The University of Zambia

School of Natural Sciences

Department of Physics

PHY1010: Introductory Physics

Lecture 2: Kinematics

Maluba Vernon Chisapi, PhD

2022-2023 Academic year-Part I

Learning outcomes
At the end of the chapter, students must be able to:
1. Describe motion of objects in terms of displacement, veclocity, and acceleration.
2. Use the displacement-time, velocity-time, and acceleration-time graphs to describe motion of
objects.
3. Use the equations of linear motion to solve problems regarding motion of objects.

Prescribed reading material

1. Principles of Physics 6th Ed. by F. J. Bueche.
2. College Physics 11th Edition by R.A Serway & C. Vuille.

1 Introduction
Motion makes a big part of our everyday life. In this Lecture you will be introduced to the
basic principles of mechanics governing the motion of objects. A complete description of motion
quantitatively requires that one understands certain properties of motion, such as displacement,
velocity, and acceleration in terms of dimensions of length and time. This is what is usually called
kinematics, the quantitative description of motion without reference to physical causes. On the

1
contrary, the study of the relationship between motion and its causes is called dynamics, a subject
of later chapters.

2 Uniformly accelerated motion

Here we look at motion of objects in one dimension, with a primary focus on constant or uniform
velocity and acceleration. A constant or uniform acceleration is when the velocity of the object
increases by equal amounts over the same time intervals. Non-uniform acceleration is beyond the
scope of this chapter.

2.1 Distance and Speed

• A car moving at a given (constant) speed will cover a specific distance in a given time. if we
denote distance as d, speed as v, and time as t, then we can write
d = v × t. (1)
Making v subject of the formula,
d
v= . (2)
t
Note that distance d and time t have units but do not have direction which makes them
scalar quantities. Recall that the SI units of distance is meter m while that of time is second
s. Therefore, speed v being a calculated quantity is also a scalar quantity whose unit is m/s
(same as velocity as will be shown later).
• A car’s speedometer shows the speed (i.e. how fast the car is moving), it has nothing to do
with the direction in which it is moving.
• Of course distance and time can be given in other units, e.g. Km, cm, and h, minutes, etc.
You must ensure the calculated quantity has its correct units derived from the quantities
involved.
• Often you hear of the average speed. This is when the speed is not constant. In which case
the equation is written as,
total distance travelled
Average speed = .
total time taken
d
v= (3)
t

2.2 Displacement and velocity

• Displacement of an object is the change in position or location from one place in space and
time to another. It is a vector quantity whose magnitude is a straight-line between the initial
and the final point. Simply, the shortest distance between points A and B.
• Unlike speed, which is a scalar quantity, velocity is a vector quantity defined as the displacement
from start to finish divided by the time taken.
• We generally try to distinguish between the so called instantaneous velocity, which is
defined as the velocity of an object at a particular instant in time, and the average velocity,
defined as total displacement from start to finish over the total time taken.
total displacement
Average velocity = (4)
total time taken
2
 800 m B

Distance

200 m

Displacement

A
Figure 1: Difference between displacement and distance.

x ∆x xf − xi
v= or = (5)
t ∆t tf − ti

Example 1:
If a car takes 20 hrs to go from point A to B.
i. Find the average speed.
d 800 km
v= = = 40 km/h
t 20 h
ii. Find the average velocity.
x 200 km
v= = = 10 km/h, north east
t 20 h

• Since displacement is a vector quantity, if you start and finish at the same point your
displacement, hence your average velocity are both zero regardless of the distance you travelled.
• We often encounter the need to calculate the average velocity, but in some cases we may be
required to find the velocity of an object at a specific point in time, the so called instantaneous
velocity, is defined as
∆x
Instantaneous velocity = v = lim . (6)
∆t→0 ∆t

The lim∆t→0 means that the ratio ∆x/∆t is repeatedly evaluated for smaller and smaller time
intervals ∆t, such that as ∆t approaches 0, ∆x/∆t approaches a fixed number of v called the
instantaneous velocity.
• Note that the magnitude of the instantaneous velocity at a point is equal to the instantaneous
speed at that point. Explain why.
• The slop on a displacement versus time graph between any two points, say A and B, is the
average velocity of the object between those two points.
• The slope of the graph of displacement versus time at any point is equal to the instantaneous
velocity at that point.

