By Keiji Oenoki

Welcome to the first chapter of Learn PHYSICS Today!

If you are new to studying physics, you will need to be familiar with some
basic algebra. In this chapter, we will review important math techniques.
Don't let numbers and calculations intimidate you. This chapter will help you
become more familiar with math.

1. Units
2. Scientific Notation
3. Significant Digits
4. Graph
5. Trigonometry
6. Chapter 1 Quiz

Section 1: Units
The metric system of measurement is the standard in the world. The
fundamental units include the second (s) for time, the meter (m) for
length, and the kilogram (kg) for mass.
You should know how to convert from one unit to another.
3600 60 1
= =
seconds minutes hour
100
=1 meter
centimeters
1
1000 grams =
kilogram

Section 2: Scientific Notation

When expressing an extreme large number such as the mass of Earth,
or a very small number such as the mass of an electron, scientists use
the scientific notation. The basic format of scientific notation is M *
10n, where M is any real numbers between 1 and 10 and n is a whole
number.
100 = 1
101 = 10
102 = 10 * 10 = 100
103 = 10 * 10 * 10 = 1000
10-1 = 1 / 10 = 0.1
10-2 = 1 / 10 / 10 = 0.01
10-3 = 1 / 10 / 10 / 10 = 0.001
For example, the mass of Earth is about
6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg
and can be written as 6.0 * 1024 kg.
Also, the mass of an electron is
0.000000000000000000000000000000911 kg
and can be expressed as 9.11 * 10-31 kg.

QUESTION: Express 8.213 * 102 in decimal number.

QUESTION: Solve 4 * 102 + 3.2 * 103.

Section 3: Significant Digits

The significant digits represent the valid digits of a number. The
following rules summarize the significant digits:

1. Nonzero digits are always significant.

2. All final zeros after the decimal points are significant.
3. Zeros between two other significant digits are always significant.
4. Zeros used solely for spacing the decimal point are not
significant.
The table below is an example:
# of significant
values
digits
5.6 2
0.012 2
0.0012003 5
0.0120 3
0.0012 2
5.60 3
In addition and subtraction, round up your answer to the least precise
measurement. For example:
24.686 + 2.343 + 3.21 = 30.239 = 30.24
because 3.21 is the least precise measurement.
In multiplication and division, round it up to the least number of
significant digits. For example:
3.22 * 2.1 = 6.762 = 6.8
because 2.1 contains 2 significant digits.
In a problem with the mixture of addition, subtraction, multiplication or
division, round up your answer at the end, not in the middle of your
calculation. For example:
3.6 * 0.3 + 2.1 = 1.08 + 2.1 = 3.18 = 3.2.

QUESTION: Solve 5.123 + 2 + 0.00345 - 3.14.

QUESTION: Solve -9.300 + 2.4 * 3.21.

Section 4: Graph
Three types of mathematical relationships are most common in
physics.
One of them is a linear relationship, which can be expressed by the
equation y = mx + b where m is the slope and b is the y-intercept.

Another relationship is the quadratic relationship. The equation is y

= kx2, where k is a constant.

The third equation is an inverse relationship, expressed by xy = k,

where k is a constant.

Section 5: Trigonometry
Trigonometry is also important in physics. When you have a right-
angled triangle, the following relationships are true:

Trigonometry will become important when you study vectors.

QUESTION: You are looking up at the top of a tree that is 10 m apart
from you. If the tree is 15 m taller than you, at what angle are you

looking upward? (e.g. 30.0)

By Keiji Oenoki [physics@amersol.edu.pe]

We will begin our study of physics with a study of motion.
Look around you, and you will find that almost everything is in
motion: flying birds, running people, falling books, etc. We will
analyze their motions and think about how fast the object moves
and how far.

1. Distance and Displacement

2. Average Velocity and Instantaneous Velocity
3. Position-time Graph
4. Velocity-time Graph
5. Relative Motion
6. Chapter 2 Quiz

Section 1. Distance and Displacement

Distance and displacement are different. When you traveled 50
km to the East and then 20 km to the West, the total distance you
traveled is 70 km, but your displacement is 30 km East.

