Add Important Motion, Speed & Velocity Page: 1

Notes/Cues Here Unit: Kinematics (Motion)

Motion, Speed & Velocity

Unit: Kinematics (Motion)
NGSS Standards: N/A
MA Curriculum Frameworks (2006): 1.1, 1.2
Knowledge/Understanding Goals:
 understand terms relating to position, speed & velocity
 understand the difference between speed and velocity
Language Objectives:
 Understand and correctly use the terms “position,” “distance,”
“displacement,” “speed,” and “velocity.”
 Accurately describe and apply the concepts described in this section
using appropriate academic language.

Notes:
coördinate system: a framework for describing an object’s position (location),
based on its distance (in one or more directions) from a specifically-defined
point (the origin). (You should remember these terms from math.)

direction: which way an object is oriented or moving within its coördinate

system. Note that direction can be positive or negative.

position (s ): the location of an object relative to the origin (zero point) of its
coördinate system. We will consider position to be a zero-dimensional
vector, which means it can be positive or negative with respect to the
chosen coördinate system.

distance (d ): [scalar] how far an object has moved.

displacement : [vector] how far an object’s current position is from its

( ⃗d)
starting position (“initial position”). Displacement can be positive or
negative (or zero), depending on the chosen coördinate system.

rate: the change in a quantity over a specific period of time.

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 Add Important Motion, Speed & Velocity Page: 2
Notes/Cues Here Unit: Kinematics (Motion)
motion: when an object’s position is changing over time.

speed: [scalar] the rate at which an object is moving at an instant in time.

Speed does not depend on direction, and is always nonnegative.

velocity: [vector] an object’s displacement over a given period of time.

(⃗v )
Because velocity is a vector, it has a direction as well as a magnitude.
Velocity can be positive, negative, or zero.

uniform motion: motion at a constant velocity (i.e., with constant speed and
direction)

An object that is moving has a positive speed, but its velocity may be positive,
negative, or zero, depending on its position.

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 Add Important Motion, Speed & Velocity Page: 3
Notes/Cues Here Unit: Kinematics (Motion)
Variables Used to Describe Motion
XE
"MKS"XE
"metric
Quantity MKS Unit
system
MKS"Varia
ble
XE
"position" position m
s, x
XE
"distance"
XE distance,
m
"displacem displacement
⃗
ent"d, d
h height m
XE m
"velocity" velocity
⃗ s
v
XE m
"velocity" average velocity
⃗ s
v
The average velocity of an object is its displacement divided by the time, or its
change in position divided by the (change in) time:
⃗ s−s o Δs Δs
⃗v̄ = d = = =
t t t Δt
We can use calculus to turn into v by taking the limit as Δt approaches
v̄
zero:
Δs ds
v =Lim =
Δt →0 Δt dt
i.e., velocity is the first derivative of displacement with respect to time.

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 Add Important Motion, Speed & Velocity Page: 4
Notes/Cues Here Unit: Kinematics (Motion)
We can rearrange this formula to show that displacement is average velocity
times time:
⃗d =⃗v̄ t
Position is the object’s starting position plus its displacement:
s=s o + ⃗d =s o + ⃗v̄ t
where s 01 means “position at time = 0”. This formula is often expressed as:
s−s o =⃗d =⃗v̄ t

1 s o is pronounced “s -zero” or “s -naught”.

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 Add Important Motion, Speed & Velocity Page: 5
Notes/Cues Here Unit: Kinematics (Motion)
Note that is the slope of a graph of position (s ) vs. time (t ). Because
Δs
Δt
, this means that the slope of a graph of position vs. time is equal to
Δs
=v
Δt
the velocity.

This is true of any graph. The slope of the line is , which means the
Δy
Δx
quantity defined by will always be the slope.
y -axis
x -axis

Recall that velocity is a vector, which means it can be positive, negative, or zero.
On the graph below, the velocity is + from 0 s to 2 s, zero from 2 s to 4 s,
m
4s
and from 4 s to 8 s.
m
−2 s

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Physics Mr. Bigler

 Add Important Motion, Speed & Velocity Page: 6
Notes/Cues Here Unit: Kinematics (Motion)

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 Add Important Motion, Speed & Velocity Page: 7
Notes/Cues Here Unit: Kinematics (Motion)
Sample problems:
Q: A car travels 1200 m in 60 seconds. What is its average velocity?

A:
d
v̄ =
t
1200 m
v̄ = =20 ms
60 s

Q: A person walks 320 m at an average velocity of . How long did it

m
1. 25 s
take?

A: “How long” means what length of time.

d
v̄=
t
320
1. 25=
t
t=256 s
It took 256 seconds for the person to walk 320 m.

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Physics Mr. Bigler