General Physics (Phys 1011), Lecture note Acc year 2024/2025 GC

Chapter_ 2, Kinematics in one Dimensions

The study of motion and of physical concepts such as force and mass are called dynamics.
The part of dynamics that describes motion without regard to its causes is called kinematics.
In this chapter, we focus on basic physics of motion where the object moves along a single axis
(one-dimensional motion). The line may be vertical, horizontal, or slanted, but it must be straight.
Motion is a continuous change of position; whereas position is location of an object relative to
some reference point, often the origin (or zero point) of an axis such as the x-axis.

Position on an axis that is marked in units of length

1. Distance and Displacement
1.1. Distance (𝑆 𝑜𝑟 𝑑, … , ): - Total length of the path traveled by an object. It is a scalar
quantity, meaning it is fully described by its magnitude alone, and it is always positive
or zero (𝑆 ≥ 0).
In the context of distance, direction is not a factor, as it only represents the total amount of
ground covered. The standard unit for distance is the meter (𝑚).

𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑡 = 𝑠1 + 𝑠2 + 𝑠3 + ⋯ 𝑠𝑛
1.2. Displacement (𝑆⃗𝑜𝑟 𝑑⃗, … , ) :- refers to the change in position of a moving object,
typically measured from its initial position to its final position. It is a vector
quantity, and can be +𝑣𝑒, −𝑣𝑒, or zero. Or it is defined as the shortest straight-line
distance from the initial position to the final position, along with the direction.

𝛥𝑆⃗ = 𝑆⃗𝑓 − 𝑆⃗𝑖

Example 1. Consider the case of a particle moving from point A to point D, as shown.

(i) (ii)
a. Find distance and displacement for both case 𝑖, 𝑖𝑖
b. Find direction of displacement of the particle (for fig, i)?

1 | Page Bogale T
 General Physics (Phys 1011), Lecture note Acc year 2024/2025 GC

2. Speed and Velocity

2.1. Speed and average speed: - Speed is the ratio of the distance travelled by any object,
irrespective of its direction, to the time it takes to travel that distance (how fast an
object is moving). Its SI unit is meter per second (m/s or ms-1). When the speed of a
body varies, then we should use the term average speed (𝑉𝑎𝑣 ) since we are determining
the average value.
𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
𝑉𝑎𝑣 =
𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
2.2. Velocity Average Velocity: rate of change of position of a body in a particular
⃗⃗𝒂𝒗 ) is:
direction. Its SI unit is m/s. average velocity (𝒗
∆𝑆⃗ 𝑆⃗𝑓 − 𝑆⃗𝑖
⃗⃗𝒂𝒗 =
𝒗 =
∆𝑡 𝑡𝑓 − 𝑡𝑖

𝑥(𝑡2 ) − 𝑥(𝑡1 )
𝑆𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒 = = 𝑽𝒂𝒗𝒈
𝑡2 − 𝑡1

⃗⃗𝒂𝒗 of an object over a given time interval can be determined by calculating the slope of the
𝒗
straight line that connects the initial and final positions on a distance versus time graph.
Instantaneous velocity (𝑽𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 ): is the velocity at which the object is moving at that exact instant.
It reflects the object's speed and direction at that particular moment.

∆𝑥⃗ 𝑥⃗(𝑡 + ∆𝑡) − 𝑥⃗(𝑡)

𝑉𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 = lim =
∆𝑡→0 ∆𝑡 ∆𝑡
For uniform motion 𝑉𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 = 𝑉𝑎𝑣

Example:
1. A car travelled 40km east in 1hr and then travelled 80km north in 2hrs. Calculate
(a) its average speed, and
(b) its average velocity

2 | Page Bogale T
 General Physics (Phys 1011), Lecture note Acc year 2024/2025 GC

𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 40𝑘𝑚+80𝑘𝑚 120𝑘𝑚 𝑘𝑚

a) 𝑉𝑎𝑣 = = = = 40
𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 1ℎ𝑟+3ℎ𝑟 3ℎ𝑟 ℎ𝑟
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
⃗⃗𝑎𝑣 =
b) 𝑉 ⃗⃗𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 + 𝑉
=𝑉 ⃗⃗north
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
40𝑘𝑚 2 80𝑘𝑚 2 𝑘𝑚
𝑉𝑎𝑣 = √𝑉 2 2 √
𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 + 𝑉 north = ( ) +( ) = 56.57
1ℎ𝑟 2ℎ𝑟 ℎ𝑟
And
80𝑘𝑚
𝜃 = tan−1 ( ) = tan−1(2) = 64°
40𝑘𝑚
Therefore

⃗⃗𝑎𝑣 = 56.57 𝑘𝑚 , 64° with respect to the east direction

𝑉
ℎ𝑟
𝑐𝑚
2) The position vector of a body moving along the x-axis is given by 𝑥 = 10 𝑡 2 . Compute
𝑠2
its instantaneous velocity at time 𝑡 = 2𝑠.
∆𝑥
𝑉𝑖𝑛𝑠 (𝑡) = lim and ∆𝑥 = 𝑥(𝑡 + ∆𝑡) − 𝑥(𝑡)
∆𝑡→0 ∆𝑡

3. Acceleration (𝒂 ⃗⃗): -- is rate of change of velocity of a moving object. It indicates how

quickly the velocity of an object is changing, either in terms of speed or direction. SI unit
is meters per second squared (m/s2).