In physics, we say that distance is a scalar and displacement is

a vector. Scalar has a magnitude and vector has both a magnitude
and a direction. Scalar is one dimensional and vector is two
dimensional.

QUESTION: A car moved 50 km to the North. What is its

displacement?

(e.g. "10 km East")

QUESTION: A car moved 20 km East and 70 km West.
What is the distance?

km

Section 2. Average Velocity and Instantaneous Velocity

Velocity shows how fast an object is moving to which
direction. Average velocity can be calculated by dividing
displacement over time.
For example, when a car moved 50 km in 2 hours, the average

velocity is 25.5 km/h because .

The instantaneous velocity shows the velocity of an object at
one point. For example, when you are driving a car and its
speedometer swings to 90 km/h, then the instantaneous velocity of
the car is 90 km/h.

QUESTION: A car moved 20 km East and 60 km West in 2 hours.

What is its average velocity?

km/h
QUESTION: How far will a car travel in 15 min at 20 m/s?

km

Section 3. Position-time Graph

A position-time graph simply shows the relationship between
time and position. From the following data, for example,
time (s) 0 1 2 3 4 5
position (s) 0 20 50 130 150 200
You can draw the following graph:

For math-crazy only: The tangent of a position-time graph

represents velocity since
QUESTION: Answer the questions using the
previous graph:
What is the average velocity during the first 2
seconds?

m/s
What is the average velocity of the whole trip?

m/s

Section 4. Velocity-time Graph

A velocity-time graph shows the relationship between velocity
and time. For example, if a car moves at constant velocity of 5 m/s
for 10 seconds, you can draw a velocity-time graph that looks like
this:

The area below the line represents the displacement the object
traveled since it can be calculated by xy, or (time * velocity) which
equals to displacement.

QUESTION: Calculate the distance

travelled by the car.

Section 5. Relative Motion

When the car A is at 50 km/h and the car B is at 30 km/h at
opposite direction, the velocity of the car A relative to the car B is
80 km/h.

QUESTION: If you are walking at constant velocity of 5 km/h

and a car passed you by at the speed of 20 km/h from behind,
what is the car's velocity from your viewpoint?

km/h
QUESTION: If you are running at constant velocity of 5 m/s,
what is your relative velocity to Earth?

m/s

Top of Form

By Keiji Oenoki [physics@amersol.edu.pe]

In the previous chapter, we have analyzed objects with constant
velocity. When the velocity of an object changes, the object is said
to be accelerated. In this chapter, we will further analyze the
motion and think about how fast an object moves, how far it moves
and for how long.

1. What is acceleration?
2. Average Acceleration and Instantaneous Acceleration
3. More Velocity-time Graph
4. Displacement and Constant Acceleration
5. Acceleration Due to Gravity
6. Chapter 3 Quiz
Section 1. What is acceleration?

When an object's velocity changes, it

accelerates. Acceleration shows the change in velocity in a unit
time. Velocity is measured in meters per second, m/s, so
acceleration is measured in (m/s)/s, or m/s2, which can be both
positive and negative.

Section 2. Average Acceleration and Instantaneous

Acceleration
The average acceleration is the ratio between the change in
velocity and the time interval.

For example, if a car moves from the rest to 5 m/s in 5 seconds, its
average acceleration is

An instantaneous acceleration is the change in velocity at one

moment. We will study instantaneous acceleration more in depth
later in the chapter.

QUESTION: If a car accelerates from 5 m/s to 15 m/s in 2

seconds, what is the car's average acceleration?

m/s/s
QUESTION: How long does it take to accelerate an object from
rest to 10 m/s if the acceleration was 2 m/s2?

s
QUESTION: Carl started to run at 10 km/h when he left his
house. He arrived at school 30 minutes later. How fast was he
running when he arrived there? Assume that his average
acceleration was 30 km/h2.

km/h
Section 3. More Velocity-time Graph
Let's examine more about a velocity-time graph. We can say that
the tangent of a velocity-time graph represents
instantaneous acceleration since

For example, the instantaneous acceleration when t = 3 at the

below graph is 3 m/s2, since the graph has a slope of 3 when t = 3.

