Lecture 2 (PHY 107)

S P R ING 2 0 1 6
I N STRUC TOR : S U BI R G HOS H, P HD

Kinematics
Kinematics deals with the motion of objects.

Motions can be divided into three types:

Translational : Car moving down the highway

Rotational : Earth spin on its axis

Vibrational: Back and forth motion of a pendulum
In translational motion, moving objects are considered as particles regardless of their sizes. A particle is a
point-like mass having infinitesimal size.

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Displacement
The displacement of a particle is defined as the change in position.

x = 2 1
Displacement is an example of a vector quantity. It is positive if the particle has moved in the positive
direction of the x-axis and negative if the particle has moved in the negative direction of the x-axis.
A vector is a physical quantity that requires the specification of both direction and magnitude. By
contrast a scalar is a quantity that has magnitude but no direction.
Features of Displacement:
1. Its magnitude is the distance between the original and the final position
2. Its direction can be represented by a plus sign or a minus sign if the motion is along a single axis

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Average Velocity
The average velocity of a particle is defined as the particles displacement divided by the time interval during
which the displacement occurred.
=

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2 1
=

2 1

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Average Speed
The average speed of a particle, a scalar quantity, is defined as the total distance traveled divided by the
total time it takes to travel that distance:

=

Average speed does not include direction. Sometimes, average velocity is the same as average speed.
However, for some cases the two could be quite different.

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Sample Problem (Page 16)

You drive a pick up truck along a straight road for 8.4km at 70km/hr, at which point the truck runs out of
gasoline and stops. Over the next 30 minutes, you walk another 2.0km farther along the road to a
gasoline station.
a. What is your overall displacement from the beginning of your drive to the arrival at your station?
b. What is the time interval from the beginning of your drive to your arrival at the station?

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Sample Problem (Page 16) contd.

c. What is the average velocity from the beginning of your drive to your arrival at the station?
d. Suppose that to pump the gasoline, pay for it and walk back to the truck takes you another 45 minutes.
What is your average speed from the beginning of your drive to your return to the truck with the
gasoline?

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Instantaneous Velocity
Instantaneous velocity is defined as the velocity of a particle at a given instant.
The velocity at a given instant is obtained from the average velocity by the shrinking the time interval t
closer and closer to zero. As t dwindles, the average velocity approaching a limiting value, which is the
velocity at that instant:

= lim
=
0

Speed is the magnitude of velocity, for example, a velocity of 5m/sec and one of -5m/sec both have an
associated speed of 5m/sec

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Acceleration
The average acceleration of a particle is defined as the change in velocity vx divided by the time interval t
during which that change has occurred
=

The instantaneous acceleration (simply acceleration) is =

2
2

The acceleration of a particle is the second derivative of its position with respect to time.
It is a vector quantity, having both magnitude and direction.

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Sample Problem (Page 21)

A particles position on the x-axis is given by = 4 27 + 3 with x in meters and t is seconds.
a. Find the particles velocity function v(t) and acceleration function a(t).
b. Is there a time when = 0 ?

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Exercise
The velocity of a particle moving along the x-axis varies in time according to the expression = 40

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Constant Acceleration

Note that there is a subtle difference between equation

2-15 and 2-18 one involves the initial velocity and the
other involves the velocity v at time t.
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Constant Acceleration
Which one of the following equations represents constant acceleration ?

a. = 5 3 + 4 2 + 6
b. = 5 2 - 3

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Freely Falling Object

A freely falling object is any object moving freely under the influence of gravity alone, regardless of its
initial motion
Objects thrown upward or downward and those released from rest are all freely falling once they are
released.
Any freely falling object experiences an acceleration directed downward, regardless of its initial
motion.

The free-fall acceleration is negative that is , downward on the y-axis, toward Earths center.
It has a value g in the equations, - g = -9.8m/s2 . The magnitude of acceleration is g = 9.8 m/s2

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Example
A ball is tossed straight up at 25m/sec. Estimate its velocity every 1sec.

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Sample Problem
A pitcher tosses a baseball up along a y-axis with an initial speed of 12m/sec.
a. How long does the ball take to reach its maximum height?
b. What is the balls maximum height above the release point?
c. How long does the ball take to reach a point 5.0m above its release point?

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