MECHANICS

KINEMATICS: RELATING TIME, DISTANCE, SPEED AND ACCELERATION

MECHANICS defined
Mechanics is a science which describes and predicts the conditions of rest or motion of
bodies under the action of forces.

Quantities encountered in Mechanics:

a. Scalars – possesses magnitude only
b. Vectors – possesses magnitude and direction
c. Tensors – possesses magnitude but require two or more directional aspects

Properties of Rigid Bodies

We treat a rigid body as a system of particles, where the distance between any
two particles is fixed
We will assume that internal forces are generated to hold the relative positions
fixed. These internal forces are all balanced out with Newton’s third law, so that they
all cancel out and have no effect on the total momentum or angular momentum
The rigid body can actually have an infinite number of particles, spread out over a
finite volume
Instead of mass being concentrated at discrete points, we will consider the density
as being variable over the volume
Branches of Mechanics

1. Kinematics – the description of motion

2. Dynamics – the study of the relationship between
motion to the forces
3. Statics – study of the systems that are in
equilibrium

** motion – defined as a continuous change of

position
 Concepts of Kinematics

a. Time (t)
Time is defined as the duration or interval between two events.

Units: seconds (MKS), minute, hour, day, week, month, year…

b. Displacement (s) and distance (s)

Distance is defined as the length travelled or the length from a reference
point to an object. Displacement is distance with direction.

s = vt where: s – distance/displacement
v – speed/velocity
t – time

Units: m/s (MKS), cm/s (CGS), f/s (FPS), kph, mi/h…

c. Speed (v) and velocity (v)
Speed is the rate at which the object’s position changes with time. Velocity is speed
with direction.

𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠
Speed, v = = Velocity, v = =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡

Units: seconds (MKS), minute, hour, day, week, month, year

Instantaneous speed refers to speed at an instant of time. It is the speed registered by the
speedometer of a car.

Average speed refers to the characteristic speed during a longer period of time.
𝑠
v= where: v – average speed
𝑡
s – total distance travelled
t – total time to travel that distance
Average velocity for constant acceleration is the average of the initial and final velocities.
Hence,

𝑣0+𝑣𝑡
v= (constant acceleration only)
2
and the distance traveled in time t is

s = vt
derived equations:

1
s = 𝑣0𝑡 + at2 2

𝑣𝑓2 = 𝑣𝑜2 + 2𝑎𝑠`

d. Acceleration (a)
Acceleration is the time rate at which the velocity changes. The
change could be magnitude/speed or in direction

a+ means increasing velocity

a- means decreasing speed, also called deceleration

Units: m/s2 (MKS), cm/s2 (CGS), ft/s2 (FPS)

Δ𝑣 𝑣𝑓 − 𝑣0
𝑎= =
𝑡 𝑡

𝑣𝑓 = 𝑣0 + 𝑎𝑡 (constant acceleration only)

RECTILINEAR MOTION

A motion along straight line is called a rectilinear motion. In general, it

need not be one – dimensional; it can take place in a two dimensional plane
or in three dimensional space. But, it is always possible that rectilinear motion
be treated as one dimensional motion, by suitably orienting axes of the
coordinate system. Rectilinear motion is also defined as a continuous change
of position of a body so that every particle of the body follows a straight-
line path, also known as linear motion.
Examples:
1.A car travelling at 15 m/s. How far will it travel
in 1 hour?

2.The Earth orbits the Sun at a distance of

150,000,000 km. How long does it take light
from the Sun to reach the Earth? (Speed of light in
space=3x108 m/s)
Accelerated motion
Accelerated motion simply means that acceleration is constant.

Examples:

1. Leaving a bus stop, the bus reaches a speed of 8 m/s after10s. What
is the acceleration?

2. A sprinter has an acceleration of 5 m/s2 during the first 2s of a race.

What velocity does she reach?

3. A train slows down from 60 m/s to 20 m/s in 50s. What is its

acceleration?
The Equations of Motion

Working with Problems:

Step 1. Write down the quantities which we know, and the quantity we want to find.
Step 2. Then we choose the equation which links these quantities, and substitute in the values.
Step 3. Finally, we calculate the unknown quantity.