QUESTION: What is the instantaneous acceleration of the above

object when t = 0?

m/s
QUESTION: What is the average acceleration of the whole trip?
(When t = 7, velocity = 26 m/s)

m/s/s
QUESTION: Does above object has a constant acceleration?

(Yes/No)

Section 4. Displacement and Constant Acceleration

In this section, we will assume that acceleration is always constant.
We know that the area under the line of a velocity-time graph
represents the displacement. Therefore, the equation
is true, where Vi is the initial velocity and Vf is the final velocity,
since the area of a triangle is 1/2 * width * height.

QUESTION: If a car accelerated from 5 m/s to 25 m/s in 10

seconds, how far will it travel?

The final velocity of a uniformly accelerated object is

,
where:
• Vf is the final velocity in m/s,
• Vi is the initial velocity in m/s,
• a is acceleration in m/s2, and
• t is time in second.
Therefore, by substituting it to the previous equation,

therefore, is true. If you don't understand the

derivation, don't worry. The red formulae are the ones that you
should learn.
QUESTION: What is the displacement of a car whose initial
velocity is 5 m/s and then accelerated 2 m/s2 for 10 seconds?

From equations and , we can also say that

Therefore, is true. These four red equations are very

important and you should be very familiar with them. (It doesn't
mean that you should memorize these formulae. Learn by using
them.)

QUESTION: What is the final velocity of a car that accelerated

10 m/s2 from rest and traveled 180m?

m/s

Section 5. Acceleration Due to Gravity

Galileo was the first to find out that all objects falling to Earth have
a constant acceleration of 9.80 m/s2 regardless of their
mass. Acceleration due to gravity is given a symbol g, which
equals to 9.80 m/s2.
Therefore, if you drop a pen, it should behave like this...
Time Velocity Displacement
(s) (m/s) (m)
0 0 0
1 9.8 4.9
2 19.6 19.6
3 29.4 44.1
4 39.2 78.4
For all previous equations, we can substitute g for a:
QUESTION: How long will it take for an apple falling from a
29.4m-tall tree to hit the ground?

s
Top of Form

By Keiji Oenoki [physics@amersol.edu.pe]

In previous chapters, we studied how objects move. In this chapter,
we will study why objects move as they do. We will study Newton's
Laws of Motion, which explain the relationship between
acceleration and force. We will also use Newton's Laws for problem
solving.

1. What is a Force?
2. Newton's First Law of Motion
3. Newton's Second Law of Motion
4. Newton's Third Law of Motion
5. Mass and Weight
6. Friction
7. Chapter 4 Quiz

Section 1. What is a Force?

Force can be defined as a push or a pull. (Technically, force is
something that can accelerate objects.) For example, when you
throw a baseball, you apply a force to the ball. Force is measured
by N (Newton). A force that causes an object with a mass of 1 kg
to accelerate at 1 m/s is equivalent to 1 Newton.
Section 2. Newton's First Law of Motion
You will have to learn a new terminology here: net force. Net
force is the sum of all forces acting on an object. For example, in a
tag of war, when one team is pulling the tag with a force of 100 N
and the other with 80 N, the net force would be 20 N at the
direction of the first team (100 N - 80 N = 20 N).

QUESTION: If both teams pull the tag with equal force, what
would the net force be?

When you slide your book on floor it will stop soon. When you slide
it on icy surface, it will travel further and then stop. Galileo
believed that when you slide a perfectly smooth object on a
frictionless floor the object would travel forever.
Isaac Newton developed the idea of Galileo further. He concluded
that an object will remain at rest or move with constant
velocity when there is no net force acting on it. This is called
Newton's First Law of Motion, or Law of Inertia.

