Physics 20 - Unit 1

Kinematics

Lesson 1 Average Speed

Introduction to Physics 20
There are three branches of the study of motion which will be our focus in Physics 20:

Kinematics is the branch of physics that deals with the description of the motion of objects without referring to any
forces or agents which may cause the motion.

Dynamics is the branch of physics which attempts to explain the causes for the motion that kinematics describes.

Energetics is the branch of physics that deals with the transformation of one kind of energy into another form of
energy.

Position, Distance and Time

Distance – is the linear space between two points.

Symbol ________ Units _________________________________ Standard units ___________

Position – for an accurate description of any motion it is necessary to know where an object is relative to a point of
reference. Elbow Drive is 2 blocks away from the front doors of Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School. In this case the
reference point is the front doors of DEPS. Motion or a change in position is always measured relative to some
reference point which is referred to as the origin. We will talk about this more in Lesson 2.

Symbol ________ Units _________________________________ Standard units ____________

Time – is the interval between two events.

Symbol ________ Units _________________________________ Standard units ____________

Speed
There are two basic types of motion:

Uniform motion –.

Non-uniform motion –

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Speed (v) is defined as the rate at which an object is moving.

Speed =

Symbol ________ Units _________________________________ Standard units ____________

There are three ways that the term “speed” is often used

Uniform Speed
Uniform speed refers to speed that remains unchanged and constant.

Average Speed
While variations in the actual speed may occur, we can calculate an average speed for the time interval.

Average speed =

Instantaneous Speed
Instantaneous speed is the speed of an object at a given instant in time. This is what is measured by the
speedometer in a vehicle.

Example 1
An object travels 510 km in 4.0 h. What was the average speed of the object?

Example 2
An object travels 6.5 km in 31 minutes. What was the average speed in m/s?

You may be asked to solve for variables other than average speed. Such questions will involve manipulating formulas.
You must show your formula manipulation and substitution.

Example 3
How far will an object moving at 60 km/h travel in a 20 minute?

Example 4
How much time is required for an object travelling at 50 m/s to travel a distance of 6.0 km?

Example 5
An airplane travels 1800 km at a speed of 1000 km/h. It then encounters a headwind that slows the plane to 850
km/h for the next 2300 km. What was the plane’s average speed?
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Some questions are really tricky………Example 6
Two roller bladers, Dhruv and Rebecca, are having a race. Rebecca gives Dhruv a head start of 5.0 s. Each roller
blader moves with a constant speed in the same direction. If Dhruv travels at 5.0 m/s and Rebecca travels at 7.5 m/s:
a. How long will it take for Rebecca to catch Dhruv?
b. At what position will Rebecca catch up with Dhruv?

Practice Problems
1. If an object can travel at 30 m/s, how long will it take for the object to travel 700 cm? (0.23 s)

2. You run 100 m at a speed of 5.0 m/s and then you walk 100 m at a speed of 1.0 m/s. What was your average
speed? (1.7 m/s)

*3. Bill is 35.0 m away from Tom. Both men walk in the same direction. Bill walks at 1.65 m/s and Tom walks at 1.85
m/s. From where they began, how far does Tom walk before he catches up with Bill? How long does it take for Tom
to catch Bill? (324 m, 175 s)

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Lesson 1 Assignment
1. What distance does a car travel in 75 minutes if it travels with an average speed of 75 km/h during this time? (94
km)
2. A bean plant grows at 3.858 x 10-5 cm/s. How much will it grow in three days? (1 x 101 cm)
3. If light travels at 3.0 x 108 m/s, how long will it take for light to travel from the sun to the Earth which is a distance
of 1.5 x 108 km away? (5.0 x 102 s)
4. A man walks 200 m at a speed of 1.5 m/s and then he runs the remaining 300 m at 3.0 m/s to a store. How long
does it take him to travel the total distance? What is his average speed for the journey? (2.3x102s, 2.1m/s)
5. A man walks for 25 s at a speed of 1.5 m/s and then runs for 40 s at 3.0 m/s. How far does the man travel? What
was his average speed? (1.6 x 102 m, 2.4 m/s)
6. A hippo sees a group of tourists 700 m away. The tourists are wearing fake safari hats. The hippo hates fake
safari hats. The hippo rambles toward them for 500 m at a speed of 2.5 m/s, then charges for 200 m at a speed
of 6.5 m/s. If the tourists need to get into their safari jeep to escape the hippo, how long do they have to make it
to safety? What was the hippo’s average speed? (2.3 x 102 s, 3.0 m/s)
7. A turtle and a hare enter a race. How far apart will the two be after 4.5 min if the turtle has a top cruising speed
of 0.25 m/s and the hare blazes along at 5.0 m/s? (1.3 km or 1.3 x 103m)
8. Jake the snake can slither at 125 cm/s and Mack the rat can run at 200 cm/s. If they start at the same point, how
far apart will they be after 5.0 s if they both run in the same direction? (3.8 m)
9. If Jake the snake’s tail is 345 cm from a hole and he slithers under stress at 150 cm/s, can Mickey the mongoose
catch him before he escapes? Mickey can move at 450 cm/s and he starts at 10.8 m from the hole. (Jake escapes)
10. Jack the jaguar can run for only 1.0 min at 13.0 m/s before he has to stop to rest, while Zeke the zebra can gallop
at 7.25 m/s for 5.0 min. How long does Zeke actually have to run for to elude Jack? Can Jack catch Zeke for lunch
if they are initially 350 m apart? (Zeke escapes)
11. Mrs. Ullyott is standing 50 m from a large bell. With her mighty throwing arm, Mrs. Ullyott throws a rock at the
bell and he hears the sound of the bell 4.5 s later. If the speed of sound is 325 m/s, what was the speed of the
rock in the air? (12 m/s)
12. *A British Concorde (BC) and a French Concorde (FC) flew in opposite directions around the earth (40 000 km).
The BC covered half of its flight distance at a supersonic speed of 2500 km/h and the other half at a subsonic
speed of 1000 km/h. The FC spent half of its flight time at 2500 km/h and the other half at 1000 km/h. Which
Concorde completed the trip first, and by how many hours did it beat the other? (5.143 h)
13. *Two trains, one starting in Calgary and the other in Edmonton, travel toward one another. The Edmonton train
travels at 120 km/h toward Calgary, while the Calgary train travels at 140 km/h toward Edmonton. If the trains
begin at the same time and Edmonton and Calgary are 285 km apart, how far from Calgary will the trains pass
each other? (153 km)

