MOTION

DESCRIBING MOTION:
Change in the position of is said to be motion of the object. To describe the motion of
an object, we need a pre-defined coordinate system, called as Reference frame. The origin is used
as the point of observation.

The motion along only one axis is called as 1Dimensional motion.

The motion in a plane is called as 2 Dimensional motion
Motion in a space is called as 3 Dimensional motion
For all the above motions, a pre-defined coordinate system called as reference frame is
used.

MOTION ALONG A STRAIGHT LINE:

The simplest type of motion is the motion along a straight line. Consider the motion of an
object moving along a straight path. The object starts its journey from O which is treated as its
reference point as shown in the figure.

Let A, B and C represent the position of the object at different instants. At first, the
object moves through C and B and reaches A. Then it moves back along the same path and
reaches C through B. The total path length covered by the object is
OA + AC, that is 60 km + 35 km = 95 km.
This is the distance covered by the object.
Distance: Distance is how far you have travelled. This is the path length of
the journey.
The units are meters
It is a scalar quantity.
On the other side, if we consider the distance between the initial and final positions, then this is
called as Displacement.

Displacement: Displacement is the shortest path moved in a particular direction.

Units are meters (m)
It is a vector quantity
UNIFORM MOTION AND NONUNIFORM MOTION:

If object covers equal distances in equal intervals of time, it is said to be in uniform

motion. The time interval in this motion may be small or big.
If the objects cover unequal distances in equal intervals of time, then it is said to be nonuniform motion.

MEASURING THE RATE OF MOTION:

Different objects may take different amounts of time to cover a given distance.
Some of them move fast and some move slowly. The rate at which objects move can be
different. Also, different objects can move at the same rate. One of the ways of measuring
the rate of motion of an object is to find out the distance travelled by the object in unit
time. This quantity is referred to as speed.
Speed is defined as the distance travelled per unit time.

The SI unit of speed is metre per second. This is represented by the symbol m s 1 or m/s.
To specify the speed of an object, we require only its magnitude.
The speed of an object need not be constant. In most cases, objects will be in nonuniform motion. Therefore, we describe the rate of motion of such objects in terms
of their average speed.

SPEED WITH DIRECTION:

The rate of motion of an object can be more comprehensive if we specify its
direction of motion along with its speed. The quantity that specifies both these aspects is
called velocity.

 Velocity is the speed of an object moving in a definite direction. The velocity of an

object can be uniform or variable.
It can be changed by changing the objects speed, direction of motion or both.
In case the velocity of the object is changing at a uniform rate, then average
velocity is given by the arithmetic mean of initial velocity and final velocity for a
given period of time.

Speed and velocity have the same units, that is, m s1 or m/s.
RATE OF CHANGE OF VELOCITY:
During uniform motion of an object along straight line, the velocity remains
constant with time. In this case, the change in velocity of the object for any time interval
is zero. However, in non-uniform motion, velocity varies with time. It has different
values at different instants and at different points of the path. Thus, the change in velocity
of the object during any time interval is not zero. This non zero quantity is called as
acceleration.
In everyday usage, the word accelerate means to go faster. However, in physics,
acceleration is defined as the rate of change of velocity.

The unit of acceleration is m s2.

Acceleration is a vector quantity.
This means that whenever a body changes its velocity, it accelerates.
It is of two types:
Positive acceleration: if the velocity of a body increases, then the rate of change of velocity is
positive and is called acceleration
Negative acceleration: if the velocity of a body decreases, then the change of velocity is
negative and is called retardation or deceleration.

Acceleration due to gravity:

When a body falls freely, its velocity constantly increases with respect to time and, hence is acted
upon by a uniform acceleration.
The acceleration of a freely falling body, under the action of gravity of earth, is called
acceleration due to gravity. This value is constant at a given place.
The average value of acceleration due to gravity g is taken as +9.8 ms-2 when is falling freely
towards the earth and -9.8 ms-2 when it is moving away from the earth vertically.

If the velocity of an object changes from an initial value u to the final value v in time t,
the acceleration a is,

GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF MOTION:

Graphs are used in physics to give a visual representation of relationships. In kinematics
they can be used to show how displacement, velocity, and acceleration change with time.
DISPLACEMENT TIME GRAPH:
i.
ii.
iii.

Gradient = velocity
Graph is parallel to time axis : the object in stationery
Graph is a straight line passing through origin : the object is moving with uniform

iv.

velocity
Graph is a curve : the object is moving with variable velocity

VELOCITY TIME GRAPH:

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

Gradient = acceleration
Area under the graph = displacement of the object
Graph is parallel to time axis : object is moving with uniform velocity
Graph is a straight lint passing through origin : the object is moving with uniform

v.

acceleration
Graph is a curve : the object is moving with variable acceleration

ACCELERATION TIME GRAPH:

i.

Area under the graph = change in velocity

GRAPHICAL ANALYSIS:
Line A
A body that is not moving.
Displacement is always the same.
Velocity is zero.
Acceleration is zero.

Line B
A body that is travelling with a constant positive
velocity.

Displacement increases linearly with time.

Velocity is a constant positive value.
Acceleration is zero.

Line C
A body that has a constant negative velocity.
Displacement is decreasing linearly with time.
Velocity is a constant negative value.
Acceleration is zero.

Line D
A body that is accelerating with constant acceleration.
Displacement is increasing at a non-linear rate.
The shape of this line is a parabola since displacement
is proportional to t2 (s = ut + at2).
Velocity is increasing linearly with time.
Acceleration is a constant positive value.

