PHYSICAL WORLD

KINEMATICS

DEFINITIONS
Vector: Described by magnitude and direction (e.g. 5km North)
Scalar: Described by just magnitude (5km)
NOTE: m/s = ms-1 and m/s2 = ms-2

DISTANCE VS DISPLACEMENT
Distance: How far you travelled
Displacement: Final position - initial position (use trig to find angle for direction)

Example: A cyclist rides a distance of 3km north, turns right and travels 4 km in an easterly direction. Calculate the
distance travelled by the cyclist and displacement of the cyclist.

Distance travelled = 7km

Displacement = 5km N 53.1°E

Example 2: A bus drives a distance of 9 km south, turns right and travels 4 km in a westerly direction. Calculate the
distance travelled by the bus and displacement of the bus.

Distance travelled = 13km

Displacement = 9.8 km S 24.0 ° W

SPEED
Speed: Δ Distance / Time (ms-1)
Average Speed: Total distance/Time (ms-1), can also be found using slope in distance time graph (steeper slope=
faster speed, shallow slope = slower speed)
Instantaneous speed: Speed at a specific point in time. For a curve or gradual increase, use a tangent to find slope
Constant Speed: Same speed at all time
Initial Speed: Speed at the start of journey (u)
Final Speed: Speed at the end of journey (v)

VELOCITY
Velocity: Displacement (v-u)/Time (ms-1)
Average Velocity: Displacement (v-u) /Total time, (ms-1)
Instantaneous velocity: Velocity at a specific point in time. For a curve or gradual increase, use a tangent to find slope
Constant Velocity: Same velocity at all time
Initial Velocity: Velocity at the start of journey (u)
Final Velocity: Velocity at the end of journey (v)
ACCELERATION
Acceleration: Measure of the rate of change at which velocity changes. Given by a = Δ V/T or a = v-u/t (ms-2)
Deceleration: Negative acceleration (-ms-2)

Acceleration of rotating object

If an object is rotating on a circular path such as a rotating ball on a string or an object in orbit, it
is moving at a constant speed, but still accelerating. Velocity is a tangent to the
movement so it keeps changing. This means that the acceleration is towards the centre.

DISTANCE/DISPLACEMENT TIME GRAPHS

We use line graphs to represent the relationship between the independent variable (on the x axis and the dependent
variable on the y axis. Usually in distance-time and displacement-time graphs, the time is one the x axis (independent
variable). Both types of graphs will have metres or kilometres as the distance units, with displacement-time graphs
also showing directions.

The Distance-time graph can tell us:

- The displacement and the time it took
- The direction
- The instantaneous displacement & velocity
- The average velocity (whether it is constant, increasing or decreasing)

Additionally, if we want to find the instantaneous velocity, we use the slope of the line to calculate this. However, if the
line is not a line, but a gradual increase, we must use the tangent, to find this instead.
Example: The motion of a cheetah was recorded using GPS tracking and plotted on the graph to the left. Find:

a) How far has the cheetah travelled after 4 minutes

b) How long did the cheetah take to reach 5 km
c) How much distance has the cheetah travelled after 14 mins
d) How long did the whole journey take
e) During which interval was the cheetah moving fastest? How can you tell?

a) 1km
b) 18 min
c) 3.5km
d) 34min
e) E-F, as it has the steepest gradient

Example 2: The motion of a cyclist was recorded using GPS

tracking and plotted on the graph to the left. Find:

a) How much distance has the cyclist covered after 2hrs

b) How long did the cyclist take to reach 8km
c) How much distance has the cyclist travelled after 5.5 hrs
d) What is the cyclists displacement after 5.5 hrs
e) What was the cyclist doing from 2.5 to 3.5 hrs. How can you
tell?

a) 6km
b) 2.5hrs
c) 16km
d) 0km
e) They stopped which can be seen as there is a horizontal line

‘
Example 3: Charlie, Nasir and Jake ran a 100m sprint race. Analyse the graph and answer the following questions.

a) State who won the race

b) Did all of the runners finish the race
c) Calculate the average speed of each
runner
d) Describe how Jake’s motion changed over
the track
e) Compare Nasir’s motion with that of
Charlie’s motion.
f) How would you find Jake’s instantaneous
speed at 14s
 a) Charlie
b) Yes
c) Charlie: 10ms-1 , Nasir: 7.69ms-1 , Jake: 5.56ms-1
d) He started off slow, but gradually got faster
e) At first, Nasir had a faster speed, but at 6 seconds he got tired, and Charlie overtook him, finishing first
f) Draw a tangent line at 14s, 6.25ms-1

VELOCITY TIME GRAPHS

The velocity time graph can tell us:
- The acceleration using the gradient
- Instantaneous velocity and acceleration
- Displacement (area under the graph)
- If the velocity is decreasing, then the acceleration is negative (deceleration)

REMEMBER: A CONSTANT xPOSITIVE GRADIENT IS CONSTANT

ACCELERATION AND SAME FOR NEGATIVE

Example: Find the distance travelled, and the instantaneous velocity at 1s

Distance travelled = 2 x (3) + 4 x 3 = 12m

Instantaneous speed = 1.5m/s

Example 2: Find the instantaneous acceleration at 40s, and the

acceleration from 50s to 100s

Instantaneous acceleration: 0m/s

Acceleration: 0-5/50 = -5/50 = -0.1ms-2

SUVAT - EQUATIONS OF MOTION

VARIABLES
s: displacement
u: initial velocity
v : final velocity
a : acceleration (acceleration due to gravity is -9.8ms)
t : time

Example: A rocket accelerates from rest to 2500 ms at 45ms. How long does this take, and how far does it travel?

