Scalar and Vector

● Scalar
○ quantities that are fully described by a magnitude (or numerical value)
alone.
● Vectors
○ quantities that are fully described by both a magnitude and a
direction.

Distance and displacement

● Distance is how far an object travels
○ It is a scalar quantity because it only has magnitude (size) and no
direction
● Displacement describes the overall change in position of an object and its
direction
○ It is a vector quantity because it has both size and direction. The
direction part can be a compass directions or a bearing, left, right, up,
down, forwards or backwards
○ Can be area under graph for when speed is on y and time on x
Speed
● Speed is a measure of how fast any moving object is travelling.
○ It is defined as the distance travelled per unit of time
○ It is a scalar quantity because it only has size and no direction
● Average Speed
○ object’s average speed (speedav) , to calculate average speed,
divide the total distance travelled by the total
○ It can also be determined by the gradient (slope) of a position–time
graph.

𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑑
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑣 = 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑣 =
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡
𝑑 = 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑣 ×𝑡
𝑑
𝑡=
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑣

● Instantaneous Speed
○ the speed at any given instant in time

Calculating Speed:
final speed = starting speed + acceleration × time taken or v = u + at
Calculating Distance:
distance = speed x time or s = vt.
Unit Conversion
● To convert m/s to km/h, multiply by 3.6, to convert km/h to m/s, divide by 3.6.

Velocity
● Velocity is speed in a particular direction and is therefore a vector quantity (a
measurement of both size and direction)
○ Average velocity (vav) of an object is calculated in a similar way to
average speed, but displacement (s) is used instead of distance (d)
○ direction of the average velocity is the same direction as the
displacement

𝑠
𝑉 𝑎𝑣 =
𝑡

Acceleration
● Acceleration is a vector quantity that is defined as the rate at which an
object changes its velocity.
● Acceleration is the rate of change of speed, increasing
● Deceleration (or negative acceleration), decreasing
○ Acceleration is measured in units of metres per second per second
(m/s/s) or metres per second squared (𝑚/𝑠 2 or 𝑚𝑠 −2 )

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑
𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
(𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 − 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑)
𝑎=
𝛥𝑡

𝛥𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑
𝑎= 𝛥𝑡

● V is the final velocity

● U is the initial or starting velocity
● t is the time taken for the change
in speed to occur.

● The acceleration of 9.8𝑚/𝑠 2 is

acceleration due to gravity and is given the symbol 𝑔
● Acceleration is indicated by the gradient of a speed–time graph.
● Constant acceleration
○ Accelerating object changing its velocity by same amount each
second
Newton's Laws
● English scientist Isaac Newton (1642–1727) formulated three laws to explain
the nature of motion.
● A force is a push or a pull acting upon an object as a result of its interaction
with another object. Force has the symbol F and is measured in Newtons (N).
First Law
The law of inertia
● Newton’s first law states: An object remains at rest or in constant motion in a
straight line unless acted on by a net unbalanced force.
● Inertia keeps stationary objects stationary too. The effect of inertia is to keep
an object in the same type of motion it was in. The larger the mass of the
object, the more inertia it has.
Second Law
F=ma
● Newton’s second law states: The acceleration of an object is directly related
to the magnitude and direction of the force acting on the object, and
inversely related to the mass of the object: F = ma.
● Newton’s first law deals with the consequences of zero net force, but if an
object does have net force acting on it then the object will change its speed,
direction or both. A moving object will speed up (accelerate) if a net force
acts on it in the same direction as it is moving
● Total force measured in Newton (N), mass (kg) and acceleration (m/s2)
Third Law
Action-Reaction
● Newton’s third law states: For every action force, there is an equal and
opposite reaction force
● Different masses have different accelerations and reach different speeds
● According to Newton, whenever objects A and B interact with each other,
they exert forces upon each other.
Mass versus Weight
● in Physics, weight is a force, not a mass
● Weight is the force of gravity acting on an object, mass is the amount of
matter in an object.

