LINEAR MOTION

CHAPTER 3

DISTANCE & DISPLACEMENT

Distance is the total path length traveled;
magnitude of change in position.
Distance is a scalar quantity.

Displacement is the distance covered with

direction = 2-1
Displacement is a vector quantity.

SPEED
Speed is how fast an object is moving. It is the
rate of change of distance with respect to time.
You can calculate the speed of an object by dividing the
distance covered by time.

The units for speed are m/s. Any combinations of units for
distance and time that are useful and convenient are
legitimate for describing speed.

VELOCITY
Velocity is speed in a specified direction.
Speed is a description of how fast an object
moves; velocity is how fast and in what direction
it moves.
Vector Quantity: direction + magnitude
Scalar Quantity: magnitude

ACCELERATION
Acceleration is the rate at which the velocity is
changing.
You can calculate the acceleration of an object by
dividing the change in its velocity by time.

ACCELERATION
Acceleration is..
applied to decreases as well as increases in speed.
also applied to changes in direction.
defined as the rate of change in velocity, rather than
speed.
a vector quantity because it is directional.

KINEMATIC EQUATIONS

FREE FALL
Free fall is the motion of an object subject only
to the influence of gravity.
An object is in free fall as soon as it is released,
whether it is dropped from rest, thrown
downward, or thrown upward.
Gravity causes objects to accelerate
downward once they begin to fall.

AIR RESISTANCE
In real life, air resistance affects the acceleration of
a falling object.
Air resistance noticeably slows the motion of
things with large surface areas like falling
feathers or pieces of paper.
But air resistance less noticeably affects the
motion of more compact objects like stones and
baseballs.

TERMINAL VELOCITY
Terminal Velocity is the velocity with which an
object in free fall has when the falling body
experiences zero acceleration.
This occurs when air resistance balance with the
falling bodys weight as it creates an upward
force in opposition to the falling bodys weight.
It depends on the weight of an object and its
orientation.

GRAPHS OF MOTIONS
Linear motion can also be graphically
demonstrated in representation of:
distance-time
displacement-time
speed-time
velocity time
acceleration-time.

GRAPHS OF MOTIONS
For an object moving with a constant velocity, the
slope of the straight line in a position/distance
time graph gives the velocity.

GRAPHS OF MOTIONS
The slope of the straight line in a velocitytime
graph is the average acceleration; it represents
speed per time, or acceleration.