The things we know are v, u, and a, and first we want to find t. We can rearrange the first formula to get:
t = v-u/a. If we sub the values in, we get: t = 2500/45 = 55.56 s.

In the 2nd part of the question, we are asked to find the displacement. To do this, we arrange the 4th formula to get: s
= v2-u2/ 2a. If we sub in the values, we get: s = 69444.4 m

Example 2: A bike accelerates from rest at 1.3ms-2 E for 9 seconds and then continues at uniform speed. It stops with
a uniform deceleration in 15s. It travels a total distance of 450m. Find the max speed, deceleration and how fair it
travels at constant speed.

If we imagine this problem, we can see that the max speed will be at 9 seconds. This speed can be calculated by
using: v = u + at: v = 11.7m/s.

Since we have v,u,t, and want to find the deceleration, we can derive v = u + at → a = v-u/t, giving us a deceleration:
-11.7/15 = -0.8m/s2

As we know the total distance was 450m, we subtract the distance from the other parts to find the distance of the
constant speed. For the first section, s = 11.7/2 x 9 = 52.65, and for the other section: s =

DYNAMICS
NEWTON'S LAWS
Force: A push or pull that can change the motion of a shape

1ST LAW OF MOTION

A body at rest remains at rest, or a body in motion at a constant speed will remain unchanged unless acted upon by a
net (unbalanced) force. This can be understood in the most common example: a body and car. Since there is no force
acted upon the red dot (human), their position remains unchanged, even when the car itself is manoeuvring.
2ND LAW OF MOTION
An object acted upon by a net force will accelerate in the direction of the net force. The force will be equal to the
acceleration times the time. F = ma, or a = F/m

We can see that the acceleration of the object is proportional to the net force.

And, acceleration is inversely proportional to mass.

UNITS
For the formula F = MA,
Force: Newtons (N)
Mass: Kilograms (Kg)
Acceleration: Meters per second squared (ms-2)
1 N = 1kg x m/s2

WEIGHT VS MASS
“WEIGHT” is a FORCE, not a MASS!
Acceleration due to gravity at the surface of the Earth is 9.8ms-2 for all objects. The force due to gravity on an object is
its weight, measured in newtons, not kg.

Weight = W = mg (from 2nd Law)

Example: What is your weight if you weigh 50kg on Earth

50 x 9.8 = 490 N
Example 2: What is your mass, if you weigh 400 N on a planet with acceleration of 5ms-2

400/5 = 80 kg

3RD LAW OF MOTION

For every action force there is an equal and opposite reaction force.
Whenever one object exerts a force on a second object, the second object exerts an equal magnitude but opposite in
direction force on the first.

FORCE DIAGRAMS
TYPES OF FORCES
Field Forces:
● Gravity: Constant force pulling us towards the ground
● Electrostatic Force: Electrostatic forces are attractive or repulsive forces between particles that are caused
by their electric charges
Contact Forces:
● Friction: force that resists the sliding or rolling of one solid object over another
● Normal Force: An object in contact with a surface will experience an upward “normal” force
perpendicular to the surface. This is the force that stops the object moving through the surface it is
resting on
● Tension: the force transmitted through a rope, string or wire when pulled by forces acting from
opposite sides
Other Forces:
● Lift (plane): the net force that results
perpendicular to an airplane or bird's wing, when
air flows over that wing.
● Thrust (plane): Force generated most often
through the reaction of accelerating a mass of gas.
● Drag (plane): Force created by air resistance
● Buoyancy (water): the net upward force on any object
in any fluid
HOW TO DRAW A FORCE DIAGRAM
1. Identify the system
2. Place a dot at the centre of mass of the system
3. Identify the forces acting upon the system
4. Draw arrows of appropriate size to indicate the amount of force
exerted and label them

NOTE: Sometimes the question does not allow you to draw on the system itself,
and then you must draw the same thing but on your answer sheet, like the one
on the right.

Example: Sled is being pulled by a rope across the ground. Draw a force diagram

Force Diagram

Example 2: An object is suspended from the ceiling by 2 ropes hung at angle. Draw a force diagram
AIR RESISTANCE AND TERMINAL VELOCITY
● An object falling through the atmosphere (no cross wind) experiences two forces, its weight ( = mg,
downward) and air resistance (upward)
● Air resistance (drag) depends on the speed of the object, so the faster it goes, the greater the drag force.
● Eventually the speed reaches a value where the drag is equal to the weight. Now there is zero net force and the
object falls with a constant velocity (“terminal velocity”)
● Heavier objects have a higher terminal velocity because they have to go faster to achieve a drag force equal to
their weight (mg)