As Level Physics

2. Kinematics
a) define and use distance, displacement, speed, velocity and acceleration.
Distance Displacement
The Total length of travel irrespective of the Is the distance of an object over a fixed reference
direction of motion. point in a specified direction
Scalar quantity Vector quantity
SI Unit: meter (m) SI Unit: meter (m)
Other common units: kilometer (km), centimeter Other common units: kilometer (km), centimeter
(cm) (cm)
Odometer going up when you drive up a path The shortest distance between starting and
shows distance being covered. stopping point of the journey.
e.g. 10 km 30° E of N

Red Line: Distance covered

Green Line: Displacement between two points
Odometer: instrument that indicates distance travelled by a vehicle.

Speed:

Speed is the distance travelled per unit time.

𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
Average speed = 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

𝑑
𝑣=
𝑡
Where v is the average speed and d is the distance travelled in time t.

● If the object is moving at constant speed, this equation will give us speed during time taken.
● If the object’s speed is changing, then the equation gives us its average speed.
● If you look at the speedometer of the car, it doesn’t tell you the car’s average speed but the
speed at that particular instant. This is the car’s instantaneous speed.

SI unit: meter per second – ms-1

Other units depend on the situation – speed of a snail to speed of a racing car. In many calculations, it is
necessary to use SI units.

ms-1 meter per second

cms-1 centimeter per second
kms-1 kilometer per second

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kmh-1 or km/h kilometer per hour

mph miles per hour
Converting km h-1 to m s-1
𝟏 𝒌𝒎 𝟏 × 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝒎
𝟏 𝒌𝒎 𝒉−𝟏 = = = 𝟎. 𝟐𝟕𝟖 𝒎 𝒔−𝟏
𝟏𝒉 𝟏 𝒉 × 𝟔𝟎 𝒎𝒊𝒏 × 𝟔𝟎 𝒔
Velocity:

Rate of change of displacement.

It is a Vector quantity.
𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠
𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 = =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑡
Quantity Symbol for quantity Symbol for unit
Distance d m
Displacement s, x m
Time t s
Speed, velocity v m s-1

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 ∆𝑠
𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 = =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 ∆𝑡
∆s – change in displacement - ∆ is called delta and it means “change in”
Another way to write it is s2 – s1.

Example of velocity:
If an object is moving rightwards, then its velocity is described as being rightwards.
Boeing 747 moving towards the west with a speed of 260m/s has a velocity of 260m/s, west.
Note that speed has no direction (it is a scalar) and velocity at any instant is simply the speed with a
direction.
An object is moving in a circle at a constant speed of 10 ms-1. We say that it has a constant speed but its
velocity is not constant. Why?

The direction of the object keeps changing.

b) use graphical methods to represent distance, displacement, speed, velocity and acceleration
What can we get:

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Displacement-time Graphs: Velocity-time Graphs: Acceleration-time Graphs:

1. The distance at any given 1. The velocity at any given 1. The acceleration at any
time. time. given time.
2. The average velocity from 2. The average acceleration
the slope of the straight from the slope of the
line. straight line.
3. The instantaneous velocity 3. The displacement of the
of the object from the slope object by finding the area
of a tangent line to the between the line and the
curve at that point. time (x) axis.

Displacement – time graph:

● We can represent the changing position of a moving object by drawing a displacement – time
graph.
● The gradient (slope) if the graph is equal to its velocity.
● Steeper slope – greater the velocity.
● Gradient is negative, the object’s velocity is negative – it is moving backwards.

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A steeper line indicates a larger distance moved

in a given time. In other words, higher velocity.
Both lines are straight, so both velocities are
constant but one is larger in value than the other.
Increase in gradient in steeper graph shows
higher velocity.

Another figure shows an example of a body’s

velocity steadily increasing with time.
To find the velocity at a particular instant of time
,draw a tangent to the graph at the relative point
and calculate the gradient of that tangent.

Some other graphs and their importance

● The gradient of the distance-time graph
gives the speed of the moving object.
● Speed-time Graph
o Gradient of the Speed-time Graph
is the acceleration of the moving
object.
o Area under the Speed-time Graph
is the distance travelled.
Velocity – time Graph:

● The gradient of the velocity-time gradient gives a value of the changing rate in velocity, which is
the acceleration of the object.
● The area below the velocity-time graph gives a value of the object's displacement.

c) determine displacement from the area under a velocity-time graph

Area of various graphs:

This area takes on the shape of a rectangle can This area takes on the shape of a triangle can be
be calculated using the appropriate equation. calculated using the appropriate equation.
Area of a rectangle = b • h Area of a triangle = ½ • b • h
Alternative method for trapezoid

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This area takes on the shape of a trapezoid can

be calculated using the appropriate equation.
Area = ½ • b • (h1 + h2)
Where h1 and h2 are parallel sides.

