Describing Motion:

Kinematics in One
Dimension
P R O F. D R . H Ü S E Y İ N G Ö K S U
Contents
• Reference Frames and Displacement

• Average Velocity

• Instantaneous Velocity

• Acceleration

• Motion at Constant Acceleration

• Freely Falling Objects

• Textbook: Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Douglas Giancoli

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Introduction
• The study of the motion of objects, and the related concepts of force and
energy, form the field of mechanics. Mechanics is divided into two parts:

• kinematics, which is the description of how objects move, and

• dynamics, which deals with force and why objects move.*

• For now we only discuss objects that move without rotation. Such motion is
called translational motion.

• In this Chapter we will be concerned with describing an object that moves

along a straight-line, which is one-dimensional translational motion.

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Reference Frames and Displacement
• Any measurement of position, distance, or speed must be made with respect to
a reference frame.

• For example, while you are on a train traveling at 80 km/h, suppose a person
walks past you at a speed of, say, 5 km/h (as in the Figure). *

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• This 5 km/h is the person’s speed with respect to the train as frame of
reference.

• With respect to the ground, that person is moving at a speed of 80km/h +

5km/h = 85km/h. * It is always important to specify the frame of reference when
stating a speed. In everyday life, we usually mean “with respect to the Earth”, but
the reference frame must be specified whenever there might be confusion.

• When specifying the motion of an object, it is important to specify not only the
speed but also the direction of motion. Often we can specify a direction by
using, north, east, south, and west, and by “up” and “down.”

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• In physics, we often draw a set of coordinate axes,
as shown in the Figure, to represent a frame of
reference.

• For one-dimensional motion, we usually choose the

x axis as the direction of motion. Then the position
of an object at any moment is given by its x
coordinate. * If the motion is vertical, e.g. a dropped
object, we usually use the y axis.

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• We need to make a distinction between the distance an object has traveled
and its displacement, which is defined as the change in position of the object.
That is, displacement is how far the object is from its starting point. *

• To see the distinction between total distance and displacement, imagine a

person walking 70 m to the east and then turning around and walking back
(west) a distance of 30 m (see the Figure). The total distance traveled is 100 m,
but the displacement is 40 m since the person is now only 40 m from the
starting point. *

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• Displacement is a quantity that has both magnitude and direction. Such
quantities are called vectors, and are represented by arrows. For example, in
the Figure, the blue arrow represents the displacement whose magnitude is 40
m and whose direction is to the right (east). *

• In this chapter, we deal only with motion in one dimension, along a line. In this
case, vectors which point in one direction will have a positive sign, whereas
vectors that point in the opposite direction will have a negative sign, along with
their magnitude.

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• Consider the motion of an object over a particular time interval. Suppose that at
some initial time, call it t1, the object is on the x axis at the position x1 in the
coordinate system shown in the Figure. At some later time, t2, suppose the object
has moved to position x2. The displacement of our object is x2-x1, and is
represented by the arrow pointing to the right in the Figure. It is convenient to write

• where the symbol Δ (Greek letter delta) means “change

in.” Then Δx means “the change in x,” or “change in
position,” which is the displacement. Note that the
“change in” any quantity means the final value of the
quantity, minus the initial value. * Suppose x1=10.0 m and
x2=30.0m. Then

• so the displacement is 20.0 m in the positive direction, as shown in the Figure.

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• Now consider an object moving to the left as shown
in the Figure. Here the object, say, a person, starts at
x1=30.0m and walks to the left to the point
x2=10.0m. In this case her displacement is *

• and the blue arrow representing the vector

displacement points to the left. For one-dimensional
motion along the x axis, a vector pointing to the
right has a positive sign, whereas a vector pointing
to the left has a negative sign.

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Average Velocity
• The term “speed” refers to how far an object travels in a given time interval,
regardless of direction. If a car travels 240 kilometers (km) in 3 hours (h), we say
its average speed was 80 km/h. In general, the average speed of an object is
defined as the total distance traveled along its path divided by the time it takes
to travel this distance: *

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• The terms “velocity” and “speed” are often used interchangeably in ordinary
language. But in physics we make a distinction between the two. Speed is
simply a positive number, with units. Velocity, on the other hand, is used to
signify both the magnitude (numerical value) of how fast an object is moving
and also the direction in which it is moving. (Velocity is therefore a vector.) *
There is a second difference between speed and velocity: namely, the average
velocity is defined in terms of displacement, rather than total distance traveled:

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• Average speed and average velocity have the same magnitude when the
motion is all in one direction. In other cases, they may differ: recall the walk we
described earlier, in the Figure, where a person walked 70 m east and then 30
m west. The total distance traveled was 70m + 30m = 100m, but the
displacement was 40 m. Suppose this walk took 70 s. Then the average speed
was:

• The magnitude of the average velocity, on the other

hand, was:

• This difference between the speed and the magnitude of the velocity can occur
when we calculate average values.