Lesson 2 Displacement
Motion and Direction
In Lesson 1 we considered motion without any reference to direction. Consider the following illustration: A person
walks 10 m to the right, stops for a few seconds, and then walks back at the same speed to where she started. The
person had the same speed (rate of motion) for walking away from the reference point and walking toward it, but her
direction of motion was different. In such cases it is necessary to refer to two things – the speed and the direction.
To help us talk about different kinds of motion we have two basic kinds of quantities:

scalar quantity A scalar quantity describes a magnitude (a fancy word meaning “amount”) without any reference to
a direction. Scalars are concerned with magnitudes only.

vector quantity Vector quantities have both a magnitude and a direction. They communicate more information than
scalars. For example:

= 20 km/h north = + 10 m

An arrow above a symbol indicates a vector quantity ( ), while a symbol without an arrow indicates a scalar
quantity (v).
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Students often become confused when something has a velocity of “negative 20 m/s” because they do not see how a
speed can be negative. However, the speed is only how fast something is moving, while the “negative” refers to the
direction of the speed. Some sign conventions for vectors are:
Right East North Up
Left West South Down

Distance and displacement

Distance is a scalar term because it only describes the magnitude of a position change with no direction involved.
The total distance from the reference point is given with no consideration of any direction changes along the way.
The symbol for distance is d.

Displacement is different from distance. Displacement is the net change in position from the starting reference
point. Displacement is a vector term because it includes both the magnitude and direction of the position change.

The symbol for displacement is .

For displacement we are interested in the net distance traveled, therefore we take direction into account. For
distance we are interested in the total distance involved, therefore we do not care about direction. Distance means
“how far did you go” whereas displacement means “where are you now, compared to where you started.”

Example 1
A person walks 10 m east, then 20m west, and finally 10 m east. What is the person’s distance and displacement at
each point of the trip?

Example 2
A man walks 35 m east and then 185 m west. What distance did he cover and what is his final displacement?
Example 3
A man walks 35 m north, 129 m south, 375 m north and finally 785 m south.
a. What was the distance traveled by the man?

b. What is the displacement of the man?

Example 4
A man walks 75 m west and then 192 m east. If the time required was 90 s,

a. What was the average speed of the man?

b. What was the displacement of the object?

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Lesson 2 Assignment

1. Indicate whether the direction is positive or negative for the following directions:
A. east B. up C. down D. left
E. south F. west G. right H. north

2. Determine the distance and displacement for each of the following questions. Either show a vector diagram or
your calculations for all questions. Do not worry about significant digits on this question. An object moves:
a. 20 m [W] the 40 m [E] (60 m, 20 m east)
b. 55 m [N] then 14 m [S] then 6.4 m [N] (75.4 m, 47.4 m north)
c. 8.45 cm up, 3.46 cm down, 0.0561 m up, and 0.0632 m down (23.84 cm, 4.28 cm up)
d. 3.56 km [E], 7855 m [W], 2.543 km [W], and 5.00 x 105 cm west (18.96 km, 11.84 km W)
e. 7.5 cm left, 62 mm right, 0.012 m [W], and 2.3 cm [E] (17.2 cm, 0.2 cm W)
f. 16 km [E], 17,000 m left, 4.5 x 105 cm right, and 25 km [W] (62.5 km, 21.5 km W)

3. An object travels north at 5.0 m/s for 30 s and then south at 8.0 m/s for 45 s.
a. What was the distance traveled by the object? (510 m)
b. What was the final displacement of the object? (210 m south)
c. What was the average speed of the object? (6.8 m/s)

4. An object travels east for 500 m at a speed of 25 m/s and then west for 800 m at 16 m/s.
a. What was the distance traveled by the object? (1300 m)
b. What was the final displacement of the object? (300 m west)
c. What was the average speed of the object? (19 m/s)

5. If a runner completes one circuit of a 400 m track in 44.0 s, determine her average speed and final displacement.
(9.09 m/s, 0)

Lesson 3 Velocity – Graphical Analysis

Position–time graphs
Position-time graphs indicate the position of an object relative to a reference point. For example, consider the
position−time graph below. An object moves at constant velocity away from a starting reference point for 15 s. It
then stops for 10 s before returning to its starting point with constant velocity for another 10 s.