3 | Page Bogale T
 General Physics (Phys 1011), Lecture note Acc year 2024/2025 GC
∆𝑣⃗ 𝑣⃗𝑓 − 𝑣⃗𝑖
𝑎⃗ = =
∆𝑡 𝑡𝑓 − 𝑡𝑖

In some situations, the value of the average acceleration may be different over different time
intervals.
It is therefore useful to define the instantaneous acceleration (𝑎⃗𝑖𝑛𝑠 ) as the limit of the average
acceleration as 𝛥𝑡 approaches zero.
𝑣⃗(𝑡 + ∆𝑡) − 𝑣⃗(𝑡)
𝑎⃗𝑖𝑛𝑠 = lim
∆𝑡→0 ∆𝑡

3.1. Motion with constant acceleration

Velocity changes at the same rate throughout the motion.

Fig., velocity – time graph for

rectilinear motion
Hence the average acceleration 𝑎𝑎𝑣 can
be replaced by the constant acceleration
𝑎, and we have
𝑣 − 𝑣0
𝑎⃗ =
𝑡−0

4 | Page Bogale T
 General Physics (Phys 1011), Lecture note Acc year 2024/2025 GC
Or
𝑣 = 𝑣0 + 𝑎⃗𝑡……………………………… 1
The average velocity in any time interval equals one-half the sum of the velocities at the
beginning (𝑣0 ) and the end (𝑣) of the interval.
𝑣 + 𝑣0
𝑣𝑎𝑣 =
2
And
𝑥𝑓 +𝑥0 𝑥+𝑥0
𝑣𝑎𝑣 = = 𝑥 + 𝑥0 = 𝑣𝑎𝑣 𝑡
𝑡𝑓 −𝑡0 𝑡

Substituting for 𝑣𝑎𝑣 we obtain

𝑣 + 𝑣0
𝑥 + 𝑥0 = 𝑣𝑎𝑣 𝑡 = ( )𝑡
2
𝑣0 + 𝑣
𝑥 + 𝑥0 = ( )𝑡
2
If we eliminate 𝑣,
𝑣0 +(𝑣0 +𝑎⃗𝑡) 1
𝑥 + 𝑥0 = (
2
) 𝑡 = 𝑣0 𝑡 + 2 𝑎⃗𝑡2 ……………………………2
𝑣−𝑣0
From 𝑣 = 𝑣0 + 𝑎𝑡, 𝑡= , substitute this time equation to
𝑎
1 𝑣−𝑣0 1 𝑣−𝑣0 2 𝑣0 (𝑣−𝑣0 ) (𝑣−𝑣0 )2
𝑥 + 𝑥0 = 𝑣0 𝑡 + 2 𝑎⃗𝑡 2 = 𝑣0 ( ) + 2 𝑎⃗ ( ) = +
𝑎 𝑎 𝑎 2𝑎

1 2 2 2 1 2 1 2
𝑣0 𝑣 − 𝑣0 2 2 (𝑣 − 2𝑣0 𝑣 + 𝑣0 ) 𝑣0 𝑣 − 𝑣0 + 2 𝑣 − 𝑣0 𝑣 + 2 𝑣0
+ =
𝑎 𝑎 𝑎
1 2 1
(𝑥 + 𝑥0 )𝑎 = − 𝑣0 + 𝑣 2 ,
2 2
2
2𝑎(𝑥 + 𝑥0 ) = 𝑣 2 + 𝑣0 ………………………………………3
Equations of Uniformly Accelerated Motion: when acceleration (𝑎⃗) is constant and the motion is
in a straight line starting at the origin (𝑆0 = 0) 𝑎𝑡 𝑡0 = 0.
𝑣 + 𝑣0 𝑣 + 𝑣0
𝑣𝑎𝑣 = 𝑣 = 𝑣0 + 𝑎⃗𝑡 𝑠⃗ = 𝑣𝑎𝑣 𝑡 = ( )𝑡
2 2
1
𝑣 2 = 𝑣0 2 + 2𝑎⃗𝑠⃗ 𝑠⃗ = 𝑣0 𝑡 + 𝑎⃗𝑡 2
2

5 | Page Bogale T
 General Physics (Phys 1011), Lecture note Acc year 2024/2025 GC

Solution: (a)

(b) To know where the body is when the velocity is 6m/s

Free Fall Motion

Free fall motion refers to the motion of a body falling toward the Earth under the influence of
gravity, typically without air resistance.

In this idealized scenario, all objects, regardless of size or weight, experience the same constant
acceleration, denoted as (g) (approximately (9.81 m/s2) at a given point on the Earth's surface.

6 | Page Bogale T
 General Physics (Phys 1011), Lecture note Acc year 2024/2025 GC
This acceleration remains constant as long as the distance fallen is small compared to the Earth's
radius. The term "free fall" encompasses both falling and rising motions.

For freely falling bodies the motion is vertical along y- axis so that 𝑎 is replaced by g and x is
replaced by y in the equations of motion for rectilinear motion.

Example:
A stone is thrown from the top of a building with an initial velocity of 20𝑚𝑠⁄ straight upward. The
building is 50 𝑚 high, and the stone just misses the edge of the roof on its way down. Determine
(a) the time needed for the stone to reach its maximum height,
(b) the maximum height,
(c) the time needed for the stone to return to the level of thrower,
(d) the velocity of the stone at this instant, and
(e) the velocity and the position of the stone at 𝑡=5𝑠.
Soln. a) b)

c)

7 | Page Bogale T
 General Physics (Phys 1011), Lecture note Acc year 2024/2025 GC

8 | Page Bogale T
 General Physics (Phys 1011), Lecture note Acc year 2024/2025 GC

9 | Page Bogale T