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• To discuss one-dimensional motion of an object in general, suppose that at
some moment in time, call it t1, the object is on the x axis at position x1 in a
coordinate system, and at some later time, t2, suppose it is at position x2. The
elapsed time is Δt = t2 - t1; during this time interval the displacement of our
object is Δx = x2 - x1. Then the average velocity, defined as the displacement
divided by the elapsed time, can be written as

• where v stands for velocity and the bar over the v is a standard symbol meaning
“average.” *

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Example 1: Runner’s Average Velocity
• The position of a runner as a function of time is plotted as moving along the x
axis of a coordinate system. During a 3.00-s time interval, the runner’s position
changes from 50.0 m to 30.5 m as shown in the Figure. What was the runner’s
average velocity?

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Example 2: Distance a Cyclist Travels
• How far can a cyclist travel in 2.5 h along a straight road if her average velocity
is 18 km/h?

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Instantaneous Velocity
• If you drive a car along a straight road for 150 km in
2.0 h, the magnitude of your average velocity is 75
km/h. It is unlikely, though, that you were moving at
precisely 75 km/h at every instant. To describe this
situation we need the concept of instantaneous
velocity, which is the velocity at any instant of time.
(Its magnitude is the number, with units, indicated
by a speedometer, as in the Figure.) *

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• More precisely, the instantaneous velocity at any moment is defined as the
average velocity over an infinitesimally short time interval. That is, Eq. 2 is to be
evaluated in the limit of becoming extremely small, approaching zero. We can
write the definition of instantaneous velocity, , for one-dimensional motion as

• In Eq. 3, the limit as Δt → 0 is written in calculus notation as and is called the

derivative of x with respect to : *

• If an object moves at a uniform (that is, constant)

velocity during a particular time interval, then its
instantaneous velocity at any instant is the same
as its average velocity (see the Figure).

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• But in many situations this is not the case. For example, a car may start from rest,
speed up to 50 km/h, remain at that velocity for a time, then slow down to 20
km/h in a traffic jam, and finally stop at its destination after traveling a total of 15
km in 30 min. This trip is plotted on the graph of the Figure. Also shown on the
graph is the average velocity (dashed line), which is v = Δx / Δt = 15 km / 0.50 h
= 30 km/h.

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• To better understand instantaneous velocity, let us consider a graph of the
position of a particular particle versus time (x vs. t), as shown in the Figure.
(Note that this is different from showing the “path” of a particle on an x vs. y
plot.) The particle is at position x1 at a time t1 and at position x2 at time t2. P1
and P2 represent these two points on the graph. A straight line drawn from
point P1 (x1 , t1) to P2 (x2 , t2) point forms the hypotenuse of a right triangle
whose sides are Δx and Δt.

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• The ratio Δx / Δt and is the slope of the straight line P1 P2 . But Δx / Δt is also
the average velocity of the particle during the time interval Δt= t2 – t1 .
Therefore, we conclude that the average velocity of a particle during any time
interval Δt= t2 – t1 is equal to the slope of the straight line connecting the two
points (x1 , t1) and (x2 , t2) on an x vs. t graph. *

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• Consider now a time ti intermediate between t1 and t2, at which time the
particle is at xi (see Figure). The slope of the straight line P1 Pi is less than the
slope of P1 P2 in this case. Thus the average velocity during the time interval ti –
t1 is less than during the time interval t2 – t1.

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• Now let us imagine that we take the point Pi in the Figure to be closer and
closer to point P1. That is, we let the interval ti - t1 which we now call Δt, to
become smaller and smaller. The slope of the line connecting the two points
becomes closer and closer to the slope of a line tangent to the curve at point
P1. *

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• The average velocity (equal to the slope of the chord) thus approaches the
slope of the tangent at point P1.The definition of the instantaneous velocity
(Eq. 3) is the limiting value of the average velocity as Δt approaches zero.
Thus the instantaneous velocity equals the slope of the tangent to the curve at
that point (which we can simply call “the slope of the curve” at that point). *

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Example 3: Given x as a function of t.
• A jet engine moves along an experimental track
(which we call the x axis) as shown in Fig. a. We
will treat the engine as if it were a particle. Its
position as a function of time is given by the
equation x = At2 + B, where A=2.10 m/s2 and
B=2.80m, and this equation is plotted in Fig. b.

• (a) Determine the displacement of the engine

during the time interval from t1=3.00s to
t2=5.00s.

