Chapter 2

Describing Motion:

Kinematics in One Dimension

Units of Chapter 2
Reference Frames and Displacement Average Velocity Instantaneous Velocity Acceleration Motion at Constant Acceleration Solving Problems Freely Falling Objects Variable Acceleration; Integral Calculus Graphical Analysis

2-1 Reference Frames and Displacement

We make a distinction between distance and displacement. Displacement (blue line) is how far the object is from its starting point, regardless of how it got there. Distance traveled (dashed line) is measured along the actual path.

A person walks 70m east, then 30 m west. Total distance traveled = 70 m + 30 m = 100 m Displacement = 40 m to the east

2-1 Reference Frames and Displacement

The displacement is written:
Left: Displacement is positive. Right: Displacement is negative.

The arrow represents the displacement x2 x1.

For the displacement x = x2 x1 = 10.0 m 30.0 m, the displacement vector points to the left.

2-2 Average Velocity

Speed is how far an object travels in a given time interval:

Velocity includes directional information:

2-2 Average Velocity

Example 2-1: The position of a runner as a function of time is plotted as moving along the x axis of a coordinate system. During a 3.00-s time interval, the runners position changes from x1 = 50.0 m to x2 = 30.5 m, as shown. What was the runners average velocity?

2-3 Instantaneous Velocity

The instantaneous velocity is the average velocity in the limit as the time interval becomes infinitesimally short.

Ideally, a speedometer would measure instantaneous velocity; in fact, it measures average velocity, but over a very short time interval.

2-3 Instantaneous Velocity

The instantaneous speed always equals the magnitude of the instantaneous velocity; it only equals the average velocity if the velocity is constant.

Velocity of a car as a function of time: (a) at constant velocity; (b) with varying velocity.

2-3 Instantaneous Velocity

On a graph of a particles position vs. time, the instantaneous velocity is the tangent to the curve at any point.

Graph of a particles position x vs. time .The slope of the straight line P1P2 represents the average velocity of the particle during the time interval t = t2 t1. Same position vs. time curve, but note that the average velocity over the time interval ti t1 (which is the slope of P1Pi) is less than the average velocity over the time interval t2 t1. The slope of the thin line tangent to the curve at point P1 equals the instantaneous velocity at time t1.

2-4 Acceleration
Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity.

2-4 Acceleration
Example 2-6: Car slowing down. A car is moving to the right along a straight highway, which we choose to be the positive x axis. Then the driver puts on the brakes. If the initial velocity (when the driver hits the brakes) is v1 = 15.0 m/s, and it takes 5.0 s to slow down to v2 = 5.0 m/s, what was the cars average acceleration?

Solution:

a =

v v 2 v1 5 .0 m / s 15 m / s = 2 .0 m / s 2 = = t t 2 t1 5 .0 s

2-4 Acceleration
There is a difference between negative acceleration and deceleration: Negative acceleration is acceleration in the negative direction as defined by the coordinate system. Deceleration occurs when the acceleration is opposite in direction to the velocity.

The car of example 2-6 now moving to the left and decelerating. The acceleration is

a=

v v 2 v1 ( 5 .0 m / s ) ( 15 m / s ) = + 2 .0 m / s 2 = = t t 2 t1 5 .0 s

2-4 Acceleration
The instantaneous acceleration is the average acceleration in the limit as the time interval becomes infinitesimally short.

2-4 Acceleration
Example 2-7: A particle is moving in a straight line so that its position is

given by the relation x = (2.10 m/s2)t2 + (2.80 m). Calculate (a) its average acceleration during the time interval from t1 = 3.00 s to t2 = 5.00 s, and (b) its instantaneous acceleration as a function of time.

Solution: The velocity at time t is the derivative of x; v = (4.20 m/s2)t.

(a) Solve for v at the two times; (b) Take the derivative of v:

a = v/t = 4.20 m/s2.

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a = 4.20 m/s2.

2-4 Acceleration
Conceptual Example 2-8: Analyzing with graphs.

This figure shows the velocity as a function of time for two cars accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in a time of 10.0 s. Compare (a) the average acceleration; (b) instantaneous acceleration; and (c) total distance traveled for the two cars.

Solution: (a) Average acceleration is the same; both have the same change in speed over the same time. (b) Car A accelerates faster than B at the beginning but then slower than B towards the end (look at the slope of the lines). (c) Car A is always going faster than car B, so it will travel farther. 15

2-5 Motion at Constant Acceleration

The average velocity of an object during a time interval t is

The acceleration, assumed constant, is

In addition, as the velocity is increasing at a constant rate, we know that

Combining these last three equations, we find:

2-5 Motion at Constant Acceleration

We can also combine these equations so as to eliminate t:

We now have all the equations we need to solve constantacceleration problems.

