Physics

Kinematics

Displacement and velocity

Consider the motion of a point particle that is constrained to move in a straight line, such as the one in
Figure 1.1. Our first task is to choose a point on this line from which to measure distances. This point can
be chosen arbitrarily and we denote it by O. When we say that the distance of a point P from O is 3 m, we
mean that the point in question could be 3 m to the left or right of O. To distinguish the two points we
introduce the concept of displacement. The displacement of a point from O will be a quantity whose
numerical value will be the distance and its sign will tell us if the point is to the right or left of O. Thus a
displacement of -4 m means the point is at a distance of 4 m to the left of O, whereas a displacement of 5
m means a distance of 5 m to the right of O. Displacement is a vector; for the case of motion in a straight
line, the displacement vector is very simple. It can be determined just by giving its magnitude and its sign.
We will use the convention that positive displacements correspond to the right of O, negative to the left.
(This is entirely arbitrary and we may choose any side of the origin as the positive displacement; this
takes care of cases where it is not obvious what right means.) We will use the symbol x for displacement
in a straight line (we reserve the symbol r for displacements in more than one dimension) and s for
distance (from the Latin spatium). Displacement, being a vector, is represented graphically by an arrow
that begins at O and ends at the point of interest

We will use the capital letter S to stand for the total distance travelled, and x for the change in
displacement. The change in displacement is defined by

If the motion consists of many parts, then the change in displacement is the sum of the displacements in
each part of the motion. Thus, if an object starts at the origin, say, and changes its displacement first by 12
m, then by -4 m and then by 3 m, the change in displacement is 12 4 + 3 = 11m. The final displacement
is thus 11 + 0 = 11m

Harshana Perera(B.Sc(Phy),BIT,SCJP) 2016 R Kit

Turn Over

Physics

Kinematics

Q1 A mass initially at O moves 10 m to the right and then 2 m to the left. What is the final displacement of
the mass?

Q2 A mass initially at O, first moves 5 m to the right and then 12 m to the left. What is the total distance
covered by the mass and what is its change in displacement?

Q3 An object has a displacement of -5 m. It moves a distance to the right equal to 15 m and then a distance
of 10 m to the left. What is the total distance travelled and final displacement of the object? What is the
change in displacement of the object?

Speed
If an object covers a total distance S in a total time T , the average speed of the object is defined by

Suppose that you drive your car for a given amount of time, say 50 minutes. The odometer of the car
shows that in those 50 minutes a distance of 30 km was covered. The average speed for this motion is

Q4 A car of length 4.2 m travelling in a straight line takes 0.56 s to go past a mark on the road. What is the
speed of the car?

Velocity
The average velocity for a motion is defined as the change in displacement of the object divided by the
total time taken. (Recall that the change in displacement, x, means final minus initial displacement.)
Harshana Perera(B.Sc(Phy),BIT,SCJP) 2016 R Kit

Turn Over

Physics

Kinematics

Q5 A car starts out from O in a straight line and moves a distance of 20 km towards the right, and then
returns to its starting position 1 h later. What is the average speed and the average velocity for this trip?

Q6 A car moves in exactly the same way as in example question 1, but this time it starts out not at O but a
point 100 km to the right of O. What is the average speed and the average velocity for this trip?

Q7 The initial displacement of a body moving with a constant velocity 5 m s -1 is -10 m. When does the
body reach the point with displacement 10 m? What distance does the body cover in this time?

Q8 Object A starts from the origin with velocity 3 m s-1 and object B starts from the same place with
velocity 5 m s-1, 6 seconds later. When will B catch up with A?

Q9 Bicyclist A starts with initial displacement zero and moves with velocity 3 m s -1. At the same time,
bicyclist B starts from a point with displacement 200 m and moves with velocity -2 m s -1. When does A
meet B and where are they when this happens?