• (b) Determine the average velocity during this

time interval.

• (c) Determine the magnitude of the

instantaneous velocity at t=5.00s.
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Acceleration
• An object whose velocity is changing is said to be accelerating. * For
instance, a car whose velocity increases in magnitude from zero to 80 km/h is
accelerating. Acceleration specifies how rapidly the velocity of an object is
changing.

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Average Acceleration
• Average acceleration is defined as the change in velocity divided by the time it
takes to make this change: *

• In symbols, the average acceleration over a time interval Δt= t2 – t1 during which the
velocity changes by Δv= v2 – v1 is defined as

• Because velocity is a vector, acceleration is a vector too. But for one-dimensional

motion, we need only use a plus or minus sign to indicate acceleration direction
relative to a chosen coordinate axis.

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Example 4: Average Acceleration
• A car accelerates
along a straight
road from rest to
90 km/h in 5.0
s, as shown in
the Figure. What
is the magnitude
of its average
acceleration?

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• We almost always write the units for acceleration as m/s2 (meters per second
squared) instead of m/s/s. This is possible because:

• Note that acceleration tells us how quickly the velocity changes, whereas
velocity tells us how quickly the position changes.

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Example 6: Car slowing down
• An automobile is moving to the right along a straight highway, which we
choose to be the positive x axis (see the Figure). Then the driver puts on the
brakes. If the initial velocity (when the driver hits the brakes) is v2 = 15.0m/s
and it takes 5.0 s to slow down to v2 = 5.0m/s, what was the car’s average
acceleration?

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Instantaneous Acceleration
• The instantaneous acceleration, a, is defined as the limiting value of the
average acceleration as we let Δt approach zero: *

• This limit, dv/dt, is the derivative of v with respect to t. *

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• If we draw a graph of the velocity, vs. time, as
shown in the Figure, then the average
acceleration over a time interval Δt= t2 – t1 is
represented by the slope of the straight line
connecting the two points and as shown. *

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• The instantaneous acceleration at any time, say is
the slope of the tangent to the v vs. t curve at that
time, which is also shown in the Figure. Let us use
this fact for the situation graphed in the Figure; as
we go from time t1 to time t2 the velocity
continually increases, but the acceleration (the rate
at which the velocity changes) is decreasing since
the slope of the curve is decreasing. *

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Example 7: Acceleration given x(t)
• A particle is moving in a straight line so that its position is given by the relation
x = (2.10 m/s2) t2 + (2.80m) in Example 3.

• Calculate:

• (a) its average acceleration during the time interval from t1 =3.00s to t2 =5.00s.
and

• (b) its instantaneous acceleration as a function of time.

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• Like velocity, acceleration is a rate. The velocity of an object is the rate at which
its displacement changes with time; its acceleration, on the other hand, is the
rate at which its velocity changes with time. In a sense, acceleration is a “rate
of a rate.” This can be expressed in equation form as follows: since a= dv/dt
and v=dx/dt, then

• Here d2x/dt2 is the second derivative of x with respect to time: we first take the
derivative of x with respect to time (dx/dt) and then we again take the derivative
with respect to time, (d/dt)(dx/dt), to get the acceleration. *

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Motion at Constant Acceleration
• We now examine the situation when the magnitude of the acceleration is
constant and the motion is in a straight line. In this case, the instantaneous and
average accelerations are equal. We use the definitions of average velocity
and acceleration to derive a set of valuable equations that relate x, a, and when
a is constant, allowing us to determine any one of these variables if we know the
others.

• To simplify our notation, let t0 =0. Let t be the elapsed time. The initial position
and the initial velocity will now be represented by x0 and v0. At time t the
position and velocity will be called x and v.

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• The average velocity during the time interval t-t0 will be (Eq. 2)

• The acceleration, assumed constant in time, is (Eq. 5)

• A common problem is to determine the velocity of an object after any elapsed

time t. *

• Next, let us see how to calculate the position x of an object after a time t.

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• Because the velocity increases at a uniform rate, the average velocity, will be
midway between the initial and final velocities:

• We combine the last two Equations with Eq. 7 and find *

• We now derive the fourth equation, which is useful in situations where the time
is not known. We substitute Eq. 9 into Eq. 8:

• Next we solve Eq. 7 for , obtaining

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• and substituting this into the previous equation we have

• We solve this for v2 and obtain *

• We now have four equations relating position, velocity, acceleration, and time,
when the acceleration a is constant. *

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Example 9: Runway design
• You are designing an airport for small planes. One kind of airplane that might
use this airfield must reach a speed before takeoff of at least 27.8 m/s (100
k/h), and can accelerate at 2.00 m/s2

• (a) If the runway is 150 m long, can this airplane reach the required speed for
takeoff?

