Concepts in Kinematics

Class Notes from Tuesday, August 31

st


At the start of class, we watched the first thirteen minutes of the video The Mechanical Universe: The
Law of Falling Bodies which can be accessed at http://www.learner.org/resources/series42.html.
Four important concepts that the video teaches are:

- In a vacuum, all bodies fall with the same constant acceleration

- The speed of a falling object increases by the same amount with each interval of time
(another way of saying that the acceleration is constant)

- The distance a body falls with each interval of time increases proportionally with the odd
numbers (the result of a constant acceleration)

- The distance a body falls is proportional to the square of the time which it falls
(another result of a constant acceleration)

In other words, gravity is a constant acceleration. So whats the magnitude? How many feet-per-
second does a falling bodys speed increase every second? Well get to that; but first, heres a few
terms that you need to be aware of.

Kinematics The study of motion.

delta The amount a value has changed, calculated by subtracting the initial value
the from the final value.

naught A quick way of expressing subscript of zero, which symbolizes an initial
value of a variable. For example,
o
v is read v-naught, and means the initial
velocity.

position (x or y) An objects present location; displacement from an assumed zero point.

The players position is x = 30 yd.




displacement (s) How far an object is from a starting point. s = x

The players displacement is
s = x = 50yd 30yd
s = 20yd



Note: Displacement is not the same thing as total distance. Had the player ran to the 60-
yard-line, then retreated to the 50 yard-line. His total distance ran would be 40 yards,
though his final displacement is still 20 yards.
Concepts in Kinematics
Class Notes from Tuesday, August 31
st


2 2
_______ _______
ft
m
s s
g ~ ~

velocity (v) A bodys rate of change in displacement. The velocity is rarely held constant,
the average velocity can always be calculated:
average
s
v
t
=
A
.

The players average velocity is
v
avg
= s/t = 20yd/4s
v
avg
= 5 yd/s




acceleration (a) A bodys rate of change in velocity. If acceleration is not constant, the
average acceleration can be calculated:
avg
v
a
t
A
=
A
.


1
1
18
12
m
s
v
t s
=

`
=

)

2
2
30
15
m
s
v
t s
=

`
=

)

2
12
4 4
3
m
s
m
s
m
avg
s
s
a
s
= = =


acceleration The specific rate at which Earths gravity speeds up a falling body
due to
gravity (g)


During your freshmen year, you were introduced to kinematics with the relationship d = r t.
Unfortunately, this relationship only applies to situations when the velocity was constant
(acceleration = 0), which only describes a limited amount of motions found in the real world. Most
motion involves some speeding up and slowing down, and is best described by a mathematical
function and analyzed with tools learned in Calculus.

Falling bodies, however, fall with a constant acceleration (they are continually speeding up at the
same rate). Motion with constant acceleration can be analyzed without Calculus, as we will learn in
tomorrows lesson.

Thus, tomorrow we face two new goals:
- To form new equations for the displacement s(t) and final velocity v(t) of a body in
motion under constant acceleration, a.
- To find what is the acceleration due to gravity, g.
13:09 13:05