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2-6 Solving Problems

1. Read the whole problem and make sure you understand it. Then read it again. 2. Decide on the objects under study and what the time interval is. 3. Draw a diagram and choose coordinate axes. 4. Write down the known (given) quantities, and then the unknown ones that you need to find. 5. What physics applies here? Plan an approach to a solution.

2-6 Solving Problems

6. Which equations relate the known and unknown quantities? Are they valid in this situation? Solve algebraically for the unknown quantities, and check that your result is sensible (correct dimensions). 7. Calculate the solution and round it to the appropriate number of significant figures. 8. Look at the resultis it reasonable? Does it agree with a rough estimate? 9. Check the units again.

2-6 Solving Problems

Example 2-11: Air bags. Suppose you want to design an air bag system

that can protect the driver at a speed of 100 km/h if the car hits a brick wall. Estimate how fast the air bag must inflate to effectively protect the driver. How does the use of a seat belt help the driver?

Solution: Assume the acceleration is constant; the car goes from 100 km/h to zero in a distance of about 1 m (the crumple zone). This takes a time t = 0.07 s, so the air bag has to inflate faster than this. The seat belt keeps the driver in position, and also assures that the driver decelerates with the car, rather than by hitting the dashboard. 20

2-6 Solving Problems

Problem 2.31 Serway 5th ed. A jet plane lands with a speed of 100 m/s and can decelerate at a maximum rate of 5 m/s2 as it comes to rest. (a) From the instant the plane touches the runway, what is the minimum time it needs before it can come to rest? (b) Can this plane land at a small airport where the runway is 0.8 km long?

(a) v = v0 + at (b) v2 = v02 + 2ax

0 = 100 + (- 5)t

gives t = 20 s.

0 = (100)2 + 2(- 5)x gives x = 1000 m.

No, at this acceleration the plane would overshoot the runway.

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2-6 Solving Problems

Example 2-13 . A car speeding at 150 km/h passes a still police car which immediately takes off in hot pursuit. Using simple assumptions, such as that the speeder continues at constant speed, estimate how long it takes the police car to overtake the speeder. Then estimate the police cars speed at that moment and decide if the assumptions were reasonable.

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2-6 Solving Problems

First, assume the speeder continues at a constant speed, and that the police cars acceleration is constant. If a car can go from 0 to 100 km/h in 5 sec, this is an acceleration of aP Using this, we find that the police cars speed when it catches up the speeder xS = v0St + aSt = (150 km/h)t = (42 m/s)t xP = v0Pt + aPt = (5.6 m/s)t, We set xs = xp and solve for t to find the time they meet. 42 t = 2.8 t gives t=0 and t= 15 s. The police cars speed at 15 s is vP = v0P + aPt = 0 + (5.6 m/s)(15 s) = 84 m/s, about 300 km/h. Not reasonable and dangerous. More reasonable is to assume that the acceleration of the police car is not constant, and maybe the speeder slows down. 23

2-7 The law of falling bodies

ARISTOTLE (4th cent. B.C.) Heavy bodies fall faster than light ones.

ALBERT OF SAXONY (14th cent.) Speed is proportional to the distance fallen.

NICOLE ORESME (14th cent.) Speed is proportional to time spent falling.

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2-7 The law of falling bodies

LEONARDO da VINCI (15th cent.) Distances fallen in successive time intervals are proportional to consecutive integers 1, 2, 3,

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2-7 The law of falling bodies

GALILEO (1638) Distances fallen in successive time intervals are proportional to odd numbers 1, 3, 5, In a vacuum, all bodies fall with the same constant acceleration. Gravity has the same effect on all bodies.
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2-7 The law of falling bodies

Galileos law

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2-7 The law of falling bodies

Galileos law: Distance (time)2 or y = ct2 . y1 y2

y3

Pisa, August 2008

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2-7 The law of falling bodies

Near the surface of the Earth, all objects experience approximately the same acceleration due to gravity.

This is one of the most common examples of motion with constant acceleration.

2-7 The law of falling bodies

In the absence of air resistance, all objects fall with the same acceleration, although this may be tricky to tell by testing in an environment where there is air resistance.
(a)

A ball and a light piece of paper are dropped at the same time. (b) Repeated, with the paper wadded up.

2-7 The law of falling bodies

The acceleration due to gravity, g, at the Earths surface is approximately 9.80 m/s2. At a given location on the Earth and in the absence of air resistance, all objects fall with the same constant acceleration.