Mass Weight and Net force

● Mass is the amount of matter in an object. It never changes unless you remove a bit
from it or add more to it. The weight of an object is the force of gravity on the object
and may be defined as the mass times the acceleration of gravity, w = mg. Since the
weight is a force, its SI unit is the newton.
● Weight is the force of gravity acting on an object, measured in newtons. It is
equal to the product of the mass of the object (in
kilograms) and the constant g, where g = 9.8 m/s2

Weight = mass × acceleration due to gravity

W=m×g

● Net Force, is a force that is not cancelled out or balanced by any other force.
It will cause a change in the motion of an object.
● When the mass is in kilograms (kg) and the acceleration is in metres per
second squared (𝑚/𝑠 2 ), the net force will be in Newtons (N).

Net force = mass × acceleration

𝐹 𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 𝑚 × 𝑎

What is a force?
● A force is a push, pull or twist that causes an object to either:
○ increase its speed (accelerate)
○ decrease its speed (decelerate)
○ change its direction, or, change its shape.
● If any of these things happen, then a force caused it. Force is measured in newtons.
Force and Vector Diagrams
● A force diagram is a way to clearly represent all the forces acting on an
object. The forces are drawn as lines with arrowheads. The direction of the
arrowhead shows the direction of the force. The length of each line shows the
size of each force.
● A vector diagram shows the net force acting on an object. It is similar to a
force diagram, but all the forces are ‘added’ together to show the overall net
force, or resultant force

Acceleration without change in speed

● Acceleration can also occur when an object changes its direction.
● Since accel is a vector quantities, then acceleration is a change in velocity
over time. Velocity ( v ) has both magnitude and direction, so even if the
speed remains the same, if an object changes direction, it is accelerating.
This is because its velocity is changing direction.

Energy and Motion

Types of energy
Kinetic Energy
● The energy of motion is called kinetic energy (KE).
● The larger the mass of an object, the greater its KE. Also, the faster an object is
travelling, the greater its KE.
● KE is proportional to the square of the speed (or velocity) of the object.
● Mass is in (kg)
1
𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 = × 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 × 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 2
2
1
𝐾𝐸 = × 𝑚 × 𝑣 2
2
Gravity potential energy
● If we lift an object to a height, it gains gravitational potential energy (GPE).
● The larger the mass and the height, the more gravitational potential energy
the object gains. with mass in kilograms (kg), height in metres (m) and GPE in
joules (J).
● Gravity is 9.8 m/s2
𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑃𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 × 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 × ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
𝐺𝑃𝐸 = 𝑚 × 𝑔 × ℎ
Elastic Potential Energy
● Elastic potential energy (EPE) is the potential energy stored as a result of
distorting an elastic object, such as a ball.
● k is the spring constant, a measure of how ‘stiff’ the object is measured in units
of newtons per metre (N/m), x is the extension or compression, is in metres
(m), and EPE is in Joules (J).
𝐸𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑃𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦
1
= × 𝑠𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 × 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑
2
1
𝐸𝑃𝐸 = × 𝑘𝑥 2
2
Law of conservation of energy
● Whenever energy is transformed from one form into other forms, the total
energy of the system is always constant because extra energy cannot be
created, nor can energy be destroyed. This is called the law of conservation
of energy
Energy Efficiency
𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚
𝑬𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎
𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚
Transformation of energy
● Often the transformation of energy is not 100% efficient as some of it is lost as
heat or sound energy.

Work and Energy in collision

● Crumple zones of cars are designed to absorb energy by crumpling during a
crash. In scientific terms, the crumpling occurs when work is done.
● Work is done whenever things are moved or rearranged by a force. The
amount of work done depends on the size of the force and the distance over
which the force acts. The larger the force acting, the greater the work done.
● The longer the distance over which the force acts, the greater the work done.
● Work and energy are scalar quantities, so no direction is needed. If you apply
a force to an object and it does not move, then no work is done. When a
force is applied to an object and it moves, the object will gain energy. The
change in the amount of kinetic energy is equal to the amount of work done.

Work
● If the force is measured in newtons (N) and the distance is measured in
metres (m), the work done will be in joules (J).