Section 3. Newton's Second Law of Motion

Newton's First Law deals with an object with no net force. Newton's
Second Law talks about an object that has net force. It states
that when the net force acting on an object is not zero, the
object will accelerate at the direction of the exerted force.
The acceleration is directly proportional to the net force
and inversely proportional to the mass. It can be expressed in
formula
F = ma
where:
• F is the net force in N,
• m is the mass of an object in kg and
• a is its acceleration in m/s2.
From this formula, we can say that force is something that
accelerates an object.

QUESTION: How much net force is required to accelerate a

1000 kg car at 5.00 m/s2?

N
QUESTION: If you apply a net force of 1 N on 200 g-book, what
is the acceleration of the book?

m/s2

Section 4. Newton's Third Law of Motion

When you kick the wall in your room, you will probably end up
hurting your foot. Newton's Third Law of Motion can explain
why: when one object applies a force on a second object,
the second object applies a force on the first that has an
equal magnitude but opposite direction. In other words, when
you kick the wall, the wall kicks you back with equal force. As a
result you will get hurt. These forces are calledaction-reaction
forces.
Remember when you kick the wall, you exerts force on the wall.
When the wall kicks you back, it exerts force on you. Therefore, the
net force on the wall is not zero and the net force on your foot is
not zero neither.

QUESTION: What is the net force on 200 g ball when it hits a

wall with acceleration of 10 m/s2?

Section 5. Mass and Weight

Mass and weight are different in physics. For example, your mass
doesn't change when you go to the Moon, but your weight does.
Mass shows the quantity, and weight shows the size of gravity.
If you know your mass, you can easily find your weight because
W = mg
where:
• W is weight in Newton (N),
• m is mass in kg, and
 • g is the acceleration of gravity in m/s2.
If your mass is 70 kg on Earth, your weight is
W=(70 kg)(9.8 m/s2) = 686 N.
Weight is measured by Newton (N).

QUESTION: What is the mass of an object that has a weight of

115 N on the Moon? The gravity of the Moon is 1/6 of g (which is
9.8 m/s2).

kg

Section 6. Friction
You will have to learn another vocabulary before you proceed:
the normal force. The normal force acts on any object that
touches surface (either directly or indirectly). The normal force
would be applied on a ball on a table, but not on a ball in the air,
for instance. It always acts perpendicularly to the surface. The
formula to calculate the normal force is
FN = - mg
where:
• FN is the normal force in Newton (N),
• m is the mass in kg, and
• g is the gravitational force in m/s2.
For example, the normal force acting on a 70 kg-person would be
FN = - (70 kg)(-9.8 m/s2) = 686N

QUESTION: What is the normal force acting on the same

person on the Moon?

Now, we will talk about friction.

When you slide your book on floor, it will come to stop because of
the force of friction. Friction is the force that acts between two
object in contact because of action-reaction.
Force of friction can be calculated by the formula
where:
• Ff is the force of friction in N,

• is the coefficient of friction, and

• FN is the normal force in N.

The value of depends on surface you are dealing with. The

following table shows some example of .

Surface Value of
rubber on dry
~1
asphalt
rubber on wet
0.95
asphalt
steel on steel 0.18
steel on ice 0.010
rubber on ice 0.005

For example, if you throw a 500 g book on floor where = 0.1, the
force of friction would be:

Ff = = (0.1)(0.5 * 9.8) = 0.49 N

QUESTION: What is the value of if the force of friction on a

300 g book was 0.5 N?

Top of Form

By Keiji Oenoki [physics@amersol.edu.pe]

We have analyzed the motion in one dimension so far, such as the
movement of a car in a straight line. We will start to analyze the
motion in two dimensions in this chapter. There is nothing difficult
in this chapter, since the study of motion in two dimensions is all
about reducing two dimensional forces into one.

1. Simple Breakdown of Forces

2. Two Dimensional Forces into One
3. One Dimensional Forces into Two
4. Forces involving Gravity
5. Forces in Three Directions
6. Chapter 5 Quiz

Section 1: Simple Breakdown of Forces

You can break down forces into several components easily. For
example, the force F1can be broken into two forces: Fx and Fy.

The following formulas are true:

Fx = cos A * F1
Fy = sin A * F1
The idea of "breaking down forces" is very important in this
chapter.