2-7 The

law of falling bodies

Example 2-16: Ball thrown upward. A person throws a ball upward into the air with an initial velocity of 15.0 m/s. Calculate (a) how high it goes, and (b) how long the ball is in the air before it comes back to the hand. Ignore air resistance. Solution: (a) At the highest position, the speed is zero, so we know the acceleration, the initial and final speeds, and are asked for the distance. v = v02 + 2g (y y0) 0 = (15)+ 2 (-9.8)y gives y= 11.5 m. (b) Use v = v0 + at to find t= 3.06 s.
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2-7 The

law of falling bodies

Conceptual Example 2-17: Two possible misconceptions. Give examples to show the error in these two common misconceptions: (1) that acceleration and velocity are always in the same direction, and (2) that an object thrown upward has zero acceleration at the highest point. 1.If acceleration and velocity were always in the same direction, nothing could ever slow down! 2. At its highest point, the speed of thrown object is zero. If its acceleration were also zero, it would just stay at that point.
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2-8 Variable Acceleration

Deriving the kinematic equations through integration:

For constant acceleration,

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2-8 Variable Acceleration

Then:

For constant acceleration,

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2-9 Graphical Analysis

The total displacement of an object can be described as the area under the v-t curve:

Questions and problems

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ConcepTest 2.1
You and your dog go for a walk to the

Walking the Dog

park. On the way, your dog takes many side trips to chase squirrels. When you arrive at the park, do you and your dog have the same displacement? 2) no 1) yes

ConcepTest 2.1
You and your dog go for a walk to the

Walking the Dog

park. On the way, your dog takes many side trips to chase squirrels. When you arrive at the park, do you and your dog have the same displacement? 2) no 1) yes

Yes, you have the same displacement. Since you and your dog had the same initial position and the same final position, then you have (by definition) the same displacement.

Follow-up: Have you and your dog traveled the same distance?

ConcepTest 2.8a
If the velocity of a car is non-zero (v 0), can the acceleration of the car be zero?

Acceleration I
1) Yes 2) No 3) Depends on the velocity

ConcepTest 2.8a
If the velocity of a car is non-zero (v 0), can the acceleration of the car be zero?

Acceleration I
1) Yes 2) No 3) Depends on the velocity

Sure it can! An object moving with constant velocity has a non-zero velocity, but it has zero acceleration since the velocity is not changing.

ConcepTest 2.8b
When throwing a ball straight up, which of the following is true about its velocity v and its acceleration a at the highest point in its path?

Acceleration II
1) both v = 0 and a = 0 2) v 0, but a = 0 3) v = 0, but a 0 4) both v 0 and a 0 5) not really sure

ConcepTest 2.8b
When throwing a ball straight up, which of the following is true about its velocity v and its acceleration a at the highest point in its path?

Acceleration II
1) both v = 0 and a = 0 2) v 0, but a = 0 3) v = 0, but a 0 4) both v 0 and a 0 5) not really sure

At the top, clearly v = 0 because the ball has momentarily stopped. But the velocity of the ball is changing, so its acceleration is definitely not zero! Otherwise it would remain at rest!! y

Follow-up: and the value of a is?

ConcepTest 2.9b
Alice and Bill are at the top of a building. Alice throws her ball downward. Bill simply drops his ball. Which ball has the greater acceleration just after release?

Free Fall II
1) Alices ball 2) it depends on how hard the ball was thrown 3) neither -- they both have the same acceleration 4) Bills ball
Alice v0 vA vB Bill

ConcepTest 2.9b
Alice and Bill are at the top of a building. Alice throws her ball downward. Bill simply drops his ball. Which ball has the greater acceleration just after release?

Free Fall II
1) Alices ball 2) it depends on how hard the ball was thrown 3) neither -- they both have the same acceleration 4) Bills ball
Alice v0 vA vB Bill

Both balls are in free fall once they are released, therefore they both feel the acceleration due to gravity (g). This acceleration is independent of the initial velocity of the ball.

Follow-up: Which one has the greater velocity when they hit the ground?

ConcepTest 2.10b

Up in the Air II
1) vA < vB 2) vA = vB 3) vA > vB 4) impossible to tell

Alice and Bill are at the top of a cliff of height H. Both throw a ball with initial speed v0, Alice straight down and Bill straight up. The speeds of the balls when they hit the ground are vA and vB. If there is no air resistance, which is true?

Alice v0

v0

Bill

H
vA vB

ConcepTest 2.10b

Up in the Air II
1) vA < vB 2) vA = vB 3) vA > vB 4) impossible to tell

Alice and Bill are at the top of a cliff of height H. Both throw a ball with initial speed v0, Alice straight down and Bill straight up. The speeds of the balls when they hit the ground are vA and vB. If there is no air resistance, which is true?