Total area = area of triangle + area of square

Area under the graph:

For more extreme cases such as this, you can find the
acceleration by counting the number of boxes in the area
under the graph and working out the displacement each box
represent.

Acceleration:

● An object whose velocity is changing is said to accelerate.

● If the direction and / or speed of a moving object changes, the object is accelerating
Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity
● Acceleration is a vector quantity
● Unit: m s-2
𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑣−𝑢
𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡
v = final velocity u = initial velocity t = time
● Deceleration is the same thing, but has a negative sign as the velocity is decreasing.
Velocity – time Graph gradient gives acceleration
e) determine acceleration using the gradient of a velocity-time graph.
For the direction of the velocity-time graph, we take the first direction to be positive (1st Quadrant) and
the opposite of that during the journey to be negative (4th Quadrant).

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Each graph will look under a condition:

1. Object at rest (some distance from the reference point):

2. Object moving away at constant velocity:

3. Object moving away and then back:

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4. Object moving at constant acceleration:

5. Object moving at constant deceleration:

f) derive, from the definitions of velocity and acceleration, equations that represent uniformly
accelerated motion in a straight line
Equation of Motion (for constant acceleration in a straight line) “suvat”

They can only be used when:

➢ Motion is in a straight line.
➢ For an object with constant acceleration.
Some terms to remember:

Name Symbol Unit

-1
Initial velocity u ms (meter per second)
Final velocity v ms-1 (meter per second)
Acceleration a ms-2 (meter per second square)
Displacement s m (meter)
Time t s (second)

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Deriving the equation of motion

1st equation of motion:
Acceleration is change in velocity over time.
𝑣−𝑢
𝑎=
𝑡
Rearranging the equation:

𝒗 = 𝒖 + 𝒂𝒕 – Eq – 1
2nd equation of motion:
As we know that constant acceleration is represented by the following graph:

The average velocity is in the center of the range between initial and final velocity. Mathematically it can
be written as:
𝑢+𝑣
2
Since we know that:
Displacement = average velocity × time
𝒖+𝒗
𝒔= × 𝒕 ----- Eq - 2
𝟐
3rd equation of motion:

From equation 1 and 2, we can derive equation 3:

𝑣 = 𝑢 + 𝑎𝑡 -- 1
𝑢+𝑣
𝑠= × 𝑡 --2
2

Substituting v from equation 1 gives

𝑢 + 𝑢 + 𝑎𝑡
𝑠=( ) ×𝑡
2
2𝑢𝑡 + 𝑎𝑡 2 2𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑡 2
𝑠= = +
2 2 2

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𝟏
𝒔 = 𝒖𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕𝟐 ---- Eq – 3
𝟐
th
4 equation of motion:

Equation 4 is also derived from equation 1 and 2:

𝑣 = 𝑢 + 𝑎𝑡
𝑢+𝑣
𝑠= ×𝑡
2
Substituting for time t from equation 1 give:
𝑢+𝑣 𝑣−𝑢
𝑠= ×
2 𝑎
2𝑎𝑠 = (𝑢 + 𝑣) × (𝑣 − 𝑢)

2𝑎𝑠 = 𝑣 2 − 𝑢2
Or

𝒗𝟐 = 𝒖𝟐 + 𝟐𝒂𝒔 ---- Eq – 4
Uniformly Accelerated motion
Uniform: Staying the same at all times and in all places. Acceleration: change in velocity
over time Motion: movement

Free fall is an example of uniformly accelerated motion – Free fall is motion with no
acceleration other than that provided by gravity.
● A free-falling object is an object which is falling under the sole influence of
gravity.
● Any object which is being acted upon only be the force of gravity is said to be
in a state of free fall.
Look at the multi-flash photo and deduce what is happening?
The spaces between the images of the ball increase steadily. This indicates that the
velocity of the ball increases as it falls – it is accelerating.
Acceleration of freely falling object on the surface of the earth is 9.81 𝒎𝒔−𝟐 . This is
known as acceleration of free fall.