EQUATIONS OF MOTION BY GRAPHICAL METHOD

When an object moves along a straight line with uniform acceleration, it is possible to
relate its velocity, acceleration during motion and the distance covered by it in a certain time
interval by a set of equations known as the equations of motion. There are three such equations.

i.
ii.
iii.

v = u + at
s = ut + at2
v2 = u2 + 2as

Where
u is the initial velocity of the object which moves with uniform acceleration a for
time t, v is the final velocity, and s is the distance travelled by the object in time t.
The above equations are derived using graphical method below.
EQUATION FOR VELOCITY-TIME RELATION
Consider the velocity-time graph of an object that moves under uniform acceleration as
shown in figure.

From this graph, initial velocity of the object is

u (at point A) and then it increases to v (at point

B) in time t. The velocity changes at a uniform rate a.

In the figure, the perpendicular lines BC and BE are drawn from point B on the time and
the velocity axes respectively, so that the initial velocity is represented by OA, the final velocity
is represented by BC and the time interval tis represented by
OC.BD = BC CD, represents the change in velocity in time interval t.
Let us draw AD parallel to OC. From the graph,

BC = BD + DC = BD + OA
BC =v and OA = u,

Substituting
we get

v = BD + u

or

BD = v u

From the velocity-time graph, the acceleration of the object is given by

Hence

v = u + at

EQUATION FOR POSITION-TIME RELATION:

Let us consider that the object has travelled a distances in time t under uniform
acceleration a. From the graph the distance travelled by the object is obtained by the area
enclosed with in OABC under the velocity-time graph AB. Thus, the distance travelled by the
object is given by
S = area OABC (which is a trapezium)
= area of the rectangle OADC + area of the triangle ABD

EQUATION FOR POSITIONVELOCITY RELATION:

From the velocity-time graph shown in figure, the distance s travelled by the object in
time t, moving under uniform acceleration a is given by the area enclosed within the
trapezium OABC under the graph.
That is,
s = area of the trapezium OABC

Substituting OA = u, BC = v and OC = t, we get

From the velocity-time relation t = (v-u)/a

Hence,

UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION:

If an object moves in a circular path with uniform speed, its motion is called
uniform circular motion

In circular motion, we have angle corresponding to distance, angular velocity

corresponding to velocity and angular acceleration corresponding to acceleration in
linear motion.
Vertical motion of objects:
When objects are thrown vertically upwards or under free fall, the above equations of motion are
changes accordingly. In the vertical motion of the objects acceleration a is equal to the
acceleration due to gravity g. It is considered as negative -g when the object is moving
upwards and positive +g when the object is falling downwards.
The equations of motion for vertical motion are:
v u gt

i.
s ut

ii.

1 2
gt
2

v 2 u 2 2 gs
iii.

The value of g is taken as 9.8 N/kg at normal sea level.

If the object is under free fall, its initial velocity is zero at that height.
Freely falling body:
When an object drops from a certain height, the initial velocity of the object is zero due to inertia
of rest. The object moves towards the earth under the influence of gravity. Such a motion which
takes place under the influence of only gravity is called free fall.
If an object is falling from a certain height h, the equations of its motion are as follows:

For the objects in vertical motion:

Maximum height reached by an object projected vertically upwards:
Let a body is projected vertically upwards with an initial velocity u. The velocity of the object
gradually decreases and becomes zero at a certain height. The height at which the final velocity
of the object becomes zero is known as the maximum height H.
As the object is moving upwards, a = - g
From the equation, v2 = u2 + 2as,
0 = u2 2gH
H

u2
2g

Time of ascent (ta)

Time taken to reach the maximum height by an object is known as time of ascent.
From equation, v = u + at
0 = u - gta
ta

u
g

Time of descent (td)

Time taken to reach the ground from the maximum height is known as time of descent.

As the object is under free fall, u = 0 m/s, a = + g and t = td

From the equation, s = ut + at2
H = gtd2

2H
g

td

u2
H
2g
We know that

u2
2g
g

2
td
, therefore
td

u
g

Therefore time of ascent = time of descent

Time of flight (T):
Time of flight is how long the object remains in air.
It is equal to the sum of the time of ascent and time of descent.
T

2u
g

Therefore T = ta + td =
Projectile Motion:
In general, an object that moves near the surface of the earth will not follow a straight
line path (for example, a baseball hit by a bat, a golf ball struck by a club). If we launch an object
at an angle other than straight upward and consider only the effect of acceleration due to gravity,
then the object will travel along a parabolic trajectory.
All examples of motion up to this point have been in one dimension but projectile motion is twodimensional.

Horizontal Components

Vertical Components

Note:
i.
ii.

In the horizontal direction, velocity is constant and acceleration is zero

In the vertical direction, velocity increases/decreases and acceleration is constant

v sin

v cos

Horizontal Velocity (

Vertical Velocity (

By applying the newtons laws of motion in the vertical direction, we can conclude the
following:

v 2 cos 2
H
2g
i.

ii.

iii.

iv.

v.

Height reached by the projectile

v cos
ta
g
Time of ascent
v cos
td
g
Time of descent
2v cos
T t a td
g
Time of flight
v 2 sin 2
R
g
Range

Note:
1. Range is maximum for 450 angle of projection
2. Range is same for two projectiles of angle of projections

& (90 )