A branch of Mechanics

which describes the

motion of objects using
words, diagrams,
numbers, graphs, and
equations

Study of motion of bodies without

regard to the forces acting on the body.

Has mass, but its dimensions are

negligible or unimportant in the
problem being investigated.

A system of particles that remain at

fixed distances from each other with no
relative translation or rotation among
them.

Differentiate distance and displacement.

a scalar quantity, the total path
covered by an object in motion.
a vector quantity, the
shortest distance from the initial to the final
position of an object.

How do we
describe the
motion of
objects?

A scalar quantity
A measure of how fast an
object moves
Speed = distance / time

=the speed of an object at any one instant

= measured by the speedometer

The measure of the total distance traveled at a given

period of time.

A vector quantity
Rate of how an object changes its
position
Used to describe speed and direction

A vector quantity

Rate at which object changes its velocity

 change its speed

Change its direction
Change both speed and direction

velocity is
changing by a
constant amount
each second

Position vs time graph

Velocity vs time graph
Acceleration vs time graph

1. What is the average speed of a cheetah that

sprints 100 m in 4 s? How about if it sprints 50
m in 2 s?
2. If a car moves with an average speed of 60
km/h for an hour, it will travel a distance of 60
km.
a. How far would it travel if it moved at this
rate for 4h.
b. for 10 h?

3. A particular car can go from rest to 90 km/h in

10 s. What is its acceleration?
4. In 2.5 s a car increases its speed from 60 km/h
to 65 km/h while a bicycle goes from rest to 5
km/h. Which undergoes the greater
acceleration? What is the acceleration of each
vehicle?

1. A girl moves at a constant speed in a constant

direction. Say the same sentence in fewer
words.
2. The speedometer of a car moving to the east reads
100 km/h. It passes another car that moves to the
west at 100 km/ h. Do both cars have the same
speed? Do they have the same velocity?
3. During a certain period of time, the speedometer
of a car reads a constant 60 km/h. Does this
indicate a constant speed? A constant velocity?

Summary of Formulas:

v vo at

1 2
d vot at
2

v v0 2ad
2

v f vo
2

v vo
2

SAMPLE PROBLEMS:
1. A sprinter is able to produce an acceleration of
8.0 m/s2 for the first 0.75 s of a race. Calculate
the velocity of the sprinter at the end of the first
0.75 s?

2. Now suppose that the sprinter continues to run

at 6.0 m/s until the end of the race. After
crossing the finish line the sprinter decelerates
at 2.0 m/s2 . How long will it take her to stop?

3. If a freight train can accelerate at 0.050 m/s2, how far

must it travel to increase its speed from 2.0 to 8.0 m/s?
B) How long will it take the train to accomplish this?

4. The human body can survive a negative acceleration

trauma incident (sudden stop) if the magnitude of the
acceleration is less than 250 m/s2. If you are in a car
accident with an initial speed of 105 km/h and are
stopped by an airbag that inflates from the dashboard,
over what distance must the airbag stop you for you to
survive the crash?

SAMPLE PROBLEMS:
5 . An engineer is designing the runway for an
airport. Of the planes which will use the airport,
the lowest acceleration rate is likely to be 3
m/s2. The takeoff speed for this plane will be 65
m/s. Assuming this minimum acceleration, what
is the minimum allowed length for the runway?
6. A car accelerates from 12 m/s to 25 m/s in 6s.
What was its acceleration? How far did it travel
in this time? Assume constant acceleration.

1. A girl moves at a constant speed in a constant

direction. Say the same sentence in fewer
words.
2. The speedometer of a car moving to the east reads
100 km/h. It passes another car that moves to the
west at 100 km/ h. Do both cars have the same
speed? Do they have the same velocity?
3. During a certain period of time, the speedometer
of a car reads a constant 60 km/h. Does this
indicate a constant speed? A constant velocity?

SEATWORK:
1. How long will it take a car to accelerate

from 10m/s to 13m/s if it produces an

acceleration of 3m/s2 ?
2. How long will it take a car to cover a
distance of 100 m if it accelerates from
rest at a rate of 4.0 m/s2 ?

SEATWORK:
3. How long will it take a car to cover a distance
of 250 m if it accelerates from rest at a rate of
4.0 m/s2 ?
4. A dolphin decelerates for 2.0 s from an initial
speed of 7.5 m/s in order to take a look at a
dolphin of the opposite sex. Calculate the
dolphins final speed if the deceleration had a
magnitude of 1.5 m/s2 .

