Halliday Resnik Krane

Motion in 1-Dim
Questions 9-16
9. Instead of the definition given in Eq. 2-13, we might have defined average speed as the
magnitude of the average velocity. Are the definitions different? Give examples to support your answer.

Answer: The magnitude of average velocity is not the average speed because for a particular
interval, the average velocity depends on the displacement of the particle; while on the other
hand, the average speed depends on the distance travelled by the particle.
From definition, we have

total distance travelled

Average speed = total time

∆x
Average Speed = ∆t

Therefore, for a particular time interval, it is not necessary that the distance traveled by the
particle is equal to its displacement. Thus, the average speed cannot be taken to be as the
magnitude of average velocity.
Say for instance, a car changes its position from some initial point x 1 to a point x2 in
10 sec such that the magnitude of displacement is say 1 km. However, the distance travelled by
the car during the same interval is 2 km. Therefore the magnitude of the average velocity of the
car is the magnitude of displacement divided by the time i.e. 0.1km/s .
The average speed of the car is the distance traveled by the car in elapsed time i.e. .0.2 km/s.
Thus, one can easily see that the magnitude of the average velocity does not match to that with
the average speed.

10. A racing car, in a qualifying two-lap heat, covers the first lap with an average speed of 90 mi/h. The
driver wants to speed up during the second lap so that the average speed of the two laps together will
be 180 mi/h. Show that it cannot be done.

Ans: Given:

Average speed of the racing car till 1st lap s1 = 90 mi/ h .

Average speed of the racing car till 2nd lap s2 = 180 mi/ h
The average speed of the racing car is given as:
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑
Average speed = 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎 𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

Let us assume that the distance traveled by the racing car in one lap in time t is x .
Therefore the average speed ( say s1)of the racing car in the first lap is given as:

total distance travelled

S1 = total time

x 90 min
S1 = t = h

Let us assume that the time taken by the racing car to travel the distance 2x to attain the
average speed of 180 mi /h be t1.
Therefore the average speed (say s2 )of the racing car till the second lap is given as:

total distance travelled

S2 = total time

2x 180 min
S2 = t = h
2x
180 min
t= h

Therefore, we find that if the racing car want to attain the average speed of 180 mi/h till the
second lap, the time in which it must complete the two laps is t’. However as calculated above,
with the average speed of 90 mi/ h, the car has already consumed that much time and just
managed to complete one lap.
Mathematically,
t’ = t
Therefore it is not possible for the racing car to attain the average speed of 180 mi/ h by the
end second lap.
11. Bob beats Judy by 10-m in a 100-m dash. Bob, claiming to give Judy an equal
chance, agrees to race her again but to start from 10 m behind the starting line.
Does this really give Judy an equal chance?
Given:

Length of the track, x = 100 m.

Distance by which Bob beats Judy, d = 10 m.

We assume that the average speed of the Bob and the Judy is maintained in every
race.
Let us assume that the average speed of the Bob be represented by vb and the time
he takes to run 100 m is represented by t .
Therefore, the average speed of the bob when he runs x meters is:

Substituting the value of x, we have

……. (1)

Let us assume that the average speed of the Judy be represented by v 1. By the time Bob run
meters, the Judy could run only x-d meters.
Therefore the average speed of Judy is given as:
Substituting the value of x , we have

90 m
vj = t …… (2)
Now we consider the situation when Bob decides to start 10 meters behind the starting line.
Therefore the distance traveled by the Bob now is x+10 meters.
Assuming that the Bob maintains his average speed as vb, we can calculate the time (say t’)taken
by the Bob to reach the finish line as:

Substituting the value of vb from equation (1) and the given value of x , we have

Judy, on the other hand has to travel distance x with the same average speed, and therefore the
time (say t”) after which he will reach the finish line can be calculated as:

Substituting the value of vj from equation (2) and the given value of x, we have

Thus, we find that t’ ‘> t’.

Therefore with same average speed and under the condition that the Bob started from
10 meters behind the starting line, Bob will still manage to reach the finish line earlier than Judy.
12. When the velocity is constant, can the average velocity over any time interval differ from the
instantaneous velocity at any instant? If so, give an example; if not, explain why.

No. When the velocity is constant, average velocity over any time interval will not differ
from instantaneous velocity at any instant because as velocity is constant, so it will not
change during any time interval. It remains same for every point of time. Therefore,
average velocity remains equal to the constant velocity.

13. Can the average velocity of a particle moving along the x axis ever be

if the acceleration is not constant? Prove your answer with the use of graphs.

No, the average velocity can never be  if the acceleration is not constant. It
is important to note that the average velocity of between two points in the velocity-time graph
lies exactly the halfway between the points only when the those points are located on a straight
line i.e. the velocity time graph should be a straight line.
Also if the velocity time graph is a straight line, the acceleration (the slope of the velocity time
graph) will always be constant.
For example, consider the velocity time graph of a particle in motion below. The red color plot
shows the parabolic relation of velocity of the particle with time while the blue color plot shows
the linear relationship of velocity with time.

Plot:
The average velocity between two points on the blue color line will lie exactly at the half way between
the two points whereas for the red color plot, the average velocity will not lie exactly at the half way
between the points. This is due to the non-linear relationship between the velocity and time in the red
color plot.
The non-linearity means that the change in velocity with time is not constant. Therefore the plot of
velocity-time (red color) shows a curvature.
The acceleration time graph for the corresponding velocity time is shown below i.e. the red color plot is
the acceleration time of the red color velocity time and the blue color plot is the acceleration time of the
blue color velocity time.

Plot:

One can easily compare from the two plots above that for the curve whose acceleration is not constant
over time, the velocity has non-linear relationships, henceforth the average velocity of the two points
will not lie in the half way between the points.

14. . (a) Can an object have zero velocity and still be accelerating? (b) Can an object have a constant
velocity and still have a varying speed? In each case, give an example if your answer is yes; explain why if
your answer is no.
(a) Yes, an object can have zero velocity and still be accelerating simultaneously.
Consider an object moving in the forward direction. Suddenly a force acts on it and tries to
accelerate the object in the backward direction. When you observe the object, you will find that
the object will continue to move forward for some time and then stops momentarily. Then the
object will start to move in the backward direction.
When the object stops for a moment, its velocity at that instant is zero, therefore no motion in
either forward or backward direction. However the acceleration is still acting on it. At that
instant, the magnitude of velocity in the backward direction is equal to the velocity in the
forward direction, but as the acceleration continues to act on it, the velocity in the backward
direction increases in magnitude over time, and the object finally starts moving in the backward
direction.
One can also see this mathematically. For example consider that the velocity of any object at
any time t is given as:
v (t) = t -2.
The acceleration of the object is:
a (t) = 1
However at 1 = 2 the velocity v(t) of the object is zero but the acceleration is still constant i.e. 1.
(b) Yes, an object can have a constant velocity and still have a varying speed.
For example, consider that a car moves from point A to point B by traversing a distance of 30
km in 1 hour. However the magnitude of displacement vector between the two points is 10 km.
The car then travels to point C by traversing a distance of 20 km in 1 hour. The magnitude of
displacement vector between points B and C is the same i.e.10 km.
Therefore the magnitude of velocity of the car when it moves from point A to point B and from
point B to C is

However the speed (say speed AB )of the car when it moves from point A to B is:

The speed (say speed ) of the car when it moves from point B to C is:
Therefore, we find that the speed of the car is different when it moves from point A to point B relative
to when it moves from point B to point C, however the magnitude of velocity is remains the same.

15. Can the velocity of an object reverse direction when its acceleration is constant? If so, give an
example; if not, explain why.