Velocity is found by

_____________________________________

For the graph above, for the 0 to 15 second interval the velocity may be calculated

For the 15 to 25 second interval the object’s position does not change

For the 25 to 35 second interval the velocity is given by:

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Velocity–time graphs

Another way to graphically describe motion is via velocity–time graphs.

A velocity–time graph can be generated from the

position-time graph. The velocity–time graph that corresponds to this
position–time graph is:

Note that the time scale is the same, but the vertical scale is very different for the velocity–time graph. One should
keep in mind that, while they appear quite different, the position-time and velocity-time graphs above represent
the same motion.

If we begin with a velocity–time graph, we can calculate the displacement of the object. Consider the following:

Recall that displacement for an object moving

with constant velocity may be calculated using

In graphical terms, displacement equals the

area of a velocity—time graph.

⇒ area = base x height

Where: = area, = height , and Δt = base

What is the displacement for the 0 to 15 second interval?

What is the displacement for the 15 to 35 second interval?

If one were asked to calculate the displacement in the 0 to 35 s interval we have

= 1 + 2

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Problem solving examples

Example 1: Given the following data, plot a position-time graph and calculate the velocity.

Time Position
(s) (m)
0 0
5 10
10 22
15 28
20 42
25 52 The procedure
is:

1. The
manipulated
variable almost
always goes on
the x-axis and
the responding variable goes on the y-axis. The exception is time (t) which is always on the x-axis.
2. choose a suitable scale. Always choose a scale that is easy to use. You do not need to use the entire sheet of
graph paper
3. plot the points
4. Use a ruler to draw the line-of-best-fit. The line-of-best-fit is drawn so that it gets as close as possible to all of the
dots. Do not connect the dots or force the line to go through the origin. The line-of-best-fit is more important
than the points that were used to make the line.
5. choose two points on the line (not original data points) and calculate slope. Show all calculations, including
units, when you are finding slope or area under the curve.
6. Every graph should have a descriptive title which includes the responding variable and then the manipulated
variable.

Example 2: Given the following position-time graph, answer the following questions.

a. What is the average velocity of the object

plotted on the graph?

b. What is the velocity of the object at 5 s and at

15 s?

c. How far did the object travel during the 10 s to

30 s time interval?

D. How far would the object travel over 25 seconds?

E. How long did it take for this object to travel from 6 m to 10 m?

Example 3: Given the following velocity-time graph, draw the corresponding position-time graph.
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Velocity – Graphical Analysis –
Practice Problems

1. Given the position-time graph

below, draw the corresponding
velocity-time graph.

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2. Given the velocity-time graph below, draw the corresponding position-time graph.

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Lesson 3 Assignment

1. Use the graph below to answer parts A to C.

A. What was the velocity of the object at 5 s and at 25 s?
(-2.67 m/s)

B. How much time did the object require to travel 30 m

from its starting position? (11.3 s)

C. How far would the object travel in 40 s? (-107 m)

2. Use the graph below to answer parts A and B.

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A. What was the object’s distance and displacement for the 0 to 8.0 second interval? (64 m, +16 m)

B. At what time was the displacement zero? (10.67 s)

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3. Draw a displacement - time graph which indicates the motion of an object traveling at a constant velocity of -30
m/s for 15 s and then +20 m/s for another 25 s.

4. From the position – time graph provided, draw an accurate velocity – time graph.

5.

5. From the velocity – time graph provided, draw an accurate position – time graph.

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6. Given the following data of an object with constant velocity:

Time Position
(s) (m) On the grids provided, plot a position–time graph and the corresponding velocity–time graph.
1 6 (Show all calculations)
2 12
3 18
4 24
5 29
6 36

Lesson 4
Graphical

Analysis–Acceleration

Instantaneous velocity

From our previous work with constant speed and constant velocity we learned that the slope of a position–time
graph is equal to the velocity of the object. In addition, the area of a velocity–time graph is equal to the
displacement. The same principle applies for accelerated motion, except now velocity is also changing with time.
Consider the following graph for an object undergoing uniform acceleration.

We find the instantaneous velocity at a given point by

calculating the slope of the position–time graph at the
point of interest. To find this slope, we draw a tangent
line at the point of interest (in this case at 10 s). A
tangent line is a line that touches a curve at only one
point and is representative of the slope of the curve at
that point. Once a tangent line is drawn, we then
calculate the slope of the line.

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Example 1: The following data was collected when a ball rolled up an inclined plane, came to a stop and then rolled
back to its starting point.

a. Plot displacement-time, velocity-time and acceleration-time graphs for this motion.

Time (s) Displacement

(m)
0 0
1 5
2 8
3 9
4 8
5 5
6 0

V1 = V3 = V5 =

b. If we calculate instantaneous velocities at three points (1, 3 and 5 seconds) we can then plot the points to make a
velocity—time graph.

Time (s) Velocity (m/s)

1
3
5

c. A straight line velocity-time graph indicates

_________________________. Recall that
acceleration is the change in velocity with
time – i.e. acceleration is the slope of a
velocity-time graph. Use the previous graph
to calculate acceleration and then graph
acceleration vs. time.

Displacement from velocity

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Given the following velocity–time graph, calculate the total displacement from 0 to 8 seconds.

Displacement equals the area of the velocity-time graph. The key is to calculate the correct areas between the graph
and the t = 0 line. Note that the area of a triangle is ∆d = ½ v ∆t and that areas can be positive or negative depending
on the direction of motion.