Section 2. Two Dimensional Forces into One

You can combine two forces into one. Suppose Jack pushed a box
with a force of 30 N at 0 degree and Michael pushed it with a force
of 40 N at 45 degrees. How can we find the net force acting on the
box?
The first thing you have to do is to find all forces on x direction (x
axis) only. Jack exerts 30 N and Michael exerts (cos 45 * 40) N at x
direction. Therefore, the total force on x direction would be
30 N + (cos 45 * 40) N = 58.3 N. [E]
Then, you will have to analyze all forces on y direction (y axis).
Since Jack exerts no force and Michael exerts (sin 45 * 40) N, the
total force on y direction would be
0 N + (sin 45 * 40) N = 28.3 N. [N]
To find the combination of Jack and Michael's forces, we can just
combine forces on x and y directions. Therefore, using the
Pythagorean Theorem, we can calculate that

N
is the magnitude (size) of the combined forces.

QUESTION: Find the angle of the combined force.

deg
QUESTION: If Jack exerts a force of 30 N on the box at west and
Michael 40 N at north, find the total force exerted on the box.

Section 3: One Dimensional Forces into Two

You can also break down forces. For example, Fred pushed a box to
the east and Jack pushed it to the north. If the net force is 100 N to
north east by 45 degrees,
the force applied by Fred would be
FFred = cos 45 * 100 = 70.7 N
and the force by Jack is
FJack = sin 45 * 100 = 70.7 N

QUESTION: If the angle was 60 degrees, what is the force

applied by Fred?

N
QUESTION: If the net force was 200 N at 45 degrees, what is
the force applied by Jack?

Section 4. Forces involving Gravity

When you place a box on an inclined plane, the box will slide. What
is the force that makes it slide?

First, the force of gravity is acting on the box. The force of gravity
acts perpendicular to the horizontal ground.
Also, the normal force is acting on the box since it is on the
inclined plane. (The normal force acts on all objects on the
ground.) The normal force always acts perpendicular to the
surface, not to the horizontal. If the plane has an incline of x
degrees, then
FN = Fg * cos x
since FN is leaning x degrees to the left (Fg is the force of gravity).
There is also a force of friction between the box and the plane. It
acts parallel to the surface, not to the horizontal.
The below drawing summarizes the forces acting on the box:

When you combine FN and Fg, a single force that acts parallel to
the surface will be generated. This force, called the force of
parallel (F//), causes the box to move forward. F// can be calculated
by Fg * sin x.

To conclude, the mixture of the force of parallel and the force of

friction determines how the box moves. If the force of parallel is
larger than the force of friction, the box will slide. If both forces
have equal magnitude, the box will not slide. If the force of friction
is larger than the force of parallel, the box will move upward. (Just
kidding. The force of friction can never be greater than the force of
parallel.)

QUESTION: If the angle of the inclined plane is 30 degrees and

the box has a mass of 50 kg, how big is the FN that acts on the
box?

N
QUESTION: The weight of the box is 490 N and the angle of the
plane is 30 degrees. How big is the force that makes the box
move if there is no friction?

Section 5. Forces in Three Directions

If you see a mixture of three or more forces like below,

All you have to do is to calculate forces on x direction, on y

direction, and add these two forces into one to get the total net
force.

Top of Form

By Keiji Oenoki [physics@amersol.edu.pe]

In this chapter, we will study the motion in two dimensions further.
First, we will analyze the path that any object takes when it is
thrown in the air. We will see that all falling objects follows the
same path. Then, we will analyze the motion that repeats itself,
such as the motion of the propeller.

1. Projectile Motion
2. Circular Motion
3. Chapter 6 Quiz
Section 1. Projectile Motion
Objects launched are called projectiles. The flight of baseballs
and basketballs are some examples of projectile motions. Let's
analyze the projectile motion by breaking down the forces acting
on the object.
Suppose a ball was thrown horizontally at the velocity of 5 m/s.