Representing free fall by graphs

The line on the graph curves – signifying accelerated motion – objects start with small velocity and
finishes with large velocity.
QUESTION: Doesn’t a more massive object accelerate at a greater rate than a less massive object?
NO!
● It’s not if we are considering a specific type of falling motion called free-fall.
● It’s a motion in which object move under the sole influence of gravity. (no air resistance)
● More massive objects will only move faster if there is sufficient amount of air resistance present.

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Ball thrown upwards then moves downwards:

Ball dropped from a height:

Object thrown upwards and falling back – Object falling and bouncing back – keeping
bouncing: ground the reference hence velocity is -ve:

h) describe an experiment to determine the acceleration of free fall using a falling body

Laboratory measurements of g – Measuring g using an electronic

timer:
1. A steel ball is held by an electromagnet.
2. When the current is switched off, the ball begins to fall and an
electronic timer starts.
3. The ball falls through trap door and breaks circuit – timer stops.
4. Distance s is known, timer tells us the time taken to cover that
distance. Initial velocity is zero.
5. We can find g using:
1 1 2𝑠
𝑠 = 𝑢𝑡 + 2 𝑎𝑡 2 → 𝑠 = 0 + 2 𝑔𝑡 2 → 𝑔 = 𝑡 2

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As Level Physics

i) describe and explain motion due to a uniform velocity in one direction and a uniform acceleration in
a perpendicular direction
A projectile is an object upon which the only force acting is gravity.
➢ An object dropped from rest is a projectile (provided that the influence of air resistance is
negligible).
➢ An object that is thrown vertically upwards. (provided that the influence of air resistance is
negligible).
➢ An object which is thrown at an angle to the horizontal. (provided that the influence of air
resistance is negligible).

Assumptions:
1. Air resistance is negligible.
2. No horizontal acceleration
3. Acceleration due to gravity g is constant (9.81 ms-2) over entire motion is directed downwards.
Horizontally Launched Projectiles:
If we launch cannonball horizontally in the presence of gravity, the cannonball would maintain
horizontal motion as before – a constant horizontal velocity. The force of gravity will act upon
the cannonball to cause vertical motion – a downward acceleration.

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P1 Tips: Following equations can be used directly in P1 only. Not allowed to be used in P2.
1. Time to reach maximum Height (t)
𝒖𝒗 𝒖 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽
𝒕= =
𝒈 𝒈
2. Total time of flight (T)
𝟐𝒖𝒗 𝟐𝒖 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽
𝑻 = 𝟐𝒕 = =
𝒈 𝒈

3. Max-Height (h)
𝒖𝒗 𝟐 𝒖𝒗 𝟐 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝟐 𝜽
𝒉= =
𝟐𝒈 𝟐𝒈

4. Range (Horizontal distance)

𝒖𝟐 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝜽
𝒔=
𝒈
5. Maximum Range
𝒖𝟐
𝑹𝒎𝒂𝒙 =
𝒈

Note: Only t is a scalar (no direction), i.e. common to both x- and y-directions. To find velocity v at any
instant:

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Now analyze each aspect of it:

Magnitude:

Direction:

A second-by-second exposure of a ball in projectile motion: (assume g = 10 m s−2 )

Some Useful Tricks:

To find out about the ball at the highest point in its
flight, remember that at that point vertically: v = 0
m/s.
(For that instant it is travelling horizontally so it
has no vertical velocity at all).
To find the time for the whole flight you usually
have to find the time for half the flight by
considering the time for the vertical velocity to
reduce to zero from its initial value (for instance,
the time it takes the ball to stop moving any
higher) and then double it.
Important note about Projectile:

● All problems on projectile can be solved using the rectilinear equations.

● When using the rectilinear equations, take note of the direction. Consider only one direction for
any one equation.

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● Time is the only quantity that is

common for both x- and y-
directions.
Problem solving strategy for Projectile
Motion
● Sketch the path of the projectile,
including initial and final positions.
● Resolve the initial velocity vector
into x- and y-components.
● Treat the horizontal motion and
the vertical motion independently.
● Follow the techniques for solving
problems with constant velocity to analyse the horizontal motion of the projectile.
● Follow the techniques for solving problems with constant acceleration to analyse the vertical
motion of the projectile. (Note: vertically acceleration downwards = g).

Object rolled/pushed off a cliff:

Horizontal Vertical

𝑢𝑥 = 𝑢 𝑢𝑦 = 0
𝑎𝑥 = 0 𝑎𝑦 = 9.81 𝑚𝑠 −2
Horizontal displacement = 𝑠𝑥 Vertical displacement = −𝑠𝑦

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