To calculate the total displacement we sum up the individual displacement areas.

∆ =

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Overview of graphical analysis

In our study of graphical analysis we started with constant speed graphs. We then extended the principles learned
there into constant velocity motion and finally into accelerated motion. We have learned what the following graph
shapes mean and how to properly interpret them.

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Practice problems
1. For each of the following graphs, describe the motion involved and then sketch the missing graph.

2.

3.

4. Given the position-time graph below,

a. What is the instantaneous velocity at 5.0 s? (~ -2.4
m/s)

b. How far did the object travel from its origin after 6.0 s?
(-8.5 m)

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c. Is the acceleration positive or negative? Explain. (negative)

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5. Given the velocity-time graph below,

a. What is the instantaneous velocity at 8.0 s? (+10

m/s)

b. What is the acceleration from 8 s to 14 s? (-2.5

m/s2)

c. What is the displacement from 8 s to 16 s? (+5.0

m)

Lesson 4 Assignment

1. For each of the following graphs, describe the motion involved and then sketch the missing graph.

2. Consider the following position–time graph.

a. What is the instantaneous velocity at 15 s? (~
+0.34 m/s)

b. How far would the object travel from 5 s to 20

s? (4.1 m)

c. What was the average speed for the interval

from 0 s to 25 s? (0.32 m/s)

3. The following is a graph for an object moving north.

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 a. What is the acceleration of the object? (+0.60 m/s2)

b. What is the displacement from 0 to 10 s? (+70 m)

4. Given the following velocity – time graph.

a. What was the acceleration at 5 s and at 20 s? (0, -1.07 m/s2)

b. What is the displacement from 0 to 30 s? (+59 m)

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5. The following graph shows the motion of two objects traveling east.

a. How much faster is object A traveling at 8 s than object B? (6.0 m/s)

b. What is the acceleration of each object? (+2.7 m/s2, +1.2 m/s2)

c. From 0 to 12 s, which object travelled the furthest? (A)

6. Using the graph of the motion of a car travelling in a straight line, determine each of the following.

a. the velocity of the car in each interval. (+50 km/h, 0, -33 km/h)

b. the final displacement of the car. (0)

7. A ball rolls along the floor, up an inclined plane, and then back down the plane and across the floor again. The
graph below represents this motion. Label what is happening at each point on the graph.

a. At what time is the ball at its highest point?

b. How long is the ramp? (1.0 m)

c. What was the acceleration when the ball was (i) rolling up the ramp,
(ii) rolling down the ramp, and (iii) when the ball was instantaneously at
rest at the top of the ramp?

Lesson 5 - Accelerated Motion

Instantaneous speed and instantaneous velocity
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In lessons 1 and 2 we dealt with uniform speeds (constant rates of motion) and average speeds. From here on, we
deal almost exclusively with instantaneous speeds and velocities.

An instantaneous speed is the rate at which an object is moving at any given moment in time. However, a better,
more powerful, conception is instantaneous velocity. Instantaneous velocity is a vector which includes both an
instantaneous speed and the direction of motion. For example, a car traveling initially at 25 km/h to the east has an
instantaneous velocity of = 25 km/h east.

Acceleration
Acceleration is the word used to refer to a rate of change in velocity. Whenever a moving object is changing speed,
we say it is accelerating. For example, when an automobile starts from rest and speeds up to, say, 80 km/h, it is
accelerating. If another car accelerates from rest to 80 km/h in less time than, it is said to undergo greater
acceleration. Acceleration, then, is defined as the change in velocity divided by the time required to make that
change. Thus,

Like velocity, acceleration is a rate. However, while velocity is the rate at which the position of an object changes,
acceleration is the rate at which the velocity changes.

Be careful not to confuse acceleration with velocity

Let us consider an example. Suppose a car accelerates from 0 to 80 km/h in 10 s.

How can you calculate acceleration?

When an object slows down (ie. when the brakes are applied on an automobile), its velocity decreases. This is
sometimes called “deceleration” and is another example of acceleration. In this case, the final velocity is less than
the initial velocity, so the acceleration is negative. Deceleration is negative acceleration.

What about if a car speeds up in the negative direction? (ie. Pushing on the gas pedal while in reverse).

(So far we have considered only cases in which the magnitude of the velocity changes. If the speed remains constant
and the direction of the velocity changes, this constitutes an acceleration as well. For example, a child riding on a
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merry-go-round or a person riding in a car rounding a curve at high speed is aware of an acceleration because the
direction of the velocity is changing. Therefore acceleration results when either the magnitude or the direction of
the velocity, or both, changes. We will discuss acceleration due to change in the direction of velocity in more detail
when we study uniform circular motion.)

The major conceptual difficulty in understanding acceleration is that people confuse acceleration (the rate that
velocity changes) with the direction that an object is moving at a particular instant. An object can have different
signs indicating velocity and acceleration at any given time.

Acceleration problems

Example 1: An object travelling at 40 m/s increases its speed to 100 m/s in 4.0 s. What was the acceleration of the
object?

Example 2: An object travelling at 300 km/h slows to 40 km/h in 5.0 minutes. What is the acceleration in m/s?

Example 3: An object traveling at 60 m/s accelerates at 5.0 m/s2. If the final speed becomes 100 m/s, how long was
the object being accelerated?