Let's think about forces acting on x-direction, or horizontal

direction, only. We know that the ball was thrown at the velocity of
5 m/s. Because no other force acts on the ball in the air, we know
the velocity will stay constant (because the net force is zero).
Therefore, after 5 seconds, the ball is
d = vt = 5 m/s * 5s = 25 m
25 m away. After 10 seconds,
5 m/s * 10 s = 50 m
The ball is 50 m away.

QUESTION: How far will the ball travel in 3 seconds in

horizontal direction?

Let's now think about the forces in y-direction, or vertical direction.

Because gravity is the only force acting on it, the ball will
accelerate at the rate of -9.8 m/s2, i.e. 9.8 m/s2downward. After 2
seconds, the ball has traveled 19.6 m because

= 0 + 4.9 * 22 = 19.6 m

QUESTION: How far has the ball traveled after 4 seconds in

vertical direction?

Now, let's combine two forces at x and y directions and see

its displacement. When t = 0, i.e. right after the ball was thrown,
the displacement on x and y direction are both 0. When t = 1, after
1 second, the displacement on x direction is 5 m and on y direction
is -4.9 m. When t = 2, the ball traveled 10 m on x direction and
-19.6 m on y direction. To summarize,
Time vs. Displacement
Displacement on Displacement on
Time
X Y
0s 0m 0m
1s 5m -9.8 m
2s 10 m -19.6 m

QUESTION: What is the displacement of the ball in x

direction after 3 seconds?

m
QUESTION: What is the displacement of the ball in y
direction after 3 seconds?

Now, let's look at velocity rather than displacement. When t = 0,

the velocity on x direction is 5 m/s, while 0 m/s on y direction.
Therefore, the total velocity of the ball is 5 m/s using Pythagorean
Theorem. When t = 1, while the velocity on x direction stays the
same, the velocity on y direction becomes -4.9 m/s. Therefore, the
total velocity of the ball when t = 1 would be

m/s
To summarize,
Time vs. Velocity
Time Velocity on X Velocity on Y Total Velocity
0 5 m/s 0 m/s 5 m/s
1 5 m/s -4.9 m/s 7.0 m/s

QUESTION: What is the velocity of the ball in x

direction when t = 2?

m/s
QUESTION: What is the velocity of the ball in y
direction when t = 2?
 m/s
QUESTION: What is the total velocity of the ball
when t = 2?

m/s

The left drawing summarizes what

we've learned so far. The red dot
represents the positions of a falling
ball with 0.5 seconds of interval.
You can see that it moves at
constant velocity on x direction,
while accelerates on y direction. As a
result, the path of the ball will follow
the path of parabola.

Section 2. Circular Motion

Motion that repeat itself is called periodic motion. A projectile
motion, since it doesn't repeat, is not periodic. The motion of a
swinging ball is an example of circular motion. Let's analyze the
circular motion.
Consider a planet around the Sun.

When there is no external force, an object will travel in a straight

line (Newton's First Law of Motion). In order for an object to travel
in a circle, there has to be a force that makes it travel in a circle.
An object in circular motion always tries to move in a straight line
(Law of Inertia). However, there is a force that acts toward the
center of the motion. This force is called the centripetal force.
It is the centripetal force that makes an object travel in a circular
path. This force could be friction or a gravitational force, but we
call it a centripetal force.

When the centripetal force is too strong, the ball will accelerate
toward the center of the circle. When the centripetal force is too
weak, the ball will get out of the orbit. An object will maintain a
circular motion only when the centripetal force is well balanced.
These formulas can be used to calculate the centripetal force:

Where:
Fc: is the centripetal force (N)
m: is the mass (kg)
ac: is the centripetal acceleration (m/s2)
v: is the speed (m/s)
r: is the radius of the circle (m)
t: is the period (the length of time required for one complete
rotation) (s)
Too complicated? Let's see a concrete example.
You are rotating with Earth, so you are experiencing a circular
motion.
Say you have a mass of 50 kg. We know the radius of the circle
(6,378,000 m = radius of Earth) and its period (24 hours = 86400
seconds). From this information, you can calculate velocity,
acceleration, and centripetal force acting on you.