Harshana Perera(B.Sc(Phy),BIT,SCJP) 2016 R Kit

Turn Over

Physics

Kinematics

Acceleration
To treat situations in which velocity is not constant we need to define acceleration a. If the velocity
changes by v in a very short interval of time t then

Q10An object starting with an initial velocity of 2.0 m s-1 undergoes constant acceleration. After 5.0 s its
velocity is found to be 12.0 m s-1. What is the acceleration?

(1) Percy starts from rest at a station S and moves with constant acceleration. He
passes a signal box B 14 seconds later with a speed of 84kmh -1. Modelling the train
as a particle, find the acceleration of the train in ms-2 and the distance in metres
between the station and the signal box.

(2) ET is travelling up a hill on his BMX. He experiences a constant retardation of

magnitude 3ms-2. Given that his speed at the bottom of the hill was 15ms-1
determine how far he will travel before he comes to rest

Harshana Perera(B.Sc(Phy),BIT,SCJP) 2016 R Kit

Turn Over

Physics

Kinematics

(3) A car moves with constant acceleration along a straight horizontal road. The car
passes the point A with speed 7ms-1 and 5 seconds later it passes the point B, where
AB

53m.

a) Find the acceleration of the car.

When the car passes the point C, it has a speed of 26ms-1.
b) Find the distance AC.

(4) A car moves from rest at a point O and moves in a straight line. The car moves
with constant acceleration 5ms-2 until it passes the point A when it is moving with
speed 14 ms-1. It then moves with constant acceleration 2 ms -2 for 8 seconds until it
reaches the point B.
a) Find the speed of the car at B.
b) Find the distance OB.
(5) An aircraft moves along a straight horizontal runway with constant acceleration.
It passes a point A on the runway with speed 15ms -1. It then passes the point B on
the runway with speed 39ms-1. The
Distance

AB

is

190m.

a) Find the acceleration of the aircraft.

b) Find the time taken by the aircraft in moving from A to B.
c) Find the speed of the aircraft when it passes the midpoint of A and B

(6) A racing car moves along a straight horizontal road with constant acceleration.
It passes the point O with speed 11ms-1. It passes the point A, 4 seconds later with
speed 55ms-1.
a) Find the acceleration of the car.
b) Find the distance OA.

Harshana Perera(B.Sc(Phy),BIT,SCJP) 2016 R Kit

Turn Over

Physics

Kinematics

c) Find the speed of the car as it passes the midpoint of OA

(7) Two particles A and B are traveling along a straight path PQ of length 20m. A
leaves P, heading for Q, from rest with acceleration of 2ms -2 and at the same time B
leaves Q, in the direction of P, from rest with a constant acceleration of 5ms-2. Find
how far from A the two particles collide?
(8) A particle starting from rest from O accelerates uniformly along a straight line
and crosses two points A and B which are 5 m apart in 2 s. If velocity at B is 2 m/s
more than the velocity at A, find the distance OA
(9) To test the braking system of cars, a test track is set up as shown.
The sensors are connected to a data
logger which records the speed of a car
at both P and Q. A car is driven at a
constant speed of 30 ms -1 until it
reaches the start of the braking zone at
P. The brakes are then applied.
(a) In one test, the data logger records
the speed at P as 30 ms-1 and the
speed at Q as 12 ms-1. The car slows
down at a constant rate of 9.0 ms-2
between P and Q. Calculate the length
of the braking zone.
(b) The test is repeated. The same car is used but now with passengers in the car.
The speed at P is again recorded as 30 ms-1.
The same braking force is applied to the car as in part (a).
How does the speed of the car at Q compare with its speed at Q in part (a)? Justify
your answer

10) A particle starts from rest with constant acceleration for 20 sec. If it travels a
distance y1 in the first 10 sec and a distance y2 in the next 10 sec then:
(a) y2= 2y1

(b) y2 = 3y1

(c) y2 = 4y1

Harshana Perera(B.Sc(Phy),BIT,SCJP) 2016 R Kit

(d) y2 = 5y1

Turn Over