Motion in a Straight Line Position, Path Length, and Displacement

Rectilinear Motion − What it means?

Motion of a body that moves along a straight line such as the motion of a car moving on a
straight road

Position − How to Describe it?

 Locating an object requires finding its position relative to a reference point.

 Reference point is often taken as the origin of a coordinate system.

 The coordinates (x, y, z) of the object describe the position of the object with respect
to the coordinate axes.
 Coordinate system along with time constitutes a frame of reference.

Path Length

 Length of the actual path traversed by a body in a given time

 It is a scalar quantity. Therefore, only magnitude is important, not the direction of
movement. (Implies that path length can never be negative)

Displacement

 A change of position Δx from coordinate (x1, y1, z1) to coordinate (x2, y2, z2)
 This is the shortest distance between the initial and final positions.
 It is a vector quantity. Therefore, both magnitude and direction are important to
describe displacement. (Implies that displacement can be negative depending on the
initial and final positions of a body in a coordinate system)

How Path Length and Displacement are Different?

Consider this example.

If an object goes from A to B and then B to C in time ‘t’, then

 path length = AB + BC (arithmetic sum of the distances)

 displacement, Δx = (shortest distance between points A and C)

Problems based on Path Distance and Displacement

Example − A particle moves along a circle of radius ‘r’. It starts from A and moves
clockwise. Calculate the distance travelled by the particle and its displacement in each case.
Take centre of the circle as the origin.

i. From A to B
ii. From A to C
iii. From A to D
iv. In one complete revolution

Solution

(i) Distance travelled by the particle from A to B

(ii) Distance travelled by particle from A to

Displacement along −x direction

(iii) Distance travelled from A to D

Displacement along +x and +y direction

(iv) For one complete revolution i.e., motion from A to A,

Total distance travelled = 2πr

Displacement = 0 [ the final position coincides with the initial position]

Speed, Velocity and Acceleration

Speed

 Average speed =
 It is a scalar quantity; that means no direction is required. (Implies that speed cannot
be negative)
 Instantaneous speed → Speed at an instant (when interval of time is infinitely small)

Instantaneous speed

Take a look at the significance of instantaneous speed as compared to average speed.

Velocity

 Velocity =
 It is a vector quantity. Therefore, direction of movement is important. (Implies that
velocity contains algebraic sign)
 In a position−time graph, the slope of the curve indicates the velocity and the angle
of the slope with the x-axis indicates the direction.
  Average velocity, ,

where x2 and x1 are the positions of the object at time t2 and t1 respectively

 Instantaneous velocity − Velocity at an instant (slope at a particular point on x−t

curve)

 When the motion is not uniform, sometimes instantaneous velocity is more important
than average velocity.

Uniform Motion−What it Means?

It means a body undergoes equal displacements in equal intervals of time.

Acceleration

 When velocity of a moving body changes, it is said to undergo acceleration.

 Average acceleration

 In a velocity−time graph, the slope of the curve indicates the average acceleration and
the angle of the slope indicates the direction of change of velocity.
  Instantaneous acceleration − Acceleration at an instant (slope at a particular point on
v−t curve)

Uniform Acceleration: A Special Case

In this case, the rate of change of velocity with time remains constant. Graphically, such
motion can be represented as

Graphical Representation of Accelerating Bodies

Kinematics Equations for Uniformly Accelerated Motion

Terminology

u → Initial velocity

v → Final velocity

a → Acceleration

t → Time

x0→ Initial position

x→ Position after time t

Equations of Motion by Calculus Method

 Velocity−Time Relation

Acceleration, a or dv = adt

Integrating the above,

⇒ v − u = at

⇒ v = u + at

 Displacement−Time Relation

Instantaneous velocity, or dx = vdt

⇒ dx = (u + at) dt [From velocity−time relation]

Integrating the above relation,

⇒ (x − x0) = ut +

⇒ x = x0 + ut + at2

 Velocity−Displacement Relation

⇒ adx = vdv
Integrating the above expression,

or

⇒ a(x − x0) =

⇒ v2 − u2 = 2a (x − x0)

Putting (x − x0) = S, we obtain [S is the displacement]

Motion of an Object under Free Fall

 If we choose upward direction as positive, then gravitational acceleration g will be

taken negative.

∴ a = − g = −9.8 m s−2

As object is released from rest, therefore,

u=0

The equation of motion becomes

v = 0 − gt = −9.8t m s−1

y=0− gt2 = −4.9t2 m

v2 = 0 − 2gy = −19.6y m2s−2

Note

Distance travelled in nthsecond of uniformly accelerated motion is given by the relation,

Relative Velocity

Relative Velocity
The relative velocity of a body A with respect to another body B is the time rate at
which A changes its position with respect to B.

Case 1: Both bodies move in the same direction

If A and B are moving in the same direction, then the resultant relative velocity is

Case 2: The bodies move in opposite directions

If A and B are moving in the opposite directions, then the resultant relative velocity is

Graphical Representations of Relative Motion

Example 1 − Two cars X and Y are moving with speeds of 60 km h−1 and 80 km h−1
respectively along parallel straight paths. Both the cars started from the same position. What
is the position of car X with respect to Y after 15 minutes?

Solution

Speed of car X, vx = 60 km h−1

Speed of car Y, vy = 80 km h−1

Both the cars are moving in the same direction.

Thus, relative velocity of car X with respect to car Y, vxy = vx − vy

= (60 − 80) km h−1

= −20 km h−1

∴ Separation of car X with respect to car Y after 15 minutes

is = −5 km [ Distance = Speed × Time]

Example 2 − Two trains, 110 m and 90 m in length, are running in opposite directions with
velocities 75 km h−1 and 64 km h−1. In what time will they completely cross each other?

Solution

Here, vA = 75 km h−1

vB = −64 km h−1 [Trains are moving in opposite directions]

Length of train A, lA = 110 m

Length of train B, lB = 90 m

Relative velocity of the two trains is

vAB = vA − vB = 75 − (−64)

= (75 + 64) km h−1

= 139 km h−1

= 139 km h−1

= 38.6 m s−1

Total distance to be travelled by each train for completely crossing the other train

= (110 + 90) = 200 m

∴ Time taken by each train to cross the other train

= 5.2 s