CHAPTER 1 : Motion in One Dimension

Section 1: Displacement and Velocity

OBJECTIVES
• Describe motion in terms of frame of reference,
displacement, time, and velocity.
• Calculate the displacement of an object traveling at
a known velocity for a specific time interval.
• Construct and interpret graphs of position versus
time.

MOTION
Motion happens all around us. Every day, we see objects such as cars, people,
and soccer balls move in different directions with different speeds. We are so
familiar with the idea of motion that it requires a special effort to analyze
motion as a physicist does.

One-dimensional motion is the simplest form of motion:

One way to simplify the concept of motion is to consider only the kinds of
motion that take place in one direction. An example of this one-dimensional
motion is the motion of a commuter train on a straight track.
In this one-dimensional motion, the train can
move either forward or backward along the
tracks. It cannot move left and right or up
and down. This chapter deals only with
one-dimensional motion.

Motion takes place over time and depends upon the frame of reference
Frame of reference : a system for specifying the precise location of objects in
space and time.

If an object is at rest
(not moving), its position
does not change with
respect to a fixed frame
of reference.
DISPLACEMENT
As any object moves from one position to another, the length of the
straight line drawn from its initial position to the object’s final position
is called the DISPLACEMENT of the object.
Displacement is the change in position of an object,(The shortest way
between two points )

Displacement is not always equal to

the distance traveled
Displacement does not always tell you
the distance an object has moved. For
example, what if the gecko in Figure
3 runs up the tree from the 20 cm
marker (its initial position) to the 80
cm marker. After that, it retreats down
the tree to the 50 cm marker (its final
position). It has traveled a total
distance of 90 cm. However, its
displacement is only 30 cm (yf − yi =
50 cm − 20 cm = 30 cm). If the gecko
were to return to its starting point, its
displacement would be zero because
its initial position and final position
would be the same.
Displacement can be positive or negative:

Example 1 :
a) An object moves from x=2 to x=5. Find its displacement.
b) An object moves from x=-3 to x=-1. Find its displacement.

Example 2 : A boy walks 8m due right then 10m due left. What are the
distance taken and the displacement during this motion?

Example 3 : A man walked 10 steps toward east then 10 steps toward

south. What is the magnitude and direction of the total displacement of
the man?
VELOCITY : is defined as the displacement per unit time.

Average velocity is displacement divided by the time interval

is defined as the displacement divided by the time interval during which
the displacement occurred.
In SI, the unit of velocity is meters per second, abbreviated as m/s.

The average velocity of an object can be positive or negative,

depending on the sign of the displacement.
The average velocity is equal to the constant velocity needed to cover
the given displacement in a given time interval.
 Hiwa walks with an average velocity of 0.98 m/s eastward. If it takes him
34 min to walk to the store, how far has he walked?

2. If hooker rides his bicycle in a straight line for 15 min with an average
velocity
of 12.5 km/h south, how far has he ridden?

3. It takes you 9.5 min to walk with an average velocity of 1.2 m/s to the
north from the bus stop to the museum entrance.
What is your displacement?
Velocity is not the same as speed
In everyday language, the terms speed and velocity are used
interchangeably. In physics, however, there is an important distinction
between these two terms. As we have seen, velocity describes motion
with both a direction and a numerical value (a magnitude) indicating
how fast something moves. However, speed has no direction, only
magnitude. An object’s average speed is equal to the distance traveled
divided by the time interval for the motion.

Velocity can be interpreted graphically

The velocity of an object can be determined if the object’s position is
known at specific times along its path. One way to determine this is to
make a graph of the motion. Figure 5 represents such a graph.
The object moves 4.0 m in the time
interval between t = 0 s and t = 4.0 s.
Likewise, the object moves an additional
4.0 m in the time interval between
t = 4.0 s and t = 8.0 s. From these data,
we see that the average velocity for each
of these time intervals is + 1.0 m/s

Because the average velocity does not change, the object is moving
with a constant velocity of +1.0 m/s.
 These position-versus-time graphs
show that object 1 moves with a
constant positive velocity. Object 2
is at rest. Object 3 moves with a
constant negative velocity.

Instantaneous velocity may not be the same as average velocity

the velocity of an object at some
instant or at a specific point in the
object’s path.
One way to determine the
instantaneous velocity is to
construct a straight line that is
tangent to the position-versus-time
graph at that instant. The slope of
this tangent line is equal to the
value of the instantaneous velocity
at that point

SECTION REVIEW 1-1

1. What is the shortest possible time in which a bacterium could travel a
distance of 8.4 cm across a Petri dish at a constant speed of
3.5 mm/s?
2. A child is pushing a shopping cart at a speed of 1.5 m/s. How long
will it take this child to push the cart down an aisle with a length of
9.3 m?

3. An athlete swims from the north end to the south end of a 50.0 m pool in
20.0 s and makes the return trip to the starting position in 22.0 s.
a. What is the average velocity for the first half of the swim?
b. What is the average velocity for the second half of the swim?
c. What is the average velocity for the roundtrip?

4. H.W
 CHANGES IN VELOCITY
Many bullet trains have a top speed of
about 300 km/h. Because a train stops
to load and unload passengers, it does not
always travel at that top speed. For
some of the time the train is in motion, its
velocity is either increasing or
decreasing. It loses speed as it slows
down to stop and gains speed as it pulls
away and heads for the next station.

Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity with respect to time

The rate at which velocity changes over time; an object accelerates if its
speed, direction, or both change.
Acceleration has direction and magnitude

Example 4 : A car starts from rest and speed up to 108km/h in 6s.

find the acceleration.

Example 5 : A train slows from 20 m/s to zero in 8 s. Find a

 The slope and shape of the graph describe the object’s motion
Figure
When the velocity in the positive
direction is increasing, the
acceleration is positive, as at point A.
When the velocity is constant, there
is no acceleration, as at point B.
When the velocity in the positive
directions decreasing, the acceleration
is negative, as at point C.

MOTION WITH CONSTANT ACCELERATION

Figure is a strobe photograph of a ball moving in a
straight line with constant acceleration. While the ball was
moving, its image was captured ten times in one second,
so the time interval between successive images is 0.10 s.
As the ball’s velocity increases, the ball travels a greater
distance during each time interval. In this example, the
velocity increases by exactly the same
amount during each time interval. Thus, the acceleration
is constant.
Displacement depends on acceleration, initial velocity, and time.
Figure is a graph of the ball’s velocity plotted against time. The
initial, final, and average velocities are marked on the graph. We
know that the average velocity is equal to displacement divided by
the time interval.

For an object moving with

constant acceleration, the average
velocity is
equal to the average of the initial
velocity and the final velocity.

To find an expression for the displacement in terms of the initial and final
velocity, we can set the expressions for average velocity equal to each
other.
2. When Zilan applies the brakes of her car, the car slows uniformly
from 15.0 m/s to 0.0 m/s in 2.50 s. How many meters before a stop sign
must she apply her brakes in order to stop at the sign?

3. A driver in a car traveling at a speed of 21.8 m/s sees a cat 101 m

away on the road. How long will it take for the car to accelerate
uniformly to a stop in exactly 99 m?

4. A car enters the freeway with a speed of 6.4 m/s and accelerates
uniformly for 3.2 km in 3.5 min.How fast (in m/s) is the car moving after
this time?
Final velocity depends on initial velocity, acceleration, and time
2. An automobile with an initial speed of 4.30 m/s accelerates uniformly
at the rate of 3.00 m/s2. Find the final speed and the displacement after
5.00 s.
Final velocity depends on initial velocity, acceleration, and
displacement:

SAMPLE PROBLEM E
Final Velocity After Any Displacement
PROBLEM
A person pushing a stroller starts from rest, uniformly accelerating
at a rate of 0.500 m/s2. What is the velocity of the stroller after it has
traveled 4.75 m?
2. A car traveling initially at +7.0 m/s accelerates uniformly at the rate of
+0.80 m/s2 for a distance of 245 m.
a. What is its velocity at the end of the acceleration?
b. What is its velocity after it accelerates for 125 m?
c. What is its velocity after it accelerates for 67 m?
SECTION
REVIEW 1-2
1. A car accelerates uniformly at a rate of +2.60 m/s2. How long
does it take for Marissa’s car to accelerate from a speed of 24.6 m/s to a
speed of 26.8 m/s?

2. A bowling ball with a negative initial velocity slows down as it rolls

down the lane toward the pins. Is the bowling ball’s acceleration positive
or negative as it rolls toward the pins?

3. Nathan accelerates his skateboard uniformly along a straight path from

rest to 12.5 m/s in 2.5 s.
a. What is Nathan’s acceleration?
b. What is Nathan’s displacement during this time interval?
c. What is Nathan’s average velocity during this time interval?
David Scott simultaneously released a
hammer and a feather from the same height
above the moon’s surface. The hammer and
the feather both fell straight down and landed
on the lunar surface at exactly the same
moment. Although the hammer is more
massive than the feather, both objects fell at
the same rate. That is, they traveled the same
displacement in the same amount of time.
free fall
the motion of a body when only
the force due to gravity is acting
on the body
 Acceleration is constant during upward and downward motion:
➢ Everyday experience shows that when we throw an object up in the
air, it will continue to move upward for some time, stop momentarily
at the peak, and then change direction and begin to fall. Because the
object changes direction, it may seem that the velocity and
acceleration are both changing. Actually, objects thrown into the air
have a downward acceleration as soon as they are released.

➢ there is an instant when the velocity of the ball is equal to 0 m/s.

This happens at the instant when the ball reaches the peak of its
upward motion and is about to begin moving downward. Although the
velocity is zero at the instant the ball reaches the peak, the acceleration
is equal to −9.81 m/s2 at every instant regardless of the magnitude or
direction of the velocity.

➢ It is important to note that the acceleration is −9.81 m/s2 even at

the peak where the velocity is zero. The straight-line slope of the
graph indicates that the acceleration is constant at every moment.

Freely falling objects always have

the same downward acceleration
When an object is thrown up in the air,
it has a positive velocity and a negative
acceleration.
we see that this means the object is slowing down as it rises in the air.
The object continues to move upward but with a smaller and smaller
speed,

At the top of its path, the object’s velocity has decreased until it is zero.
Although it is impossible to see this because it happens so quickly, the
object is actually at rest at the instant it reaches its peak position. Even
though the velocity is zero at this instant, the acceleration is still –9.81
m/s2.
When the object begins moving down, it has a negative velocity and
its acceleration is still negative. we see that a negative acceleration
and a negative velocity indicate an object that is speeding up.

In fact, this is what happens when objects undergo free-fall

acceleration. Objects that are falling toward Earth move faster and
faster as they fall.

the acceleration is the same throughout the entire motion.