Examples:
1. The rocket lifts-off from rest with acceleration of 20 m/s2. How fast will it be
travelling after 50 s?
a. How long will the rocket take to reach a velocity of 2000 m/s?
b. What acceleration must it have to reach a speed of 1000 m/s in 40s?
2. The car is travelling along the road at 8 m/s. It accelerates at 1 m/s2 for a
distance of 18m. How fast is then travelling?
3. A train travelling at 20 m/s accelerates at 0.5 m/s2 for 30 s. How far will travel
in this time?
1. A guy is riding a bike with initial velocity of 2 m/s. He reaches his destiny after 3s
having final velocity of 10m/s. Calculate its acceleration?
2. A car with initial velocity zero experiences uniform acceleration of 7 m/s2 for the
time interval t= 5s. Calculate its distance covered?
3. Bob is riding his bicycle to the store at a velocity of 4 m/s, when a cat runs out in
front of him. He quickly brakes to a complete stop, with an acceleration of - 2m/s2.
What is his displacement?
4. You travel at a constant velocity of 11 m/s for 5 minutes. How far have you
traveled?
5. What is the acceleration of a car that speeds up from 11 m/s to 40 m/s after 10
seconds?
6. If a car accelerates at 3.0 m/s2 from a complete stop, how long will it take to go
3000 m?
7. Ima Hurryin is approaching a stoplight moving with a velocity of +30.0 m/s. The light
turns yellow, and Ima applies the brakes and skids to a stop. If Ima's acceleration is -
8.00 m/s2, then determine the displacement of the car during the skidding process.
8. Ben Rushin is waiting at a stoplight. When it finally turns green, Ben accelerated
from rest at a rate of a 6.00 m/s2 for a time of 4.10 seconds. Determine the
displacement of Ben's car during this time period.
9. An airplane accelerates down a runway at 3.20 m/s2 for 32.8 s until is finally lifts off the ground. Determine the
distance traveled before takeoff.
10. A car starts from rest and accelerates uniformly over a time of 5.21 seconds for a distance of 110 m. Determine
the acceleration of the car.
11. A race car accelerates uniformly from 18.5 m/s to 46.1 m/s in 2.47 seconds. Determine the acceleration of the
car and the distance traveled.
12. Rocket-powered sleds are used to test the human response to acceleration. If a rocket-powered sled is
accelerated to a speed of 444 m/s in 1.83 seconds, then what is the acceleration and what is the distance that
the sled travels?
13. A bike accelerates uniformly from rest to a speed of 7.10 m/s over a distance of 35.4 m. Determine the
acceleration of the bike.
14. An engineer is designing the runway for an airport. Of the planes that will use the airport, the lowest
acceleration rate is likely to be 3 m/s2. The takeoff speed for this plane will be 65 m/s. Assuming this minimum
acceleration, what is the minimum allowed length for the runway?
15. A car traveling at 22.4 m/s skids to a stop in 2.55 s. Determine the skidding distance of the car (assume uniform
acceleration).
16. It was once recorded that a Jaguar left skid marks that were 290 m in length. Assuming that the Jaguar skidded to
a stop with a constant acceleration of -3.90 m/s2, determine the speed of the Jaguar before it began to skid.
17. A plane has a takeoff speed of 88.3 m/s and requires 1365 m to reach that speed. Determine the acceleration of
the plane and the time required to reach this speed.
18. A dragster accelerates to a speed of 112 m/s over a distance of 398 m. Determine the acceleration (assume
uniform) of the dragster.
FREE FALL MOTION

A free-falling object is an object that is falling under the sole influence of

gravity. That is to say that any object that is moving and being acted upon
only be the force of gravity is said to be "in a state of free fall."

Such an object will experience a downward acceleration of 9.8 m/s2

(acceleration due to gravity).

Whether the object is falling downward or rising upward towards its peak, if it
is under the sole influence of gravity, then its acceleration value is 9.8 m/s2.