Example 4: An object traveling west at 40 m/s experiences an acceleration of 5.0 m/s2 east for 5.0 s. What is the
resulting velocity?

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Acceleration Due to Gravity

By 1604 Galileo Galilei had determined that all objects falling towards the Earth, regardless of their mass,
accelerate at the same rate. Prior to this time, people accepted Aristotle’s idea that the heavier an object is, the
faster it accelerates toward the earth. Of course, argued Galileo, some objects fall at a slower rate than others due to
the effects of air resistance, but if these effects are minimized, two objects will fall at exactly the same rate regardless
of their mass. Galileo demonstrated this effect in his now famous experiment off the leaning tower of Pisa. He
dropped two balls of equal volume and smoothness, but differing in mass. The balls hit the ground at the exact same
moment.

This kind of demonstration and experimentation was a major departure from previous thought. Prior to Galileo’s day,
if you wanted to know about motion and other things, you would not consider to experiment with motion. You
would look it up in a book, preferably one of Aristotle’s books. What Galileo and others like him did was to
experiment with nature to see if experience agreed with theory. This is the basis of science: Does the experience of
the practitioner agree with the current theory? If it does, fine. If it does not, a new theory must be proposed to
replace the old. For the new theory to be valid it must agree with all of the current experience (experiment and
observation) in order to be acceptable.

Returning to the acceleration of freely falling objects, the pull of gravity creates the acceleration and thus the
acceleration is referred to as the acceleration due to gravity. Its symbol is g. The value of the acceleration due to
gravity near the surface of the Earth is 9.81m/s2. For the moment we will be considering the free fall of objects near
the surface of the Earth, but later in the course we will address the fact that the further you move from the centre of
the Earth, the smaller the acceleration becomes. If, for example, you measure g where the space shuttle orbits at a
height of 400 km above the surface of the Earth, the result is about 8.70 m/s2. In addition, the acceleration due to
gravity is different for each planet, moon or asteroid.

Example 5: On the planet “Ullyotto” an object dropped from rest takes 5.6 s to reach a velocity of 20 m/s down.
What is the acceleration due to gravity for the planet?

Example 6: How fast will an object be traveling after falling for 6.0 seconds on Earth?

Example 7: If a ball is thrown up in the air at 15.0 m/s, how long will it take to reach its maximum height? In
addition, what is the total time that the ball is in the air?

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Practice Problems

1. An object traveling at 150 km/h slows to 10 km/h in 5.0 s. What is the acceleration in m/s2? (-7.7 m/s2)

2. An object accelerates from rest at +4.0 m/s2 for 1.0 min. What is the object’s final velocity? (+2.4x102 m/s)

3. How long would it take for an object traveling at 60 m/s to reach a speed of 100 m/s if the acceleration is 5.0
m/s2? (8.0 s)

4. A rock is thrown upward with an initial speed of 12.0 m/s. How long will it take for the object to get to its
maximum height? What is the rock’s velocity after 1.5 s? (1.22 s, 2.7 m/s down)

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5. A ball traveling at 10 m/s begins rolling up an inclined plane, coming to a stop 5.0 s later and begins to roll back.
A. What is the acceleration? (2.0 m/s2 down the incline)

B. What is the velocity after 2.0 s? (6.0 m/s up the incline

C. What is the velocity after 7.0 s? (4.0 m/s down the incline)

Lesson 5 Assignment
1. A car starts from rest and accelerates to 100 kilometers per hour in exactly one minute. What was the
acceleration? (0.5m/s2)

2. A boy on a bicycle travels in a straight line and slows down from 30 m/s to 10 m/s in 5.0 s. What is his
acceleration? (–4.0 m/s2)

3. A plane traveling at 55.5 m/s accelerates at 1.39 m/s2 for one minute. What is the plane’s final speed?(13 m/s)

4. A car traveling at 50m/s speeds up to 80 m/s by accelerating at a rate of 4.0 m/s2. How long did this take?(7.5 s)

5. A car slows down from 80 m/s to 40 m/s by accelerating at -4.0 m/s2. What time interval was required? (10 s)

6. A car accelerates at 3.0 m/s2 for 9.0 s and reaches a speed of 90 m/s. The car’s original speed was: (63 m/s)

7. A car traveling east at an unknown speed applies the brakes and slows down at a rate of 5.0 m/s2 for 5.0 s. If the
final velocity of the car is 95 m/s east, what was the original velocity of the car? (1.2 x 102 m/s east)

8. An object traveling at 40 m/s starts rolling up an inclined plane. If the object comes to rest after 8.0 s:
a. What was the acceleration experienced by the object? (-5.0 m/s2)
b. What was the velocity of the object after 6.5 s? (+7.5 m/s)
C. What was the velocity of the object after 11 s? (-15 m/s)

9. An object is thrown downward at 35.0 m/s from a great height. What is its velocity after 5.0 s? (84 m/s down)

10. A 0.50 kg rock is launched upward with an initial speed of 80.0 m/s.
a. How long will it take for the rock to reach its maximum height? (8.15 s)
b. How long is the rock in the air? (16.3 s)
c. What will the rock’s velocity be after 11.0 s? (27.9 m/s down)

11. Mr. and Mrs. Ullyott are vacationing near the waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon.. Mr. Ullyott
throws a stone downward from the top of a waterfall, while Mrs. Ullyott throws a stone upward. Explain how the
acceleration on each stone is the same, regardless of whether it is initially moving up or down.