SEATWORK:
5. An ice skater decelerates for 5.0 s to a final
speed of 12 m/s. If the deceleration was at a
rate of 1.5 m/s2 . What is the skaters initial
speed?

CHALLENGE PROBLEM:
A car 3.5 in length and traveling at a constant speed
of 20 m/s is approaching an intersection. The width of
the intersection is 20m. The light turns yellow when
the front of the car is 50m from the beginning of the
intersection. If the driver steps on the brake, the car
will slow at -3.8 m/s2 . If the driver instead steps on
the gas pedal, the car will accelerate at 2.3m/s2 . The
light will be yellow for 3.0s. Ignore the reaction time
of the driver. To avoid being in the intersection while
the light is red, should the driver hit the brake pedal
or the gas pedal?

CHALLENGE PROBLEM:

Two cars are 20 m apart. Car 1 is initially at rest

and car 2 is moving at a speed of 19m/s to the
left. The first car started to accelerate at 2m/s2
to the right and car 2 continues to move at a
constant velocity, when will the two cars pass
each other?

CHALLENGE PROBLEM:

Two cars are 50 m apart. Car 1 is travelling at

12 m/s to the left while car 2 is travelling at 10
m/s to the right. If both cars accelerate at 2
m/s2 , when will they pass each other?

ROAD SAFETY

Ref: http://users.tpg.com.au/users/mpaine/speed.html#speedcrash

ROAD SAFETY

Ref: http://www.rotr.ie/rules-fordriving/speed-limits/speed-limits_2-second-

NO SPEED LIMIT!

An object falls under

the influence of
gravity alone
It is not affected by
air resistance

Summary of Formulas:

v vo gt
1 2
d vot gt
2

v v0 2 gd
2

v = gt

d = (1/2)

2
gt

THE VANISHING COIN

Free- fall

- Happens if the only force acting on the object is

the gravitational force

d = (1/2) gt2
t=

 Average

reaction time of a person = 0.16 s

d = 1.5 cm or 0.015 m
g = 9.8 m/s2

t=

t = 0.055s

1. A cat steps off a ledge and drops to the ground in

second.

a. What is its speed on striking the ground?

b. How high is the ledge from the ground?
2. What is the velocity acquired by a freely falling
object 5s after being dropped from a rest position?
What is it 6s after? If it has reached the ground after
10s, from what height was it dropped? What is its
velocity before hitting the ground?

3. A properly motivated kangaroo can jump over an

object 2.5 m high. A) Calculate its speed when it left
the ground. B) Calculate its speed when it returns to
the ground.
4. A child throws a ball straight down off the balcony
of an apartment building at a speed of 7.5 m/s. a)
Calculate the position and the velocity of the ball 1
and 2 s later. B) Make same calculations if the ball is
thrown straight up.

5. A rock is thrown straight up with an initial speed of

10 m/s. a) What distance does the rock rise above its
point of release? b) How long does it take the rock to
reach its highest point?
6. A stone is thrown vertically upward with a speed of
12 m/s from the edge of a cliff 75 m high. A) How
much later does it reach the bottom of the cliff? What
is its speed just before hitting the bottom? What is
the total distance travelled?

7. A youngster throws a rock from a bridge into the

river 50 m below. The rock has a speed of 15m/s
when it leaves the youngsters hand.How much later
does it strike the water? Calculate the velocity of the
rock when it strikes the water a) if it is thrown straight
upward ; b) if its is thrown straight downward.

Seatwork
1. A boulder is ejected straight up out of a volcano at
a speed of 80 m/s. a) To what maximum height will it
rise above the point where it was ejected?
2. A rock is dropped into a 60.0 m deep well. A)
Neglecting air resistance, how long will it take the
rock to reach the bottom? B) calculate the position of
the rock 1,2 and 3 s after its release.

3. A rock is thrown from the rooftop 10 m from the

ground. It is thrown with an initial velocity of 12m/s.
How much later does it strike the water? Calculate
the velocity of the rock when it strikes the water a) if
it is thrown straight upward ; b) if its is thrown
straight downward.
4. If a rock is dropped from a high cliff, how fast will it
be going when it has fallen 100m?b) How long will it
take to fall this distance?

CHALLENGE PROBLEM:

A rock is dropped from a sea cliff and the

sound of it striking the ocean is heard 3.4 s
later. If the speed of sound is 340m/s, how high
is the cliff?

THANK YOU.