MODULE 1 : DESCRIBING MOTION

Motion is defined as the change in position over an interval of time

Many of the things around us move. Some move slowly like the turtles and clouds,
others move much more quickly like the satellites. Because motion is so common, it
seems to be very simple. But in science, describing motion actually entails careful
use of some definitions.
This module provides you with scientific knowledge and skills necessary to describe
motion along a straight path. You will learn to describe the motion of objects in
terms of position, distance travelled, and speed. You will also learn to analyze or
represent motion of objects using charts, diagrams, and graphs. While these all
provide the same information about the motion of objects, you will find out that one
may be more helpful than the other depending on your particular objective.
At the end of this module, you are expected to answer the following
questions:
When can we say that an object is in motion?
How do we describe the motion of an object?
Where?
Before you will be able to describe the motion of an object, you must first be able to
tell exactly where it is positioned. Describing exact position entails two ideas:
describing how far the object is from the point of reference and describing its
direction relative to that point of reference.
Reference point is something that seems steady that is used to compare the
position of an object.
How Far?
In science, motion is defined as the change in position for a particular time interval.
You can then start describing motion with the question, How far did the object
travel? There are actually two ways to answer this question. Firs butt is by getting
the total length of the path travelled by the object. In Figure 5 for example, the dog
ran 10m to the east, then 5m to the south, and another 10m to the west. So it has
travelled a total of 25 meters. The other way is by measuring the distance between
the initial position and final position of the object. Based again on Figure 5, the dog
has travelled 5 meters to the south.
In science, the first measurement gives the distance travelled by the object
(represented by broken lines) while the second measurement gives its
displacement (represented by continuous line).

Distance - the length of the entire path that the object travelled.
- Does not always follow a straight line

Displacement - the shortest distance between the objects two positions,

like the distance
between its point of origin and its point of destination, no
matter what path it
took to get to that destination
Always follow a straight line

When can displacement be equl to distance?

- When a path travelled is a straight line
Can displacement be greater than distance?
- No, it can be shorter but it cannot be greater than the distance
.