Like any moving object, the motion of an object in free fall can be described
by the kinematic equations.
Applying Free Fall Concepts to Problem-Solving

There are a few conceptual characteristics of free fall motion that will be of value when using
the equations to analyze free fall motion. These concepts are described as follows:
• An object in free fall experiences an acceleration of -9.8 m/s2. (The - sign indicates a
downward acceleration.) Whether explicitly stated or not, the value of the acceleration in
the kinematic equations is -9.8 m/s2 for any freely falling object.
• If an object is merely dropped (as opposed to being thrown) from an elevated height, then
the initial velocity of the object is 0 m/s.
• If an object is projected upwards in a perfectly vertical direction, then it will slow down as it
rises upward. The instant at which it reaches the peak of its trajectory, its velocity is 0 m/s.
This value can be used as one of the motion parameters in the kinematic equations; for
example, the final velocity (vf) after traveling to the peak would be assigned a value of 0
m/s.
• If an object is projected upwards in a perfectly vertical direction, then the velocity at which
it is projected is equal in magnitude and opposite in sign to the velocity that it has when it
returns to the same height. That is, a ball projected vertically with an upward velocity of +30
m/s will have a downward velocity of -30 m/s when it returns to the same height.
EXAMPLES:
1. Luke drops a pile of roof shingles from the top of a roof located
8.52 meters above the ground. Determine the time required for
the shingles to reach the ground.
Given: v0 = 0.0 m/s
s = -8.52 m
a = - 9.8 m/s2

s = v0 t + ½at2
-8.52 m = (0 m/s) • (t) + ½ • (-9.8 m/s2) • (t)2
-8.52 m = (0 m) *(t) + (-4.9 m/s2) • (t)2
-8.52 m = (-4.9 m/s2) • (t)2
(-8.52 m)/(-4.9 m/s2) = t2
1.739 s2 = t2
t = 1.32 s
2. Rex throws his mother's crystal vase vertically upwards with an
initial velocity of 26.2 m/s. Determine the height to which the
vase will rise above its initial height.

Given: v0 = 26.2 m/s , vf = 0 m/s , a = -9.8 m/s2

vf2 = v02 + 2as

(0 m/s)2 = (26.2 m/s)2 + 2 •(-9.8m/s2) •s
0 m2/s2 = 686.44 m2/s2 + (-19.6 m/s2) •s
(-19.6 m/s2) • d = 0 m2/s2 -686.44 m2/s2
(-19.6 m/s2) • d = -686.44 m2/s2
s = (-686.44 m2/s2)/ (-19.6 m/s2)
s = 35.0 m
1) A stone is dropped into a deep well and is heard to hit the water 3.41 s after being dropped. Determine
the depth of the well.
2) Upton Chuck is riding the Giant Drop at Great America. If Upton free falls for 2.60 seconds, what will be his
final velocity and how far will he fall?
3) A feather is dropped on the moon from a height of 1.40 meters. The acceleration of gravity on the moon is
1.67 m/s2. Determine the time for the feather to fall to the surface of the moon.
4) With what speed in miles/hr (1 m/s = 2.23 mi/hr) must an object be thrown to reach a height of 91.5 m
(equivalent to one football field)? Assume negligible air resistance.
5) A kangaroo is capable of jumping to a height of 2.62 m. Determine the takeoff speed of the kangaroo.
6) If Michael Jordan has a vertical leap of 1.29 m, then what is his takeoff speed and his hang time (total time
to move upwards to the peak and then return to the ground)?
7) A bullet leaves a rifle with a muzzle velocity of 521 m/s. While accelerating through the barrel of the rifle,
the bullet moves a distance of 0.840 m. Determine the acceleration of the bullet (assume a uniform
acceleration).
8) A baseball is popped straight up into the air and has a hang-time of 6.25 s. Determine the height to which
the ball rises before it reaches its peak. (Hint: the time to rise to the peak is one-half the total hang-time.)
9) The observation deck of tall skyscraper 370 m above the street. Determine the time required for a penny
to free fall from the deck to the street below.
10) A bullet is moving at a speed of 367 m/s when it embeds into a lump of moist clay. The bullet penetrates
for a distance of 0.0621 m. Determine the acceleration of the bullet while moving into the clay. (Assume a
uniform acceleration.)