constant acceleration.
t
Area under a velocity graph
v forward area
backward area
backward area
t
v (m/s)
12 Area units
t (s)
2.24 ms
Answer
Uniform Acceleration
x = 1
x = 3 x = 5 x = 7
t:0 1 2 3 4
x:0 1 4 9 16
( arbitrary units )
a. max height 9 v2 / 2 g
b. hang time 6v/g
c. impact speed 3 v
Answers