12. For a projectile thrown up into the air, explain why the time taken to travel up to the maximum height is equal to
the time to fall back down to the starting height.

13. What variables determine how long a projectile is in the air?

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Lesson 6 Acceleration and Displacement – Part I
Equations involving distance/displacement
Up to this point, we have had two basic equations to work with:

In this lesson we will learn to use equations that relate instantaneous velocities, acceleration, time and displacement.
We will use the following equations:

Problem solving method

Use the following general steps in solving problems:

1. Extract and write down the known and unknown variables.

2. Identify what variable you are solving for.
3. Select and write down the equation which contains the variables listed.
4. Manipulate and rearrange the equation if necessary.
5. Substitute in the known variables along with their units.
6. Solve for the answer.
7. Circle or underline the final answer. Remember to include units (and direction where appropriate).
You must show all of these steps in order to receive full marks for answers on assessments.

Example 1: An object traveling at 10 m/s accelerates until the final speed becomes 20 m/s. If the time interval was
5.0 s, how far did the object travel over the interval?

Example 2: A car, starting from rest, accelerates at 5.0 m/s2 for an unknown time interval. If the car travels 250 m in
the acceleration period, what is the time interval?

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Example 3: A ball rolls up an inclined plane with a initial upward speed of 9.0 m/s and stops rolling upward after 3.0 s.
Then it begins to roll back down the plane. What was the displacement after 3.0 seconds?

Example 4: A car traveling east at 30 m/s applies its brake to generate an acceleration of 4.0 m/s2 west. If the final
speed of the car was 5.0 m/s east, how far did the car travel in the acceleration period?

Example 5: How fast will an object be traveling after falling for 7.0 s?

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Example 6: A ball is dropped from a height of 2.0 m into the hand of a person waiting below. The ball comes to rest
in the person’s hand over a distance of 10 cm. What was the acceleration of the ball while it is in the person’s hand?

Practice Problems
1. A man traveling at 35 m/s increases to 85 m/s over five minutes. What was the distance traveled over that time
interval? (2 x 104 m)

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2. An object traveling at 100 m/s accelerates at -5.0 m/s2 for 15 s. What was the distance traveled by the object as it
slowed down over the 15 s? (9.4 x 102 m)

3. An object traveling at an unknown speed accelerates at 4.00 m/s2 for 25.0 s. If the object travels 1500 m over the
time interval, what was the initial velocity before acceleration? (+10.0 m/s)

4. A ball is dropped from a height of 3.5 m into the hand of a person waiting below. The ball comes to rest in the
person’s hand over a distance of 0.25 m. What was the acceleration of the ball when it landed in the person’s hand?
(1.4 x 102 m/s2 up)

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Lesson 6 Assignment: Rearrange the following equations for the indicated variable.

a. (∆t = ?)

b. (v2 = ?)

c. 2ad = v22 - v12 (v2 = ?)

d. (v1 = ?)

e. (a = ?)

f. (v1 = ?)

g. (∆t = ?)

h. If v1 = 0 then ∆d = ? for

i. If v1 = 0 then a = ? for

j. If v1 = 0 then ∆t = ? for

k. If v2 = 0 then v1 = ? for

2. A car traveling at 60 m/s accelerates at +3.0 m/s2 for 9.0 s. How far does the car travel in this time? (6.6 x 102 m)

3. A car starting from rest travels 1296 m with an acceleration of 32 m/s2. How long does it take for the car to travel
that distance? (9.0 s)

4. A person drops a ball from a height of 20 m. What is the ball's final speed and how long did it take to fall? (20 m/s
down, 2.0 s)

5. A car travels 1760 m over 10 s. If the acceleration was -20 m/s2, what was the initial velocity? (+2.8 x 102 m/s)

6. A car traveling at 60 m/s suddenly has its brakes applied bringing the car to a stop after 4.0 s. How far did the car
travel in this time? (+1.2 x 102 m)

7. A car traveling at 100 m/s comes to a stop in 200 m. How long did it take for the car to come to a stop? (4.00 s)

8. A stone is thrown upward with an initial velocity of 11 m/s. Calculate the maximum height and the time the stone
is in the air? (6.2 m, 2.2 s)

9. A bullet leaves a rifle barrel with a speed of 350 m/s. If the length of the barrel is 0.75 m, what is the acceleration
of the bullet while it was in the barrel.(8.2 x 104 m/s2)

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10. An object traveling at 10.0 m/s accelerates at 5.0 m/s2 for 12 s. How far does the object travel in the last three
seconds? (1.9 x 102 m)

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Lesson 7 Acceleration and Displacement – Part II
Example 1: A rock is thrown up from a 20.0 m high cliff with an initial velocity of +35.0 m/s. How long does it take
for the rock to hit the ground below?