To calculate velocity, use the formula .

m/s = 1670 km/h.

To calculate acceleration, use the formula .

m/s2.
You can see that we don't accelerate much (which is obvious).

QUESTION: A ball with a mass of 250 g has a centripetal

acceleration of 5 m/s2. What is the centripetal force acting on this
ball?

N
QUESTION: A ball with a speed of 10 m/s is in a circular motion.
If the circle has a radius of 20 m, what would the period of the
ball be?

s
QUESTION: The Moon's orbit around earth is nearly circular. The
orbit has a radius of about 385,000 km and a period of 27.3
days. Determine the acceleration of the moon toward Earth.

m/s2

Top of Form

By Keiji Oenoki [physics@amersol.edu.pe]

This is the last chapter of Lesson 1. In this Lesson, you have
learned how objects move and why. This chapter will summarize
everything you learned. In this chapter, we will observe how a ball
behaves under different conditions, and review what we have
studied so far.

1. Dropping a Ball
2. Throwing a Ball Horizontally
3. Throwing a Ball
4. Bouncing a Ball
5. Chapter 7 Quiz

Section 1. Dropping a Ball

Let's start with the simplest thing: dropping a ball. We know that
the ball will fall straight down when you drop it, since we applied
no force on x-direction. The velocity on x-direction is zero and the
acceleration is also zero.
The ball will fall because of gravity. We know that the force of
gravity applies to any object. The ball's acceleration on y direction
is -9.8 m/s2. Its initial velocity is zero.
The velocity of the ball is not dependent on its mass. The velocity
is, however, dependent on its surface area and air resistance. We
ignore the air resistance since it can make things complicated.
The following illustrates how the ball will fall:

The following table shows how to calculate position, velocity, and

acceleration of the ball at a given time t.
Displacement Velocity Acceleration
x-direction d=0 v=0 a=0

y-direction v = at a = -9.8

Section 2. Throwing a Ball Horizontally

Next, think about throwing a ball in horizontal direction with an initial
velocity of A. Then, the velocity of the ball on x direction is A, and it will
stay unchanged since there is no force that will influence its movement in
horizontal direction. The acceleration on x direction is zero, because the
net force on the ball is zero.
The acceleration of the ball on y direction is -9.8 m/s2, and its initial
velocity is zero. The ball will behave like this:

You can change the initial velocity on x direction and see how it behaves.
The following table shows how to calculate displacement, velocity, and
acceleration of the ball.
Displacement Velocity Acceleration
x-direction d = At v=A a=0

y-direction v = at a = -9.8

Section 3. Throwing a Ball

Next, think about how a cannon ball flying through the air. Let's say the
ball was thrown with an initial velocity of V with an angle of a.

You can break down V into Vx and Vy. Vx = cos a * V and Vy = sin a * V.
The velocity on x direction is Vx. The acceleration on x is zero.
The velocity on y direction is Vy. The acceleration on y is -9.8 m/s2.
The following will simulate the movement of the ball:

You can change the initial velocity and angle, and see how far the ball
travels. Note that the ball will travel the farthest when the angle is 45
degrees.
Displacement Velocity Acceleration
x-direction d = Vx * t v = Vx a=0

y-direction v = Vy + at a = -9.8
Section 4. Bouncing a Ball
When you throw a ball on a rug, it doesn't bounce much. When you throw
the ball to floor, it bounces higher. The reason is in the coefficient of
bounce.
Whenever two objects collide, the following equation is true:
V2 = e * V1
where V1 is the velocity before collision, V2 is the velocity after collision,
and e is a constant. This constant e is called the coefficient of bounce,
which ranges from 0 to 1. When there is no friction between the two
objects, e = 1. As the friction increases, the value of e approaches to 0.
We can say that a rug has a lower coefficient of bounce than floor.
Probably e = 0.2 in a rug, and e = 0.8 on floor.
You can experiment with the coefficient of bounce below:

Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt

July, 1997
http://library.thinkquest.org/10796/ch7/ch7.htm
Comments or Questions to physics@amersol.edu.pe
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