LGB 10203/ENGINEERING SCIENCE CHAPTER 1 KINEMATICS

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CHAPTER 1 KINEMATICS

A. Introduction

Kinematics is the branch of mechanics which studies the motion of objects without considering
the forces that causes the motion.
There are three types of motion which are linear/straight motion, arc motion and
circular/rotational motion.

B. Rectilinear Motion (Linear Motion)
Rectilinear motion is a motion along a straight line.
Involves a concept of displacement, velocity and acceleration.
Displacement, s of a body is the change in the position of the body. That is, displacement is how
far the object is from its starting point.
- Displacement is the difference between final and original coordinates.
-

- Can be negative or positive value.
- Vector quantity and the unit is meter (m).
Distance, x is a total length of the path which always positive value.
- Scalar quantity and the unit is meter (m)
-

Example 1.1:
Imagine a person walking 70 m to the East and then turning around and walking back (West) a distance
of 30 m. Determine the displacement and distance the person walk.





Solutions:
Displacement, s = 70 m 30 m = 40 m
Distance, x = 70 m + 30 m = 100 m
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Velocity, v is the speed of an object and also the direction the object is travelling.
- Vector quantity and the unit is meter per second (ms
-1
)
- Average Velocity, v
ave
[vector quantity and the unit is ms
-1
]

Can be negative or positive value.
- Average Speed, [scalar quantity and the unit is ms
-1
]

Can be negative or positive value.
- Instantaneous velocity, its velocity at a particular instant.
v = rate of change of displacement =

velocity is constant, both magnitude and direction of velocity do not change
- Instantaneous speed = rate of distance travelled.
Acceleration, a is the change in velocity (any change in speed @ direction).
- Vector quantity and the unit is meter per second square (ms
-2
)
- Can be negative or positive value.



- Average Acceleration, a
ave
=


=

- Instantaneous Acceleration, its acceleration at a particular instant.
a = rate of change of velocity =

C. Motion Graph
Constant acceleration motion can be characterized by motion equations and by motion graphs.
Motion graphs can tell us how far a body has travelled, how fast it is moving and all the speed
changes there have been.
The graphs of distance, velocity and acceleration as functions of time below were calculated for
one-dimensional motion using the motion equations in a spreadsheet.
A considerable amount of information about the motion can be obtained by examining the
slope of the various graphs. The slope of the graph of position as a function of time is equal to
the velocity at that time, and the slope of the graph of velocity as a function of time is equal to
the acceleration.
Motion of a body can be illustrated by
a) Displacement time graph
b) Velocity time graph
c) Acceleration time graph
Slowing down
(deceleration, a)
Speeding up
(acceleration, a)
Acceleration
Velocity
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Distance - time graph (s-t graph)
Distance of a body from start point is measured. Here are 4 examples of the motion of a car represented
by 4 s-t graph
Case 1: A car is travelling at constant speed Case 2: A car is travelling with increasing velocity





Case 3: A car is travelling with decreasing velocity Case 4: A car is at rest (stationary)






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Velocity - time graph (v-t graph)

V-t graph gives the velocity of a moving object at different time. Here are 4 v-t graphs representing the
motion of 4 cars:





















Acceleration - time graph (a-t graph)
The a-t graph gives the acceleration of a moving object at different times. Here are 3 examples of a-t
graph representing the motion of 3 different cars.
Case 1: From this graph, we know that the speed is increasing and
the s-t graph should also be increasing with a concave downward
shape.





Case 2: From this graph, we know that the object should either
travel in constant speed or at rest.
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Case 3: From this graph, the v-t graph and s-t graph are all
increasing with concave downward shape.


Example 1.2:
The acceleration time graph of a car which starts from rest is as shown.






Determine:
a) The velocity of the car after i) 10 s and ii) 30 s
b) Sketch the velocity time graph and mark values of the velocity at time 10 s and 30 s.
c) From the velocity-time graph, calculate the distance travelled by the car in 30 s.
Solutions:
a) Velocity = area under graph(a-t)
t=10 s, 2(20) = 40 ms
-1

t = 30 s, (0) (0) = 0 ms
-1

b)





Time, s
Velocity, ms
-1

10 20 30
40
20

-20

Time, s
Acceleration, ms
-2

10 20 30
4
2

-2
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c) Distance = area under graph (v-t)
Distance =

()()

()()

D. Motion with Constant Acceleration
When an objects moves with constant acceleration, the instant acceleration at any point in a
time interval is equal to the value of average acceleration over the entire time interval.
Suppose u = initial velocity, v = final velocity
Uniform acceleration,

v = u + at


Displacement, s = average velocity x time

( )

( ( ))

Velocity, v = u + 2as

Basic equation for uniformly accelerated motion;

( )
v = u + 2as
v = u + at
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Example 1.3:
A car starts from rest and accelerates uniformly. After 10.0 s, its displacement is 25.0 m. Calculate
a) The velocity of the car after 10.0 s.
b) The acceleration of the car after 10.0 s.
c) The displacement in the next 10.0 s if the car continues its motion with the same acceleration.
Solutions:
Given in the question, u = 0 m/s, t
10
= 25.0 m;
a) Using

( ) b) Using v = u + at

( ) 5 m/s = 0 m/s + a(10s)

V = 5m/s a = 0.5 m/s
2


c) S = S
20
S
10

Using

(()

( )()

S = 100 m 25 m = 75 m

E. Freely Falling Bodies
A body is said to be in free fall if its falls under the action of gravity without air resistance.
For points close to the surface of the Earth, the acceleration of free fall g (9.81 ms
-2
) is constant
and assumed vertically downwards.

Since the acceleration of free fall is constant, we can use the equations of motion under
constant acceleration.




g = 9.81 ms
-2

( )
v = u - 2gs
v = u - gt
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Example; ball thrown vertically upwards ( ), and ball towards the ground ( )






Example 1.4:
A person throws a ball upward into the air with an initial velocity of 15.0 m/s. Calculate
a) How high it goes
b) How long the ball is in the air before it comes back to his hand.
Solutions
a) v = u - 2gs
(0) = (15) - 2(9.81) s
19.62 = 225
S = 11.47 m

b)

( )
22.94 =

()
t = 3.06 s





a -g -a g
(9.81 ms
-2
) (-9.81 ms
-2
) (-9.81 ms
-2
) (9.81 ms
-2
)