Method 1:

Method 2:

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Practice Problems
1. A rock is thrown upward with a speed of 20 m/s from a 45.0 m cliff. How long will it take for the rock to reach the
bottom of the cliff? (5.7 s)

2. A rock is thrown downward from a cliff at 15.0 m/s. The rock hits the waves below after 2.45 s.
a) What was the height of the cliff? (66.2 m)

b) What was its velocity after 2.0 s? (35 m/s down)

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Lesson 7 Assignment

1. A ball is thrown upward with an initial velocity of 35.0 m/s.

a) What is the velocity after three seconds? (6 m/s up)
b) What is the velocity after five seconds? (1 x 101 m/s down)
c) What maximum height did the ball reach? (+62.4 m)

2. A ball traveling at 50 m/s begins to roll up an inclined plane before coming to rest. The ball comes to a stop 80.0
m up the incline. What was the velocity of the ball 2.5 s after starting up the incline? (11 m/s up the incline)

3. A stone is thrown vertically upward from a 117.82 m high cliff with an initial speed of 19.62 m/s. How long will it
take for the stone to hit the water below? (7.29 s)

4. An object is allowed to free fall from rest for 6.0 s. What distance does the object travel in the last second of the
fall? (54 m down)

5. A car accelerates uniformly from rest at the rate of 2.0 m/s2 for 6.0 s. It then maintains a constant speed for 0.50
min. Finally, the brakes are applied and the vehicle slows down at a uniform rate and comes to rest in 5.0 s. Find (a)
the maximum speed of the car and (b) the total displacement. (12 m/s, 4.3 x 102 m)

6. While driving her car, Mrs. Jones sees an obstruction in the road. It takes her 0.80 s to react and put her foot on
the brake. Her car is traveling at 25 m/s.
(a) How far will the car travel before she puts her foot on the brake? (20 m)
(b) If, when the brake is applied, the car decelerates at a uniform rate of 9.3 m/s2 what is the total displacement
of the car? (54 m)

7. A stone is thrown straight down from the top of a cliff with an initial speed of 6.0 m/s. It reaches the bottom in
3.0 s. How high is the cliff? (62 m)

8. A ball is thrown vertically upward from a window at 10 m/s. It hits the ground 5.0 s later. What is the height of
the window from the ground? (73 m)

9. An object starting from rest travels 77 m in the sixth second. What was the acceleration? (+14 m/s2)

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Lesson 1 to 7 Review
These questions vary in difficulty. Those marked with an asterisk (*) are particularly tricky. Don’t give up! Remember
the process.

1. A jetliner, travelling northward, is landing with a speed of 69 m/s. Once the jet touches down, it has 750 m of
runway in which to reduce its speed to 6.1 m/s. Compute the acceleration of the plane during landing. (-3.1
m/s2)

2. A truck, travelling at a velocity of 33 m/s due east, comes to a halt by decelerating at 11 m/s2. How far does the
truck travel in the process of stopping? (+50 m)

3. A baseball is thrown upward with an initial speed of 35.0 m/s. What is its velocity at 2.00 s? (15.4 m/s up)

4. An arrow is fired straight upward with an initial speed of 15 m/s. How long is the arrow in the air before it strikes
the ground? (3.1 s)

5. A golf ball rebounds from the floor and travels straight upward with a speed of 5.0 m/s. To what maximum
height does the ball rise? (1.3 m)

6. A rifle bullet is shot vertically upward. Twenty-three seconds later the bullet has a velocity of 72.0 m/s,
downward. What is the velocity of the bullet when the bullet leaves the rifle? (154 m/s up)

7. Suppose a ball is thrown vertically upward. Eight seconds later it returns to its point of release. What is the initial
velocity of the ball? (39.2 m/s up)

8. A diver springs upward with an initial speed of 1.8 m/s from a 3.0 m board. (a) Find the velocity with which the
diver strikes the water. (b) What is the highest point the diver reaches above the water? (7.9 m/s down, 3.2 m)

9. Suppose a car is travelling at 12.0 m/s, and the driver sees a traffic light turn red. After 0.510 s has elapsed (the
reaction time), the driver applies the brakes, and the car decelerates at 6.20 m/s2. What is the stopping distance
of the car, as measured from the point where the driver first notices the red light? (17.7 m)

10. A drag racer, starting from rest, speeds up for 402 m with an acceleration of +17.0 m/s2. A parachute then opens,
slowing the car down with an acceleration of -6.10 m/s2. How fast is the racer moving 3.50 x 102 m after the
parachute opens? (96.9 m/s)

11. An object is rolled up an incline. If the object is 2.75 m up the incline after 4.50 s and rolling back down at a
velocity of 1.90 m/s, what is the acceleration of the object? (1.12 m/s2 down)

12. Four-tenths of a second after bouncing on a trampoline, a gymnast is moving upward with a speed of 6.0 m/s. To
what height above the trampoline does the gymnast rise before falling back down? (5.0 m)

13. A life-preserver is thrown vertically upward from a rescue helicopter that is hovering 30.0 m above the ground.
The initial velocity of the preserver is 20.0 m/s.
a) Calculate the velocity with which the object strikes the ground. (31.4 m/s down)
b) Calculate the time it took for the object to reach the ground. (5.24 s)

14. An object is thrown vertically upward. If this object takes 5.30 s to go up and down, what height did it reach?
(34.4 m)

15. *A model rocket is launched vertically upward from the ground. After 4.3 seconds, its fuel is completely burned.
Assume uniform acceleration of 3.00 m/s2 while the fuel is burning.
a) What is the rocket's velocity the instant the fuel is completely burned? (12.9 m/s up)

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 b) What is the rocket's maximum displacement (maximum height reached) during its motion? (Remember it will
continue to rise after the fuel is burned.) (36.2 m)
16. *A rocket is launched from rest with an acceleration of 20.0 m/s2, upward. At an altitude of 415 m the engines
are turned off, but the rocket continues to coast upward. Find the total time that the rocket is in the air, from
lift-off until it strikes the ground. (35.6 s)

