11

Chapter 2
MOTION IN A STRAIGHT LINE

Introduction
Kinematics : The branch of physics which deals with study of motion of an object
Rest : An object is said to be in rest if there is no relative change in the position of an object with
respect to time
Motion : An object is said to be in motion if there is a relative change in the position of an object
with respect to time
Point Object : If the position of an object changes by distance much greater than its own size in
a reasonable duration of time then the object may be regarded as the point object.

Types of Motion
There are 3 types of motions which a body may have.
One Dimensional Motion : The motion of an object is said to be one dimensional if only one
coordinate is required to specify its position.

Example - Motion of a train, Motion of a freely falling body

Two Dimensional Motion : If two coordinates are required for specifying the position of a
practice, the motion is said 2-Dimensional.

Example - Motion of a planet around a sun

Three Dimensional Motion : The motion of an object is said 3-Dimentional if all the three
coordinates are required to specify the position of an object.

Example - Flying of a kite.

Think Further

Motion and Rest are completely relative states, as it completely depends on the Frame of
Reference. Example, if you are at rest with respect to earth but you are in motion with respect to
the universe as the earth is continuously revolves around sun and is in continuous motion.

Distance Travelled and Displacement

C
Suppose an object moves from point A to B then to C , then the its
distance traveled which is the length of the actual path traveled by
the body is 3m + 4m = 7m
4m
5m

But, the displacement which is the shortest distance between initial

and final position can be found using Pythagoras theorem as 5m.
A 3m B
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Distance Traveled ( Path length ) : The length of the actual path traveled by the body during its
motion is called as Distance Traveled
Displacement : The shortest distance from the initial position to final position is called as
Displacement. (or) It can also be defined as the length of a straight line joining the initial and
final position.

Quick Note

S.I unit for distance traveled and displacement is meter (m).

Difference between Distance traveled and displacement

Distance Travelled Displacement

It is the length of the actual path It is the shortest distance between
traveled initial and final point
It is a Scalar Quantity It is a Vector Quantity
It can either be positive or zero It can be negative, positive and zero
It is always greater than or equal It is always lesser than or equal to
to displacement. distance traveled.

Speed and Velocity

Speed : It is defined as the distance traveled by the body in an unit time

Distance Travelled
Speed =
Time Taken

Velocity : It is defined as the displacement in an unit time.

Displacement
Velocity =
Time Taken

Difference between Speed and velocity

Speed Velocity
Distance traveled per unit tim Displacement per unit tim
It is a Scalar Quantity It is a Vector Quantity
It can either be positive or zero.
It can be negative, positive and zero.

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Quick Note
-1
S.I unit for speed and velocity is m/s and Dimension is [ L T ]
Instantaneous Velocity or Instantaneous Speed : The rate of change of position of a body at a
particular instant of time is called as Instantaneous velocity or speed.
Δx dx
Instantaneous velocity = lim =
Δt 0 Δt dt

Uniform Motion : If an object moving in a straight line covers equal distances in equal interval of
time then it is said to be in Uniform motion.
Non-Uniform Motion : If an object moving in a straight line covers unequal distances in equal
interval of time then it is said to be in Non-Uniform motion.

Acceleration
It is defined as the rate of change of velocity with respect to time.

change in velocity ΔV dx
Acceleration = = =
Time Taken Δt dt

Quick Note
-2
S.I unit for speed and velocity is m/s . And Dimension is [ L T
2
]
If a body is moving with uniform velocity , then the acceleration is always zero.

Important Question and PYQ’s From Topic

If the velocity of a particle is v = At + Bt , where A and B

2

are constants, then the distance travelled by it between

1s and 2s is :
[PYQ 2016]

Solution
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Solution
The Displacement (in meter) of a particle moving along
2
X-axis is given by x = 18t + 5t . Calculate :

the instantaneous velocit
average velocity between t = 2s and t = 3
instantaneous velocity [PYQ 2018]

Solution

-2
The acceleration of a particle is ms is given by
2
a = 3t + 2t + 2, where time t is in second. If the
-1
particle starts with a velocity v = 2 ms at t = 0, then
find the velocity at the end of 2s.
[PYQ 2013]

Solution

The position coordinate of a moving particle is given by x

2
= 6 + 18t + 19t , where x is in meters and t in seconds.
What is the velocity at t = 2?
[PYQ 2014]
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A body travels a distance s 1 with velocity v1 and distance
s 2 with velocity v2 in the same direction. calculate the
average velocity of the body.
[PYQ 2017]

Solution

Graphs

x-t graph ( Displacement - time graph )

v-t graph ( velocity - time graph )

Things to Remember

Slope of displacement - time ( x-t ) graph gives velocity.

