Transcript 1 Motion

Motion
Physical Science, Physical Science
Jesse Dent, Arleen Henderson-Instructors
Part 1:
Measuring Motion
Kinematics-What is it?
 Kinematics is the study of motion.
 Motion is always defined in terms of change in
location.

 Locations or Positions are defined in terms of some
FRAME of REFERENCE .
 Our background or our surrounding environment is
often our frame of reference
 The Earth is our most commonly used frame of
reference
Distance and Displacement
 Distance and Displacement seem very similar,
but they actually have distinct meanings.
 Distance is a quantity which refers to
how far a body moves in going from
one point to another.
 Displacement is a quantity which
refers to the distance between two
points in a particular direction. It is
how far you are from your original
start point!
What is distance?
What is displacement?
Speed, Velocity, and
Acceleration
 Since forces cause an object’s motion to change, we
need to be able to measure those changes.
 There are three important measurements you must be
able to make to understand how forces affect motion.
These measurements are speed, velocity, and
acceleration.
Speed
 Speed measures how fast something moves.
 Speed is measured in units like meters/sec or
miles/hour (always a unit for distance over a unit for
time).
 Speed = distance / time
If you know any two of these
values, you can solve for the third
one:
D
s
t
D=st
s=D /t
t=D/s
Velocity
 Velocity measures both speed and direction.
 Velocity is also equal to distance / time, but you must ALSO tell the
direction of the movement too.
 These are correct ways to describe velocity: “The car traveled at 70
miles/hour east.” “The rocket’s velocity was 34,000 m/s straight up.”
 Velocity has the same units as speed.

meters/second or miles/hour
If you know any two of these values,
you can solve for the third one:
D=vt
v=D / t
D
v
t
t=D
/v
Compare these formulas to the ones
on the previous slide! What do you
see? _____________________________
Acceleration
 Acceleration measures how fast you change velocity.
 Acceleration happens whenever you speed up, slow down,
or change direction.
 When you speed up, acceleration is a positive number.
 When you slow down, acceleration is a negative number,
and is sometimes called “deceleration.”
 Acceleration is measured by change in velocity / time.
The unit for acceleration is meters/sec2.
If you know any two of these values,
you can solve for the third one:
Δv=at
Δv
a = Δv /
a
t
t
t = Δv / a
Δ = “change in”
Falling Objects
 If no other force acts on an
object, the force of gravity
will make the object fall
towards the center of the
earth.
 As the object falls, it will
accelerate (speed up) by
9.8 m/sec2 every second it
falls until it hits something.
 If the object falls from a
very high place, like a tall
building or an airplane, it
may reach terminal
velocity before it hits the
ground.
 At terminal velocity, the
upward force of friction and
the downward force of gravity
are equal and opposite
(balanced), so the object’s
speed stays the same until it
hits.
Projectile Motion
 A projectile is anything that is thrown or shot in a roughly
horizontal direction, like a baseball or a bullet.
 Projectile motion is always a curved path followed by the
moving object that was thrown or shot.
 This curved path of projectile motion is caused by the
combination of two forces: the horizontal push from the gun
or the hand and the downward force of gravity.
Downward Pull
of gravity
Horizontal Force of cannon firing