Bills ball goes up and comes back down to Bills level. At that point, it is moving downward with v0, the same as Alices ball. Thus, it will hit the ball ground with the same speed as Alices ball.

Alice v0

v0

Bill

H
vA vB

Follow-up: What happens if there is air resistance?

ConcepTest 2.13a
The graph of position versus time for a car is given below. What can you say about the velocity of the car over time?

Graphing Velocity I
1) it speeds up all the time 2) it slows down all the time 3) it moves at constant velocity 4) sometimes it speeds up and sometimes it slows down 5) not really sure

ConcepTest 2.13a
The graph of position versus time for a car is given below. What can you say about the velocity of the car over time?

Graphing Velocity I
1) it speeds up all the time 2) it slows down all the time 3) it moves at constant velocity 4) sometimes it speeds up and sometimes it slows down 5) not really sure

The car moves at a constant velocity because the x vs. t plot shows a straight line. The slope of a straight line is constant. Remember that the slope of x vs. t is the velocity! t

ConcepTest 2.13b
The graph of position vs. time for a car is given below. What can you say about the velocity of the car over time?

Graphing Velocity II
1) it speeds up all the time 2) it slows down all the time 3) it moves at constant velocity 4) sometimes it speeds up and sometimes it slows down 5) not really sure

ConcepTest 2.13b
The graph of position vs. time for a car is given below. What can you say about the velocity of the car over time?

Graphing Velocity II
1) it speeds up all the time 2) it slows down all the time 3) it moves at constant velocity 4) sometimes it speeds up and sometimes it slows down 5) not really sure

The car slows down all the time because the slope of the x vs. t graph is diminishing as time goes on. Remember that the slope of x vs. t is the velocity! At large t, the value of the position x does not change, indicating that the car must be at rest.

Problem 43
A 75-m-long train begins uniform acceleration from rest. The front of the train has a speed of 23 m s when it passes a railway worker who is standing 180 m from where the front of the train started. What will be the speed of the last car as it passes the worker?

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Problem 43
Solution: Use the information for the first 180 m to find the acceleration, and the information for the full motion to find the final velocity. For the first segment, the train has v0 = 0 m/s, v1= 23 m/s, and a displacement of x1 x0 = 180 m. Find the acceleration from Eq. 2-12c.
2 v12 = v0 + 2 a ( x1 x0 )

( 23 m s ) 0 a= = = 1.469 m 2 ( x1 x0 ) 2 (180 m )
2 v12 v0 2

s2

Find the speed of the train after it has traveled the total distance (total displacement of x2 x0 = 255 m) using Eq. 2-12c.
2 2 2 v2 = v0 + 2a( x2 x0 ) v2 = v0 + 2a( x2 x0 ) = 2 1.469m s2 ( 255 m) = 27m s

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Problem 72
A person jumps from a fourth-story window 15.0 m above a firefighters safety net. The survivor stretches the net 1.0 m before coming to rest. (a) What was the average deceleration experienced by the survivor when she was slowed to rest by the net? (b) What would you do to make it safer (that is, to generate a smaller deceleration): would you stiffen or loosen the net? Explain.
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Problem 72
SOLUTION : (a) For the free-falling part of the motion, choose downward to be the positive direction, and y0 = 0 to be the height from which the person jumped. The initial velocity is v0 = 0, acceleration is a = 9.8 m/s2 and the location of the net is y = 15.0 m. Find the speed upon reaching the net from Eq. 2-12c with x replaced by y.
2 v 2 = v0 + 2 a y y(

v = 0 + 2 a ( y 0 ) = 2 9.80 m s 2

) (15.0 m ) = 17.1m s

The positive root is selected since the person is moving downward. For the net-stretching part of the motion, choose downward to be the positive direction, and y0 = 15.0 m to be the height at which the person first contacts the net. The initial velocity is v0 = 17.1 m/s the final velocity is v = 0, and the location at the stretched position is y = 16.0 m. Find the acceleration from Eq. 2-12c with x replaced by y.
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Problem 72
2 v 2 = v0 + 2 a ( y y 0 )

a=

2 ( y y0 )

2 v 2 v0

0 2 (17.1m s ) 2 (1.0 m )

= 150 m s 2

(b)

For the acceleration to be smaller, in the above equation we

see that the displacement should be larger. This means that the net should be loosened .