Slope of velocity - time ( v-t ) graph gives acceleration
Area under velocity - time ( v-t ) graph gives displacement.
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Important Question and PYQ’s From Topic

A body starts from rest and travels a distances with The displacement-time graphs of two moving particles
uniform acceleration, then moves uniformly a distance 2 make angles of 30° and 45° with the time axis. The ratio
s and finally comes to rest after moving further 5s of their velocities is :
under uniform retardation. The ratio of the average [PYQ 2018]
2
velocity to maximum velocity is :

Displacement
[PYQ 2018] 1

°5
4
30°
Solution o Time

Solution

A body starting from rest accelerates uniformly along a

-2
straight line at the rate of 10 ms for 5 s. It moves for
-1
2 s with uniform velocity of 50 ms . Then it retards
uniformly and comes to rest in 3 s. Draw velocity-time
graph of the body and find the total distance traveled
by the body. [PYQ 2017]

Solution
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The Displacement-time graph of any object is shown

in the adjacent figure. Draw a velocity-time graph for
this motion.
[PYQ 2014]

s
t
Draw position-time graphs for two objects having zero
relative velocity. Solution
[PYQ 2014]
The v-t graph for the given uniform motion is shown below :
Solution

Deriving Kinematic Equations for Uniformly accelerated

motion using v-t graph

Let us consider a body staring with initial velocity

‘u‘ and moving with ‘a‘ uniform acceleration for
time ‘t‘ . Let the final velocity be ‘v‘ and
displacement be ‘s‘ . As shown in the figure.
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 19
th
Distance travelled during n second of motion

Kinematic Equations using Calculus

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Motion under Gravity
If a body is dropped, it falls vertically downwards with a uniform acceleration which is called as
acceleration due to gravity. It is due to the gravitational attraction from earth. The value of
acceleration due to gravity is same for every object dropped and it is independent of mass.
Let us now modify the equations of Motion for Motion Under gravity. The acceleration due to
2
gravity value is always constant which is 9.8 m/s.

Case 1 : Downward Motion ( Dropped ) Case 2 : Downward Motion ( Thrown )

u=0

g
u Case 3 : Upward Motion

-g

Quick Note

Time to reach ground when dropped from some height t = 2h

g
velocity with which it hits the ground when dropped from height v = 2g
Time to reach ground when something is thrown up T = 2
2 g
Maximum height reached when thrown up Hmax= u
2g

Important Question and PYQ’s From Topic

A body covers 10m in 2nd second and 25m in 5th second. Solution
If the motion is uniformly accelerated, how far will it go
in 7th second ?
[PYQ 2018]
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A ball is thrown vertically upwards with a velocity of

20m/s from the top of a multistory building. The height of
the point from where the ball is thrown is 25m from the
ground.
i. How high will the ball rise ? and

ii. how long will it be before the ball hits the

2
ground ? Take g = 10 m/s
[PYQ 2008 , 2017]

Solution

A Particle is thrown vertically up with an initial velocity 9

2
m/s from the surface of Earth (take g = 10 m/s ). The
time (in s) taken by the particle to reach a height of 4m
from the surface second time (in seconds) is :
[PYQ 2018]
Solution
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A ball is dropped from the top of a building 100 m high.

At the same instant another ball is thrown upwards with
a velocity of 40 m/s from the bottom of the building. The
two balls will meet after :
[PYQ 2016]

A man is at a distance of 6m from a bus. The bus begins Solution

to move with a constant acceleration of 3ms. In order to
catch the bus, the minimum speed with which the man
should run toward the bus is :
[PYQ 2016]

Solution
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A Stone falls freely under gravity. It covers distances h 1 , h2
and h 3 in the first 5 seconds, the next 5 seconds and the
next 5 seconds respectively. The relation between h1 , h 2 ,
h 3 is :
[PYQ 2013]

Solution

A ball is dropped from a bridge 122.5 m above a river.

After the ball has been falling for 2 s, a second ball is
thrown straight down after it. What must the initial
velocity of the second ball be so that both hit the water
at the same time ? [PYQ 2015]

Solution
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A body starts from rest and moves with uniform
acceleration. The ratio of the distance covered in
the nth second to the distance covered in n second
is :
[PYQ 2013]

Solution

Relative Velocity

Velocity of one body with respect to an other moving body is called as is called as relative velocity.
If VA and VB are the velocities of two bodies moving in same direction, then the velocity of A with
respect to B is given by VAB = VA - VB

If VA and VB are the velocities of two bodies moving in opposite direction, then the velocity of A
with respect to B is given by VAB = VA + VB

Quick Note

If the bodies are in contact , Same Direction VAB = VA + VB

Opposite Direction VAB = VA - VB

Important Question and PYQ’s From Topic

Two Trains of 40 m length are traveling in opposite

directions with a velocity of 10 m/s and 15 m/s. What is
the time of crossing ?
[PYQ 2013]

Solution
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A 180 m long train is moving to north at a speed of 25 Solution
m/s. A small bird is flying to south a little above the
train, with a speed of 5 m/s. The time taken by the bird
to cross the train is
[PYQ 2013]

Solution

Preeti reached the metro station and found that the

escalator is not working. She walked up the stationary
escalator in time t 1 . on other days if she remains
stationary on the moving escalator, then the escalator
takes her up in time t 2 . The time taken by her to walk
upon the moving escalator will be :
[PYQ 2017]