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2.3 Acceleration
Acceleration is the rate at which velocity changes.
change in velocity
acceleration =
time taken
∆v v−u
a= = , (7)
t t
Which can also be written as v = u + at.
• If an object is gaining velocity with time, it is said to be accelerating or have positive
acceleration, while if it is slowing down its acceleration is negative, also known as deceleration.
• Acceleration is constant or uniform if the velocity of an object is changing by an equal amounts
in equal time intervals.
Example 2:
Consider a car that starts from rest and accelerates at a constant velocity of 20 m/s in 8 s as it
travels eastwards. Find the car’s acceleration.
Solution:
info: u = 0 m/s (from rest), v = 20 m/s (final velocity), t = 8 s (time taken), a =?
v−u 20 m/s − 0
a= = = 5/2 = 2.5 m/s2
t 8s

If the car starts slowing down and takes 12 s to come to rest. Find (i) the average acceleration?
(ii) the distance it covers while slowing down.
Solution:
info: u = 20 m/s, v = 0 m/s, t = 12 s, a =?, x =?
(i)
v−u 0 − 20
a= = = −1.7 m/s2
t 12
The negative sign shows that a is opposite the direction of v, hence describes the slowing down of
the car (i.e. the car is decelerating at 1.7 m/s2 ).
(ii)
x = vt = 20[m/s] × 12[s] = 240 m

2.4 Equations for uniformly accelerated motion

For uniformly accelerated motion, i.e. where the object is moving in a straight line and its velocity
changes by equal amounts in equal time intervals, the following equations applies. If we take motion
in the +ve x-direction to be positive, hence the opposite is negative.
1. Average velocity v for motion of object in the +ve x-axis is
x
v= (8)
t

2. For constant acceleration, the average and instantaneous acceleration will be the same.
v−u
a= or v = u + at (9)
t
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 3. The object is undergoing uniform acceleration, its velocity is changing linearly with time from
u to v. The average velocity of the object between any two points, say A and B, is therefore
the mean of the initial and final velocities:
u+v
v= (10)
2

These 3 equations are sufficient to describe motion of an object provided it involves uniform
(constant) acceleration.
Example 3:
A car travelling at 5.0 m/s east slows down until it comes to rest in a distance of 20.0 m. Find its
acceleration and the time it takes to come to a complete stop.
Solution:
info: u = 5.0 m/s, v = 0.0 m/s, x = 20.0 m, t =?, a =?
To find the time, we note that the l.h.s of Eq. 8 is equal to the l.h.s of Eq. 10, hence we can solve
for t, the only unknown.
u+v x
= ,
2 t
2x 2 × 20.0
−→ t = = = 8.0 s.
u+v 5.0

Having found t, we can use Eq. 9 to calculate the acceleration;

v−u 0 − 5.0
a= = = −0.63 m/s2
t 8.0

2.4.1 Derivation of additional equations of motion

Example 3 above gives us an idea of how to use the 3 equations of uniformly accelerated motion
(Eq. 8 to Eq. 10) in combination to solve for the unknown using the only available information.
In this section we use these 3 equations to derive 2 more equations that will help us describe motion
of uniformly accelerated objects.
1. Take Eq. 10 and substitute v with the r.h.s of Eq. 8;
u+v x 1 
= =⇒ x = u+v t (11)
2 t 2
From Eq. 9, t = (v − u)/a, substitute this for t in Eq. 11.
! !
u+v v−u
=⇒ x = (12)
2 a

Show that Eq. 12 reduces to

v 2 = u2 + 2ax. (13)

2. We can also substitute v in Eq. 11 by Eq. 9;

1  1  1 1 
x= u+v t= u + (u + at) t = ut + u + at t (14)
2 2 2 2
Show that Eq. 14 reduces to
1
x = ut + at2 . (15)
2
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So, once again for uniformly accelerated motion, we now have five (5) equations we can use to solve
any problem:

x = vt (16)
u+v
v= (17)
2
v = u + at (18)
v 2 = u2 + 2ax (19)
1
x = ut + at2 (20)
2

Example 4:
A car starting from rest accelerates at 5 m/s over a distance of 30 m.
(i) How fast is it going?
(ii) How long did it take to travel this distance?
Assume linear motion in the positive x direction
Solution:
info: u = 0 m/s, a = 5 m/s2 , x = 30 m, v =?, t =?
(i) We can quickly calculate v using Equation 19 (since it is the only unknown).

v 2 = u2 + 2ax = 0 + 2ax
√
=⇒ v = ± 2ax
√
v = ± 2 × 5 × 30
= ±17.3 m/s

Quadratic equations gives two solutions, i.e. positive and negative. Because we decided motion is
in the positive x direction, we take the positive solution. ∴ v = 17.3 m/s in the positive x direction.
(ii) To calculate time taken, we can use either Eq. 18 or Eq. 20 since t is now the only unknown in
these 2 equations. Take for instance Eq. 20;
1 1
x = ut + at2 = 0 + at2
r 2 2
2x
=⇒ t = ±
a
r
2 × 30
=± = 3.5 s
5
∴t=4s