Work = force applied × distance moved

W=F×d
Vehicle Collisions
● The vehicle has KE because they are moving. When car strikes the wall, the
car stops very quickly. When it stops, the LOCOE tells us that the KE must have
been converted into other forms of energy. The change in KE is equal to the
work done. Newton’s 2nd law tells us that a net force has acted over a
distance to stop the car.
● Passengers had to stop over some distance. Newton’s 2md law tells us that a
force had to act to bring the person to rest. If the force is large enough, then
it will do work on the passenger harm them. The seatbelt and airbag have
applied the force to the passenger and brought them to rest.

Seatbelts, crumple zones and airbags

● Seatbelts apply net (unbalanced) forces to you as the car changes speed
and direction, they reduce force on you in an accident by slowing you down
over a larger distance when they stretch. As it stretches, you slow down over
a larger distance, and therefore your acceleration is less.
○ Since F = ma, if the acceleration (or deceleration) is less, then force is
less. Less force means less work is done and there are fewer injuries in a
crash.
● Airbag is an automatic cushion that increases the distance it takes you to
stop (often called the stopping distance).
○ If you stopped by hitting the steering wheel or dashboard, then your
stopping distance would be very short. The work done to stop you
would be the same, but the forces would be higher because the
stopping distance is smaller.
● The front and rear crumple zones of a car are designed to crumple evenly
during crash to absorb energy of a collision, keeping the passenger area
more intact and undamaged.
○ Crumple zones also allow the car to stop over a larger distance and
decrease the size of the force on the passengers.
● Safety devices in cars disperse the KE that the car and passengers have from
when they were moving. This energy is converted into heat, sound and
damage (work done) to the car and the passengers. These safety devices
minimise damage to the passengers by directing the energy into damaging
the car instead.
Energy Transformations in Sport
● When a ball is struck, the bat, racquet, club, foot or hand has KE. When the
ball is struck, it is compressed and energy is stored in the ball as EPE
● The conversion of KE to EPE in a collision is never 100% efficient. Some energy
is converted into sound and you can hear the collision.
● In addition to sound, energy in a collision is converted into the motion of the
particles in the colliding objects. We can detect this energy transformation as
a rise in temperature
● The types of transformations responsible for losses of energy in these collisions
are heat and sound.

Human Collision
● When a player is tackled, the KE the players have is transformed into physical
damage as work is done. Body parts are compressed, blood vessels are
ruptured and bones are broken. Energy is lost when permanent damage is
done.
● Some of the energy in these collisions is transformed back into KE as the
players bounce off each other.
● Even playing a non-contact sport involves collisions, forces and many
resulting injuries. Every time your feet touch the ground it is a collision. Some of
these collisions result in damage to muscles, tendons and joints.
Graphs
Distance Time Graphs
● Distance–time graphs show the total distance travelled by an object as time
progresses. Time is always placed on the horizontal axis and distance on the vertical.

Position time graphs

● A position–time graph is a picture of the motion of an object. The ‘picture’ is a
line to show the object’s position (or displacement) at a given time from its
starting point.
● Time is always on the horizontal axis and position is always on the vertical axis.
Graphing speed
● It is useful to represent an object’s speed graphically. This is called a speed–
time graph. In these graphs, speed is plotted on the vertical axis and time on
the horizontal axis.
Motion Graphs
● They describe the movement of an object, usually uses detailed answers
Ticket Timer
● A ticker-timer is a device which can be used for recording both time and
distance.
● If this tape is attached to a moving object, a series of dots appear on the
paper tape. Each dot will be made 1/50 second apart.
● Constant speed
○ Count along the tape from the first dot, marking off every 5th dot.
Because the dots are 1/50 second apart, 5 dots represent 5/50 or 0.1
second. The tape is then cut along each mark and stuck on a piece of
graph paper in the correct order.
● Constant acceleration
○ In this case each strip will represent 1/50 or 0.02 second
Key Terms:
Distance - this measures the actual distance travelled. Distance does not involve the
direction in which you move at any time in your journey.

Displacement - this measures how far you end up from where you started, and in which
direction (up, left, north, towards the window etc.). Displacement is distance but with
direction.

Velocity - Velocity is speed in a given direction.

Kinetic energy - When something moves it has kinetic energy. The heavier the car, the more
kinetic energy it has and the more work and damage it can do.

Potential energy - Potential energy is stored energy—it gives the object the potential to do
work