Motion

Introduction
● A body is said to be in motion if it changes its position w.r.t surrounding and time.
● A fixed point or a fixed object w.r.t which a body changes its position is known as origin or point of reference.
● If a physical quantity has only magnitude then it is known as a scalar quantity. E.g. Mass, time, distance, speed
etc
● If a physical quantity has both magnitude and direction then it is known as vector quantity. E.g. Weight,
displacement, velocity etc.

Position
➢ Distance
● Can be defined as actual length of the path covered by a body
● A scalar quantity
● SI unit- metre(m).
➢ Displacement
● Can be defined as the shortest distance between initial and final position of a body
● A vector quantity
● SI unit- metre(m)
● Can be positive, negative or zero.
● For a course of motion, the displacement of an object may be zero but the corresponding distance covered is
not zero. So,
∴ Displacement ≤ Distance

Motion in a Straight Line

The motion of objects along a straight line is known as rectilinear motion. In case of rectilinear motion or one-
dimensional motion only one coordinate is needed to specify the position of a body.
➢ UNIFORM MOTION
When a body travels equal distances in equal intervals of time, no matter how small the interval may be.

Distance(m) 0 10 20 30

Time(s) 0 1 2 3

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➢ NON-UNIFORM MOTION
When a body covers unequal distances in equal intervals of time, even if the interval is very small.
For example a car moving through a crowded market.

Speed
● Speed measures the rate of motion of an object.
Distance(s)
● Speed of an object =
Time(t)

● A scalar quantity
● SI unit of speed - metre per second (m/s). Other units include (km/h)
● For a moving body, speed is always positive and can never be zero.
Total distance travelled
● Average speed = Total time taken

Velocity- Speed with Direction

● Velocity can be defined as the rate of change of displacement of an object.
𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
● Velocity of an object = 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒

● A vector quantity
● SI unit of velocity - metre per second (m/s)
● Velocity of an object can be positive, negative or zero.
➢ Average Velocity
1. Depends only on the initial and the final position of an object and doesn’t depend on the path taken by the
object.

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 2. The magnitude of the rate of motion of an object moving along a straight line with variable speed can be
expressed in terms of average velocity.
3. In case, the velocity is changing at uniform rate:
Initial velocity(𝑢) + Final velocity(𝑣)
Average velocity = 2

➢ Instantaneous velocity
1. The velocity at an instant is defined as the limit of the average velocity as the time interval ∆t becomes
infinitesimally small.
∆𝑥
2. 𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 = lim∆𝑡→0 ∆𝑡
𝑑𝑥
𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 = 𝑑𝑡

Acceleration (Rate of change of velocity)

● The rate of change of velocity w.r.t time is known as acceleration.
Change in velocity
● Acceleration,a, = Change in time
𝑣−𝑢
● a= 𝑡

● A vector quantity
● SI unit- m/𝑠 2
● Negative acceleration is called deceleration or retardation.
● If we plot the velocity time graph the the area under v–t curve is equal to the displacement of the object.
➢ Uniform acceleration: When velocity increases or decreases by equal amounts in equal intervals of time.
E.g. When a body is under free fall
➢ Non- uniform acceleration: When velocity increases or decreases by unequal amounts in equal intervals of
time.
E.g. Motion of a train leaving or entering the platform

Graphical representation of Motion

➢ Distance/ displacement-time graph

Distance-time or displacement-time graphs

Body at rest

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 Body moving with uniform velocity

Body moving with non-uniform velocity

➢ Speed/ velocity-time Graph

Speed-time graph or velocity-time graph

When the speed/velocity reamins constant

When initial velocity is zero and increases uniformly with time

Uniform Acceleration

When initial velocity is non-zero and increases uniformly with time

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 When body is moving with certain velocity which decreases
uniformly with time
Uniform retardation

When velocity increases non-uniformly

Non uniform acceleration

When velocity decreases non uniformly

Non-uniform retardation

★ Slope of distance-time graph gives speed of an object

★ Slope of displacement-time graph gives velocity of an object
★ Slope of velocity-time graph gives acceleration of an object
★ Area under speed-time graph gives distance traveled by an object
★ Area under velocity-time graph gives displacement of an object

Equation of motion
1. 𝑣 = 𝑢 + 𝑎𝑡
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2. 𝑠 = 𝑢𝑡 + 2 𝑎𝑡 2
3. 𝑣 2 -𝑢2 = 2𝑎𝑠
Where,
u = initial velocity of the body
v = final velocity of the body
s = distance covered
t = time taken
a = acceleration of the body

Uniform-Circular Motion
● When an object is moving in a circular path at a constant speed then such a type of motion is called Uniform-
Circular Motion.
● Since the velocity of the object changes continuously in a circular motion, due to change in its direction, the
object undergoes acceleration.
𝑣2
● The magnitude of its acceleration is given by 𝑅
is always directed towards the centre.
● In a uniform circular motion the acceleration of an object is always directed towards the center of the circle.This
acceleration is called centripetal acceleration.