• (b) If not, what minimum length must the runway have?

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Example 10: Acceleration of a car
• How long does it take a car to cross a 30.0-m-wide intersection after the light
turns green, if the car accelerates from rest at a constant 2.00 m/s2 ?

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Example 11: Airbags
• Suppose you want to design an air-bag system that can protect the driver at a
speed of 100 km/h (60 mph) if the car hits a brick wall. Estimate how fast the
air bag must inflate (see Figure) to effectively protect the driver. How does the
use of a seat belt help the driver?

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Example 13: Two moving objects
• A car speeding at 150 km/h passes a still police car which immediately takes
off in hot pursuit. Using simple assumptions, such as that the speeder continues
at constant speed, estimate how long it takes the police car to overtake the
speeder. Then estimate the police car’s speed at that moment and decide if
the assumptions were reasonable.

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Freely Falling Objects
• One of the most common examples of uniformly accelerated motion is that of
an object allowed to fall freely near the Earth’s surface.

• Galileo made use of his new technique of imagining what would happen in
idealized cases.

• For free fall, he postulated that all objects would fall with the same constant
acceleration in the absence of air or other resistance. He showed that this
postulate predicts that for an object falling from rest, the distance traveled will
be proportional to the square of the time; that is, d α t2. We can see this from
Eq. 12b; but Galileo was the first to derive this mathematical relation. *

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• Galileo claimed that all objects, light or
heavy, fall with the same acceleration, at
least in the absence of air. If you hold a
piece of paper horizontally in one hand
and a heavier object—say, a baseball—in
the other, and release them at the same
time as in Fig. a, the heavier object will
reach the ground first. But if you repeat
the experiment, this time crumpling the
paper into a small wad (see Fig. b), you
will find that the two objects reach the
floor at nearly the same time. *

53
• Galileo was sure that air acts as a resistance to very
light objects that have a large surface area. But in
many ordinary circumstances this air resistance is
negligible. In a chamber from which the air has
been removed, even light objects like a feather or
a horizontally held piece of paper will fall with the
same acceleration as any other object (see
Figure). *

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• Galileo’s specific contribution to our understanding of the motion of falling
objects can be summarized as follows:

• at a given location on the Earth and in the absence of air resistance, all
objects fall with the same constant acceleration.

• We call this acceleration the acceleration due to gravity on the surface of the
Earth, and we give it the symbol g. Its magnitude is approximately *

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• When dealing with freely falling objects we can make use of Eqs. 12, where for
a we use the value of g given above. Also, since the motion is vertical we will
substitute y in place of x, and y0 in place of x0. We take y0 =0 unless otherwise
specified. It is arbitrary whether we choose y to be positive in the upward
direction or in the downward direction; but we must be consistent about it
throughout a problem’s solution.

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Example 14: Falling from a tower
• Suppose that a ball is dropped (v0 =0) from a
tower 70.0 m high. How far will it have fallen
after a time t1 =1.00s, t2 =2.00s and t3 =3.00s?
Ignore air resistance.

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Example 15: Thrown down from a tower
• Suppose the ball in Example 14 is thrown downward with an initial velocity of
3.00 m/s, instead of being dropped.

• (a) What then would be its position after 1.00 s and 2.00 s?

• (b) What would its speed be after 1.00 s and 2.00 s? Compare with the speeds
of a dropped ball.

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Example 16: Ball thrown upward
• A person throws a ball upward into the air with an initial velocity
of 15.0 m/s. Calculate

• (a) how high it goes,

• and

• (b) how long the ball is in the air before it comes back to the hand.
Ignore air resistance.

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Example 18: Ball thrown upward II
• Let us consider again the ball thrown upward of Example 16, and
make more calculations. Calculate (a) how much time it takes for
the ball to reach the maximum height (point B in the Figure), and
(b) the velocity of the ball when it returns to the thrower’s hand
(point C).

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Example 19: Ball thrown upward III
• For the ball in Example 18, calculate at what time the ball passes a
point 8.00 m above the person’s hand. (See repeated Figure here).

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• NOTE: The Figure below shows graphs of (a) y vs. and (b) vs. for the ball thrown
upward, incorporating the results of Examples 16, 18, and 19.

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Ball thrown upward at edge of a cliff
• Suppose that the person of Examples 16, 18,
and 19 is standing on the edge of a cliff, so that
the ball can fall to the base of the cliff 50.0 m
below as shown in the Figure.

• (a) How long does it take the ball to reach the

base of the cliff?

• (b) What is the total distance traveled by the

ball? Ignore air resistance.

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