17. *A rock is thrown upward at an initial velocity of 35.0 m/s upward.

a. What is the displacement of the rock during its 2nd second of motion? (+20.3 m)
b. What is the displacement of the rock during its 5th second of motion? (-9.15 m)

Multiple Choice Section

1. What is a vector quantity?

a. a quantity that is at rest c. a quantity that explains why objects are in motion
b. a quantity that has a magnitude, unit, and direction d. a quantity that has only a magnitude and a unit

2. What is the displacement of a cyclist who starts at highway marker +3 km and ends at marker -7 km. Consider
positive numbers as representing positions east of the centre of town.
a. 10 km [W] c. 4 km [W]
b. 10 km [E] d. 4 km [E]

3. What is the distance travelled by a jogger who starts at highway marker + 1 km, jogs to -5 km, and then proceeds
to marker +8 km?
a. 4 km c. 13 km
b. 7 km d. 19 km

4. What does a straight line on a graph of position versus time tell us about the motion of an object?
a. The object is travelling with positive velocity. c. The object is travelling with uniform velocity.
b. The object is travelling with negative velocity. d. The object is travelling with zero velocity.

5. How is average speed calculated?

a. Average speed equals total distance divided by the change in time.
b. Average speed equals total distance multiplied by the change in time.
c. Average speed equals total displacement divided by the change in time.
d. Average speed equals total displacement multiplied by the change in time.

6. How can you find the velocity at any given point on a curve of a position-time graph?
a. Find the slope of the tangent to the curve at a given point.
b. Find the length of the tangent to the curve at a given point.
c. Find the slope of the straight line that joins the given point and the origin.
d. Find the length of the straight line that joins the given point and the origin.

7. What is acceleration?
a. an increase in velocity c. a change in the direction of the velocity
b. a decrease in velocity d. any change in velocity

8. On a velocity-time graph, what does a straight sloped line always represent?

a. constant displacement
b. constant velocity
c. uniform acceleration
d. constant speed

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9. How do you find the displacement of a moving object from a velocity-time graph?
a. Find the slope of each straight line of the graph and add them together.
b. Find the length of each straight line and add them together.
c. Find the area under the graph.
d. Find the product of the slope of each line and the area under the graph.

10. A cyclist accelerates uniformly from rest to 5.0 m/s in 5.0 s. Describe the straight line representing the motion of
the cyclist on a velocity-time graph.
a. The line is horizontal from 5.0 m/s at 0 s and extends to 5.0 m/s at 5.0 s
b. The line is descending from 5.0 m/s at 0 s to 0 m/s at 5.0 s
c. The line is rising from 0 m/s at 0 s to 5.0 m/s at 5.0 s
d. The line is vertical from 0 m/s at 5.0 s to 5.0 m/s at 5.0 s

Multiple Choice Answers

1. B 3. D 5. A 7. D 9. C
2. A 4. D 6. A 8. C 10. C

Graphical Analysis

1. The following position-time graph represents the motion of a steel ball rolling up an incline, coming to a stop,
and returning back to its original position.

Calculate the velocity at

a) 3.0s
b) 5.0 s
c) 7.0 s

2. Given the following velocity-time graph for an object moving along a line,

In which section(s) is the

a) displacement greatest?
b) velocity the greatest?
c) displacement positive?
d) displacement negative?
e) velocity positive?
f) velocity negative?

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3. Given the following position-time graph for an object moving along a straight line, find the
a) displacement of the object at 16.0 s
b) velocity at 5.0 s
c) velocity at 9.0 s
d) velocity at 15:0 s
e) average velocity of the motion described
f) acceleration : between 2-0 s and 6.0-s

4. Given the following velocity-time graph for an object moving

along a line, find the
a) velocity at 4.0 s
b) velocity at 7.0 s
c) velocity at 11.0 s
d) acceleration at 10.0 s
e) acceleration at 17.0 s
f) displacement at 10.0 s
g) average velocity during the total motion described

5. Given the following position-time graph for an object moving

along a line,
a) find
i) the velocity of the object at 17.0 s
ii) the total distance travelled by the object from the
beginning to the end of the motion described in the graph
iii) the displacement of the object from the beginning to the
end of the motion described in the graph
iv) the average speed of the object during the motion
described in the graph.
b) during which time interval
i) does the object have a negative displacement?
ii) does the object have a negative velocity?
iii) does the object reach its highest velocity?

6. Given the following position-time graphs,

Which of these graphs represents:

a) zero velocity?
b) motion in which the velocity is increasing?
c) motion in which the velocity is decreasing?
d) motion in which the velocity is constant?

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Graphical analysis answers
1.
a) v = +1.0 m/s
b) v=0
c) v = –1.0 m/s

2.
a) A
b) B
c) D, E, F
d) A, B, C
e) D, E, F
f) A, B, C

3.
a) d = 14.0 m
b) v = +1.0 m/s
c) v=0
d) v = 2.3 m/s
e) v = 0.875 m/s
f) a=0

4.
a) v = +4 m/s
b) v = +6 m/s
c) v = –3 m/s
d) a = –3.0 m/s2
e) a = +1.0 m/s2
fl d= + 36m
g) vav = 0

5.
a.
i) v = –15 m/s
ii) d = 180 m
iii) d=0
iv) vav = 7.2 m/s

b.
i) E
ii) D
iii) D

6. dcba

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