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Problem 80
Consider the street pattern as shown in the figure below. Each intersection has a traffic signal and the speed limit is 50 km/h. Suppose you are coming from the west at the speed limit and when you are 10 m from the first intersection, all the lights turn green. The lights are green for 13 s each. (a) Can you make it through all the lights without stopping? (b) Another car was stopped at the first light when all the lights turned green. It can accelerate at the rate of 2 m/s2 to the speed limit. Can the second car clear through all the lights without stopping?

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Problem 80

Solution: Speed limit is 50 km/h = (50)(1000/3600) = 13.9 m/s. (a) If we assume that we are travelling at the speed limit, the time to pass through the farthest intersection is t1 = (10m + 15m+ 50m + 15m + 70m +15m)/13.9 m/s = 12.6 s. Because this is less than the time while the lights are green, yes, you can make it through. 59

Problem 80
(b) First find the time required for the second car to reach the speed limit: vmax = v02 + a2t2 13.9 = 0 + t2 gives t2 = 6.95 s.

In this time the second car will have travelled x2A = v02 t2A + a2 t2A2 = 0 + (2)(6.95)2 = 48 m. The time to travel the remaining distance at constant speed is t2B = (15m + 50m + 15m + 70m +15m 48m)/13.9 m/s = 8.42 s. Thus the total time is ttotal = t2A + t2B = 6.95 s + 8.42 s = 15.37 s. No, the second car will not clear all the lights.
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Problem 93
The figure shows the position vs. time graph for two bicycles, A and B. (a)Is there any instant at which the two bicycles have the same velocity? (b)Which bicycle has the larger acceleration? (c)At which instant(s) are the bicycles passing each other? Which bicycle is passing the other? (d)Which bicycle has the highest instantaneous velocity? (e)Which bicycle has the higher average velocity?

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Problem 93
SOLUTION (a) The two bicycles will have the same velocity at any time when the instantaneous slopes of their x vs. t graphs are the same. That occurs near the time t1 as marked on the graph.
A x B

t t1

(b) Bicycle A has the larger acceleration, because its graph is concave upward, indicating a positive acceleration. Bicycle B has no acceleration because its graph has a constant slope. (c) The bicycles are passing each other at the times when the two graphs cross, because they both have the same position at that time. The graph with the steepest slope is the faster bicycle, and so is the one that is passing at that instant. So at the first crossing, bicycle B is passing bicycle A. At the second crossing, bicycle A is passing bicycle B.
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Problem 93
(d) Which bicycle has the highest instantaneous velocity? Bicycle B has the highest instantaneous velocity at all times until the time t1, where both graphs have the same slope. For all times after t1, bicycle A has the highest instantaneous velocity. The largest instantaneous velocity is for bicycle A at the latest time shown on the graph. (e) Which bicycle has the higher average velocity? The bicycles appear to have the same average velocity. If the starting point of the graph for a particular bicycle is connected to the ending point with a straight line, the slope of that line is the average velocity. Both appear to have the same slope for that average line.
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Problem

(2.43 Serway 5/e)

A student throws a set of keys vertically upward to her sister, who is in a window 4 m above. The keys are caught 1.5 s later by the sisters outstretched hand. (a) With what initial velocity were the keys thrown? (b) What was the velocity of the keys just before they were caught? Solution: (a) yf = yi + v0t + at2 4 = 0 + v0(1.5) + (-9.8)(1.5)2 gives (b) v0 = 10 m/s.

v = v0 + at = 10 + (-9.8)(1.5) = - 4.68 m/s.

The negative sign means that the keys are moving downward just before they are caught.
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Harvard University Examination question Fall 1999

A stone is thrown from the top of a building with an initial velocity of 20 m/s straight upward. The stone leaves the throwers hand at a height of 2 m relative to the roof. The building is 78 m high, and the stone just misses the edge of the roof on its way down. Assume there is no air resistance. (a)Determine the total distance travelled by the stone (from the point leaving the throwers hand to the point hitting the ground). (b)Calculate the time needed for the stone to reach the ground. (c)What is the average speed during the time calculated in (b)? (d)What is the average velocity during the time calculated in (b)?
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Harvard University Examination question Fall 1999

Solution:
h 2m

(a)

v2 = v02 + 2 a (y y0) 0 = (20)2 + 2 (-9.8) (80 + h 80) h = 20.4 m

Total distance = 2h + 2 + 78 = 120.8 m. (b)

78 m

y = y0 + v0t + a t2 0 = 80 + 20t + (-9.8) t2 t = 6.57 s

(c)

Average speed = (total distance)/(time) = 120.8 / 6.57 = 18.4 m/s

(d)
y=0

Average velocity = y/t = (0 80) / (6.57 0) = -12.2 m/s

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