TECHNICIAN

SCIENCE
CHAPTER 3 :
LINEAR MOTION

UNDERSTANDING
LINEAR MOTION

Define distance and displacement

Define speed and velocity
Define acceleration and deceleration
Calculate speed, velocity and acceleration/deceleration
Solve problem on linear motion using the equation of
motion
Determine distance, displacement and velocity from a
displacement-time graph
Determine distance, displacement, velocity and
acceleration from a velocity-time graph

CONCEPTUAL MAP
LINEAR MOTION
Represented by

Motion Graph

Solve
Problems Using

Equations of Motions

Linear motion is referred to as motion along a straight

line path
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Distance and Displacement

Distance

Displacement

Distance is the total path length

traveled from one location to
another.

Displacement is the distance

between two locations measured
along the shortest path connecting
them, in a specified direction.

Distance is a scalar quantity. It

has magnitude but no direction.

Displacement is a vector
quantity. It involves both
magnitude and direction

The SI unit of distance and displacement is meter (m)

Displacement = 100 m
A

B
Distance = 70 m

EXERCISE 1
1.

A student drive his motorcycle to shop, on the way to his school

a) What is the distance he had to drive to reach to his school?
b) What is the displacement of the school from the house?
After school the student drove back to his house without crossing the
shop.
c) what is the total distance he had to drive to reach back to his house?
d) what is the total displacement he drove back to his house?

6 km

5 km
shop

8 km
house

school

SPEED AND AVERAGE SPEED

Speed is the distance traveled per unit time.
Speed can also be define as the rate of change of distance.
The average speed of a body is calculated by:
Speed = Distance traveled, s (m)
Time taken, t (s)
Average speed = Total distance traveled, s (m)
Time taken, t (s)

VELOCITY
Velocity is the speed in a given direction. It is defined as the
rate of change of displacement.
The average velocity of a body is calculated by:
Average velocity = Total displacement, s (m)
Time taken, t (s)
Both speed and velocity have the same SI unit. They are measured in
meter per second or m s-1.
Speed is a scalar quantity and it has magnitude but no
direction whereas velocity is vector quantity which has
both magnitude and direction.

EXERCISE 2
1.

The world record for the 100 meter events was broken by
Maurice Greene in 1999. His record time was 9.79 s. What
was the average speed for the race?

2.

A car starts from rest and accelerates uniformly at 3 ms -1.

Calculate
a) its velocity after 4 s
b) its displacement after 6 s

3.

-1
(msgraph
)
Diagram shows Vthe
of movement of an object

t (s)

a) What is initial velocity of the object?

b) What is the total distance of the movement of the object?
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c) What is the average velocity of the object?

ACCELERATION AND DECELERATION

Acceleration is defined as the rate of change of
velocity
It can be written as:
Acceleration = Change of velocity
Time taken
= Final velocity (v) Initial velocity

(u)

Time taken
or,

a=vu
t

When the velocity of an object changes with time, an object is

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said to be accelerating.

ACCELERATION AND DECELERATION

Acceleration is a vector quantity. The SI unit for

acceleration is meter second per second or ms-2

The acceleration is positive if the velocity increases with

time. The acceleration is negative if the velocity decreases
with time.

Negative acceleration is also called deceleration or

retardation.

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EXERCISE 3
1.

Figure shows the path traveled by a cyclist. He started his

journey from O, moved a distance of 150 m to East towards A
and then moved a distance 200 m to North towards B. The
cyclist took about 25 s to complete his journey
B
Determine
(a) the total distance traveled
250 m
(b) the displacement from O
200 m
(c) the average speed of the cyclist
O
(d) the average velocity of the cyclist
C
150 m

2.

A lorry is moving in a straight road at a velocity of 10 ms-1. It

then speeds up uniformly to a velocity of 30 ms-1 in 4 s.
Immediately after this, the brake is applied and the lorry
slows down uniformly and stops in the next. Calculate the
acceleration of the lorry in the first 4 s and the last 5s.
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EQUATION OF LINEAR MOTION

The equations used in linear motion involve two kinds of
motion:
Motion with constant velocity (zero acceleration)
Constant change in velocity (constant acceleration)
Acceleration uniformly, = gradient of graph
= positive value

Velocity, v( ms-1 )
Final velocity v
t
Initial
velocity, u

v u = at

Time (s)
Time, t

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EQUATIONS OF LINEAR MOTION

The summary of equations is given below

Motion with constant

velocity

Motion with constant

acceleration

vav = s
t

vav = u + v
2

s = vav x t

S=(u+v)xt
2
v = u + at
S = ut + at2
v2 = u2 + 2as
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EXERCISE 4
1.

A car starts from rest at time t = 0 s and moves along a straight

road.
The figure below shows velocity-time graph of the car from t =
v (ms-1)
0 to 200 s?
(a) Describe the motion of the car from t = 0 to 200 s.
30
(b) Find the acceleration of the car in
I) the first 20 s
s1
s2
s3
ii) the last 10 s
t (s)
0
20
(c) Find the distance traveled by the car when the car
is 190 200
i) accelerating
ii) moving with constant velocity
iii) decelerating

2.

The velocity-time graph of the motion is shown in below

figure.
Give an explanation for each line P, Q and R.
v (ms Calculate the
1 acceleration for the first 2 s?
)
Calculate the total displacement
of an object.
Q
5

t (s)

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Displacement-Time Graph
Displacement / cm

Displacement / cm

Time / s

Zero gradient object stationary

Displacement / cm

Time / s

Increasing gradient Increasing velocity

Displacement / cm

Time / s

Fixed gradient Uniform velocity

Time / s

Decreasing gradient decreasing velocity

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Velocity-Time Graph
Velocity / cms-1

Velocity / cms-1

Time / s
Uniform velocity,
zero acceleration

Velocity / cms-1

Time / s
Uniform acceleration

Velocity / cms-1

Velocity / cms-1

Uniform deceleration
Velocity / cms-1

Time / s

Time / s
Increasing acceleration

Time / s

Decreasing acceleration

Time / s
Decreasing deceleration

Acceleration = gradient of the graph

Displacement = area under the graph
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EXERCISE 5
1. Figure 3.1 shows a displacement-time graph
for a moving object.
a) What is the displacement of the object after
3 seconds?
a) What is the velocity of the object during
i) the first 3 seconds
ii) the next 3 seconds?
t/s a) Plot the velocity-time graph for the object

D/m
15
10
5
0

1 2

3 4 5 6

Figure 3.1

v/ms-1
A

C
C

10 20 30 40 50 60

t/s

2. The velocity-time graph for a car traveling along

a straight line is shown in figure 3.2.
a) What is the acceleration of the car during the
part of the journey represented by
i) OA
ii) AB
iii) BC
b) What is the total distance traveled by the car?
c) Calculate the average velocity of the car for its
whole journey?
d) Plot the acceleration-time graph for the whole
journey covered by the car
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FINISHED..