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A.1 Kinematics

International Baccalaureate Physics

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Vector vs. scalar
Scalar quantities have size (“magnitude”) only and no
direction.
Vector quantities have both size and direction.
Scalar or vector???

Scalar 8. Power Vector

2. Distance 12.
1. Mass Acceleration
6. Energy
7. Time
3.
Displacement
4. Speed
11. Force 10. Current
5. Velocity
9.
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Distance vs Displacement
“Distance” is how far you have gone, “displacement” is
how far you are from a point and can be positive or
negative:
Distance =
Distance =
Displacement =
Displacement =
Start

-1 metre 1 metre
Distance
Distance
==
Displacement
Displacement
==
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Speed vs Velocity
“Distance” is how far you have gone, “displacement” is
how far you are from a point and can be positive or
negative:
Speed = Speed =
Velocity = Velocity =

Start

-1 metre 1 metre
Speed
Speed
==
Velocity
Velocity
==
“Speed” is how fast you go. “Velocity” is how fast in a
given direction.
 Distance, Speed 29/05/2025

and Time s
revision
Speed = distance (in metres)
time (in seconds) v t

1) Ben walks 200 metres in 40 seconds. What is his

speed?
2) Nathan covers 2km in 1,000 seconds. What is his
speed?
3) How long would it take Ben to run 100 metres if he
could run at 12ms-1?
4) Adeola throws a book at Ben and it travels at 50ms-1
for 0.2s. How far away was Ben?
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Displacemen 40

30
(metres)

20
t

10
Time/s
0
20 40 60 80 100

1) What is the velocity during the first 20 seconds?

2) What is the displacement after 60 seconds?
3) What is the velocity during the last 40 seconds?
4) What is the displacement after 100 seconds?
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Understanding Velocity
40

30
Displacemen
t
20
(metres)

10
Time/s
0
20 40 60 80 100

1) What’s the average velocity?

2) What’s the velocity at 60s?
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20

10
Displaceme
nt 0
(metres)

-10
Time/s
-20
20 40 60 80 100

1) What was the displacement after 20 seconds?

2) What was the velocity between 20 and 40 seconds?
3) When was this person travelling the fastest?
4) What was the average speed for the first 40 seconds?
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Understanding Velocity
1) Is this car travelling at constant speed?

2) Is this car travelling at constant velocity?

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80

60
Velocity
m/s 40

20
t/s
0
10 20 30 40 50

1) How fast was the object going after 10 seconds?

2) What is the acceleration from 20 to 30 seconds?
3) What was the acceleration from 30 to 50s?
4) How far did the object travel altogether?
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80

60
Velocity
m/s 40

20
t/s
0
10 20 30 40 50

This velocity-time graph shows Nathan’s journey to

school. How far away does he live?

2500m
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Acceleration recap
v-u
Acceleration = change in velocity (in
ms-1)
a t
(in ms )
-2
time taken (in s)
1) Nathan accelerates on his bike from 0 to 10ms-1 in 5
seconds. What is his acceleration?
2) Ben drops a ball on his foot and it accelerates
downwards at a rate of 10ms-2 for 12 seconds. What
speed did it reach?
3) A car accelerates from 10 to 20ms-1 with an
acceleration of 2ms-2. How long did this take?
4) A rocket accelerates from 1,000ms-1 at a rate of 20ms-2
for 2 minutes. What speed did it reach?
 A closer look at motion
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graphs
Consider a bouncing ball:

Displacemen
t

Time
 A closer look at motion
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graphs
Consider a bouncing ball:

Displacemen
t

Time
 A closer look at motion
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graphs
Consider a bouncing ball:

Velocity

Time
 A closer look at motion
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graphs
Consider a bouncing ball:

Velocity

Time
 A closer look at motion
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graphs
Consider a bouncing ball:

Acceleration

Time
 A closer look at motion
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graphs
Consider a bouncing ball:

Acceleration

Time
 A recap question
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Vel (ms-1)
1) Calculate this object’s
25 acceleration during
the first 10 seconds

20
2) Estimate its
acceleration at 20
15 seconds

10 3) Estimate how far it

travelled altogether
5
4) Calculate the object’s
average speed
0 10 20 30 40 50

Time (s)
 Sketching Graphs 1
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Vel (ms-1)

Disp (m)
25

20

15

10

0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40

Time (s) Time (s)

 Sketching Graphs 2
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Vel (ms-1)

Acc (ms-2)
25

20

15

10

0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40

Time (s) Time (s)

 Sketching Graphs 3
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Vel (ms-1)

Disp (m)
25

20

15

10

0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40

Time (s) Time (s)

 Sketching Graphs 4
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Vel (ms-1)

Acc (ms-2)
25

20

15

10

0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40

Time (s) Time (s)

 Sketching Graphs 5
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Disp (m)

Vel (ms-1)
25

20

15
0 10 20 30 40

Time (s)
10

0 10 20 30 40

Time (s)
 Sketching Graphs 6
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Disp (m)

Vel (ms-1)
25

20

15

10

0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40

Time (s) Time (s)

 Sketching Graphs 7
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Disp (m)

Acc (ms-2)
25

20

15

10

0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40

Time (s) Time (s)

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Equations of Motion

They’re
golden!
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3 Steps to solving a
kinematics problem:
1) Define one direction as being positive and the opposite
as negative. Be consistent with your choice throughout
solving for the problem.

