PHYSICS 101AH: LESSON 3-b KINEMATICS

In the previous chapter, we have analyzed objects with constant velocity. When the velocity of an object changes, the object is said to be accelerated. In this chapter, we will further analyze the motion and think about how fast an object moves, how far it moves and for how long. 3b.1. What is acceleration? When an object's velocity changes, it accelerates. Acceleration shows the change in velocity in a unit time. Velocity is measured in meters per second, m/s, so acceleration is measured in (m/s)/s, or m/s2, which can be both positive and negative. 3b.2. Average Acceleration and Instantaneous Acceleration The average acceleration is the ratio between the change in velocity and the time interval.

For example, if a car moves from the rest to 5 m/s in 5 seconds, its average acceleration is

An instantaneous acceleration is the change in velocity at one moment. We will study instantaneous acceleration more in depth later in the chapter. QUESTION: If a car accelerates from 5 m/s to 15 m/s in 2 seconds, what is the car's average acceleration? QUESTION: How long does it take to accelerate an object from rest to 10 m/s if the acceleration was 2 m/s2? QUESTION: Carl started to run at 10 km/h when he left his house. He arrived at school 30 minutes later. How fast was he running when he arrived there? Assume that his average acceleration was 30 km/h2. 3b.3. More Velocity-time Graph Let's examine more about a velocity-time graph. We can say that the tangent of a velocity-time graph represents instantaneous acceleration since

For example, the instantaneous acceleration when t = 3 at the below graph is 3 m/s 2, since the graph has a slope of 3 when t = 3.

QUESTION: What is the instantaneous acceleration of the above object when t = 0? QUESTION: What is the average acceleration of the whole trip? (When t=7, velocity=26 m/s) QUESTION: Does above object has a constant acceleration? 3b.4. Displacement and Constant Acceleration In this section, we will assume that acceleration is always constant. We know that the area under the line of a velocity-time graph represents the displacement. Therefore, the equation

s = (vf + vi)t

note: s = d, for distance or displacement in equations

is true, where Vi is the initial velocity and Vf is the final velocity, since the area of a triangle is 1/2 * width * height.

QUESTION: If a car accelerated from 5 m/s to 25 m/s in 10 seconds, how far will it travel? The final velocity of a uniformly accelerated object is where:

Vf is the final velocity in m/s, Vi is the initial velocity in m/s, a is acceleration in m/s2, and t is time in second.

Therefore, by substituting it to the previous equation,

therefore, is true. If you don't understand the derivation, don't worry. The red formulae are the ones that you should learn. QUESTION: What is the displacement of a car whose initial velocity is 5 m/s and then accelerated 2 m/s2 for 10 seconds?

From equations

and

, we can also say that

Therefore, is true. These four red equations are very important and you should be very familiar with them. (It doesn't mean that you should memorize these formulae. Learn by using them.) QUESTION: What is the final velocity of a car that accelerated 10 m/s 2 from rest and traveled 180m?

3b.5. Acceleration Due to Gravity Galileo was the first to find out that all objects falling to Earth have a constant acceleration of 9.80 m/s2 regardless of their mass. Acceleration due to gravity is given a symbol g, which equals to 9.80 m/s2. Therefore, if you drop a pen, it should behave like this... Time (s) 0 1 2 3 4 Velocity (m/s) 0 9.8 19.6 29.4 39.2 Displacement (m) 0 4.9 19.6 44.1 78.4

For all previous equations, we can substitute g for a: (where g = 9.8 m/s2)

QUESTION: How long will it take for an apple falling from a 29.4m-tall tree to hit the ground? 3b.6. Lesson3b Quiz (Take the quiz and see how well you can do!) Acceleration is defined as change in velocity per unit time. You should be able to calculate average velocity. You should be familiar with velocity-time graphs. Acceleration, velocity and displacement are closely related to each other. You should be able to manipulate them to solve problems. You can use the formula sheet if you need help. You should have a sheet of paper and a pencil with you. 1. How long does it take for a car to change its velocity from 10 m/s to 25 m/s if the acceleration is 5 m/s2? 2. A rat and a cat is 35 m apart. When the rat started to run at 2 km/h (0.556 m/s), the cat started to chase him at 1 m/s2. Can the cat catch the rat in 10 seconds? 3. A car has a constant acceleration of 4 m/s2, starting from rest. a. How fast is it traveling after 5 seconds b. How far is it traveling after 5 seconds? c. How far has it traveled by the time it reached the speed of 40 m/s? 4. A car is at velocity of 20 km/h. If the car traveled 120 km in 3 hours at constant acceleration, what is its final velocity? 5. A car travels at constant acceleration of 5 m/s2 from rest. How far has it traveled by the time it reached the velocity of 72 km/h (20 m/s)? 6. How long will it take for a falling object to reach 108 m/s if its initial velocity is 10 m/s? 7. What is the final velocity of an apple if it falls from a 100m-tree?