2) Kinematics (suvat) equations can only be used with

situations where the acceleration is constant. If there
are multiple rates of acceleration, split problem in
different sections and solve for each section with its
specific value of acceleration.

3) Write down the variables given and asked. Choose the

correct suvat equation and solve.
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Example questions
1) A car moving at 20ms-1 applies its brakes to come to a
stop. If the acceleration is 4ms-2, calculate the distance
covered before stopping. 50m
2) A train decelerates uniformly from 35 ms-1 to 21 ms-1
over a distance of 350 m. Calculate:

(a) the deceleration of the train, and 1.1ms-

2
(b) the time taken to come to a stop from 35 ms . -1
31s
3) A car is accelerating from rest at 0.8ms-2 for 5 s.
Calculate the final velocity of the car.
4ms-1
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Example questions
1) A dog is running, and starts to get faster at 2ms-2 for 3
s. If the dog covers 20 m in this time, calculate the
initial velocity it started with.
3.7s
2) A ball is rolling up a hill at 10 ms-1, but its weight is
causing it to slow at a rate of 1.5 ms-2. The weight of
the ball accelerates it until it reaches 5 ms-1 down the
hill. Calculate the time it took for the ball to reach
the speed of 5 ms-1.
10s
3) A car is accelerating from rest at 5ms-2. It does this for
10 seconds before it stops accelerating and continues
at a constant velocity for 4 seconds. It then slows to a
stop at a constant acceleration in 6 seconds. Calculate
the total displacement of the car.
600m
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Vertical Projection
If I throw this ball upwards with a speed of
40ms-1 how high will it go?

Use v2 = u2 + 2as

0 = 402 + (2 x -9.81 x s)

0 = 1600 – 19.62s

1600 = 19.62s

s = 1600/19.62

s = 81.5m
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Practice Questions
1) How far will a cricket ball go if it is thrown upwards
with an initial velocity of 10ms-1? 5m

2) How far will a table tennis ball go if it is thrown

upwards with an initial velocity of 5ms-1? 1.3m

3) A human cannonball is projected vertically upwards

and she reaches a vertical height of 20m before
coming back down. How fast was she going when she
19.8ms
left the cannon? -1

4) A test tube falls off the table. If the table is 1m high

4.4ms-
how fast was the test tube going when it hit the floor?
 Measuring Acceleration due 29/05/2025
to
Gravity
Consider the equation s = ut + ½at2…
If we consider a ball being dropped then u=0, so s = ½at 2

We also know that a = g, therefore…

s = ½gt2

s x

s = ½g t2 x

x Gradient =
y=mx+c
x ½g

t2
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Projectile Motion
Aha! If I let go of the branch when
he fires his gun I’ll be safe because
the bullet will go above me…
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Analysing Projectile Motion
Throughout this motion The vertical velocity
the horizontal velocity changes due to the
stays the same: effect of gravity:
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Projectile Motion
Question – how long did this
take and how fast was the
bullet?
KEY FACTS:
Horizontal speed stays constant
1.5m
Vertical speed is only affected by
gravity

50m

1) Use s = ut + ½at2 vertically to find the time

2) Then use speed = distance / time horizontally to get

the speed
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Example questions
1) Nathan throws a bowling ball at Ben and it lands on his
foot. If the ball started 1.2m above his foot and the
distance between them was 2m calculate both the
time taken and the initial velocity of the ball.

2) Adeola fires a gun and the bullet leaves the barrel at a

speed of 200ms-1. If it landed on the ground 500m
away calculate how long the journey took and how
high up Adeola was holding the gun from ground level.

3) Ben likes knocking test tubes off the table. If he hits

one with an initial velocity of 2ms-1 and the table is 1m
high calculate the time taken for the test tube to hit
the floor and how far away from the table it landed.
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Recap questions
1) Andy Murray hits a tennis ball and it passes
horizontally over the net and lands just inside the
baseline of the court. The net has a height of 1.07m
and is 11.9m from the baseline. Find the horizontal
speed of the ball.

2) Martial takes a free kick and it flies into the top corner
horizontally. If the corner is 2.4m above the ground
and the goal is 18m away calculate the time taken for
the ball to reach the goal.
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Terminal Velocity in a liquid
Consider a ball falling through a liquid:

Some questions to consider:

1) What forces are acting

on the ball?
2) How do those forces
change when the ball
gets faster?
3) Will the ball keep getting
faster? Explain your
answer in terms of
forces
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Terminal Velocity
Consider a sphere falling through a fluid
again:
What forces are acting on the ball?
Some facts:
1) The weight, obviously, stays constant
2) Upthrust = weight of fluid displaced, so
that stays constant after the sphere
becomes totally immersed
Weight
3) Viscous drag is proportional to velocity
W
so it increases as the ball gets faster

Clearly, terminal velocity is reached when

the following condition is met:

W=U+F Upthrust Viscous

U drag F
Before this condition is met the following
applies:
FR = W – (U + F)
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Forces on a ball
Draw force diagrams and write a force
equation for the following objects:
1) A ball bearing with a density just less
than water floating on its surface:

2) A more dense ball bearing

accelerating through a liquid:

3) The same ball bearing

later when it has reached
terminal velocity:
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Forces on a ball
Draw force diagrams and write a force
equation for the following objects:
1) A ball bearing with low density that’s
accelerating towards the surface:

2) The same ball bearing

when it has reached terminal
velocity while rising:

3) The same ball bearing

later when it has reached the
surface: