CLASS 11 PHYSICS

Chapter: Motion in a Straight Line

Mechanics: Mechanics is the branch of physics that deals with the conditions of rest or motion
of the material objects around us. It is one of the oldest branches of physics.

Sub-branches of Mechanics:
 (i) Statics: It is the branch of mechanics that deals with the study of objects at rest or in
equilibrium, even when they are under the action of several forces. The measurement of
time is not essential in statics.
 (ii) Kinematics: It is the branch of mechanics that deals with the study of motion of objects
without considering the cause of motion. Here, the measurement of time is essential. The
word kinematics comes from the Greek word 'kinema', which means motion.
 (iii) Dynamics: It is the branch of mechanics that deals with the study of motion of objects
taking into consideration the cause of their motion. The word dynamics comes from a Greek
word 'dynamis', which means power. Dynamics is concerned with the forces which cause
motion. Newton contributed a lot to dynamics by postulating his famous laws of motion.

Rest: An object is said to be at rest if it does not change its position w.r.t. its surroundings with
the passage of time, e.g., a book lying on a table.

Motion: An object is said to be in motion if it changes its position w.r.t. its surroundings with the
passage of time, e.g., a train moving on rails.

Rest and Motion are Relative Terms: A passenger sitting in a moving train is at rest with
respect to his fellow passengers, but he is in motion with respect to the objects outside the train.
Thus, an object may be at rest w.r.t. one object and at the same time it may be in motion
relative to another object. Hence, rest and motion are relative terms.
Speed: The rate of change of position of an object with time in any direction is called its speed.
It is equal to the distance travelled by the object per unit time.
Distance travelled
Speed=
Time taken

Nature: Speed has only magnitude and no direction, so it is a scalar quantity.

Note-: The distance travelled by an object is either positive or zero, so the speed may be
positive or zero but never negative.
Units: The SI unit of speed is ms⁻¹. The CGS unit of speed is cms⁻¹.

Dimensions: The dimensional formula of speed is [M⁰L¹T⁻¹].

(i) Uniform speed: An object is said to be moving with uniform speed if it covers equal
distances in equal intervals of time, however small these time intervals may be.
(ii) Variable / Non Uniform speed: An object is said to be moving with variable speed if it
covers unequal distances in equal intervals of time.
(iii) Average speed: For an object moving with variable speed, the average speed is the total
distance travelled by the object divided by the total time taken to cover that distance.
Total distance travelled
Average speed=
Total time taken
(iv) Instantaneous speed: The speed of an object at any particular instant of time or at a
particular point of its path is called the instantaneous speed of the object. Suppose an object
∆x
covers distance ∆x in a small time interval Δt around the instant t, then its average speed is
∆t
. The limiting value of this average speed when the time interval Δt approaches zero gives the
instantaneous speed at the instant t.
Mathematical Form:

Δx dx
v=li m Δt → 0 =
Δt dt

Situation 1: A body covering different distances with different speeds.

Suppose a body covers distances s₁, s₂, s₃, ... with speeds v₁, v₂, v₃, ... respectively, then its
average speed will be:

Total distance travelled s s1 + s2 + s3 +...

v av = = =
Total time taken t t 1 +t 2+t 3 +...
Special Case: If s₁ = s₂ = s i.e., the body covers equal distances with different speeds, then:

2s 2 v1 v2
v av = =
( )
1 1 v1 + v2
s +
v1 v2

Clearly, the average speed is the harmonic mean of the individual speeds.
Situation 2: A body moving with different speeds in different time intervals.
Suppose a body travels with speeds v₁, v₂, v₃, ... in time intervals t₁, t₂, t₃, ... respectively,
then:
Total distance travelled = v₁t₁ + v₂t₂ + v₃t₃ + ...
Total time taken = t₁ + t₂ + t₃ + ...

v 1 t 1+ v 2 t 2 +v 3 t 3+...
v av =
t 1 +t 2+ t 3 +...
Special Case: If t₁ = t₂ = t₃ = ... = tn = t (say), then:

(v 1 + v 2+ v 3+ ...+ v n )t v 1 +v 2 + v 3+...+ v n
v av = =
nt n

Velocity: The rate of change of position of an object with time in a given direction is called its
velocity. It can also be defined as the speed of an object in a given direction.
It is equal to the displacement covered per unit time.

Displacement
Velocity=
Time

• The SI unit of velocity is ms⁻¹.

• The CGS unit of velocity is cms⁻¹.
• The dimensional formula for velocity is [M⁰L¹T⁻¹].

Different Types of Velocities:

(i) Uniform velocity: A body is said to be moving with uniform velocity if it covers equal
displacements in equal intervals of time, however small these time intervals may be.
(ii) Variable velocity: A body is said to be moving with variable velocity if either its speed
changes or direction of motion changes or both change with time.
(iii) Average velocity: For an object moving with variable velocity, average velocity is defined
as the ratio of its total displacement to the total time interval in which that displacement occurs.
 total dislacement
average velocity=
total time
If x₁ and x₂ are the positions of an object at times t₁ and t₂, then the average velocity from time
t₁ to t₂ is given by:
x 2−x 1 ∆ x
v av = =
t 2−t 1 ∆ t

(iv) Instantaneous velocity: The velocity of an object at a particular instant of time or at a

particular point of its path is called its instantaneous velocity. It is equal to the limiting value of
the average velocity of the object in a small time interval taken around that instant, when the
time interval approaches zero. Thus:
Δx dx
v=li m Δt → 0 =
Δt dt

Thus instantaneous velocity of an object is equal to the first order derivative of its displacement
with respect to time.
Uniform motion: An object is said to be in uniform motion if it covers equal distances in equal
intervals of time, however small these time intervals may be, in the same fixed direction. So if an
object in uniform motion covers 1200 m in 1 minute in a given direction, it indicates that it covers
600 m in every 30 s, 300 m in every 15 s, 100 m in every 5 s, and so on.

Non-uniform motion: A body is said to be in non-uniform motion if its velocity changes with
time. Here either the speed of the body or its direction of motion or both change with time. For
example, when a vehicle starts moving from rest, its velocity increases for sometime, then its
velocity may become constant for some time and finally slow down and come to rest again. The
velocity of the vehicle is different at different instants and so it has non-uniform motion.

Acceleration: The rate of change of velocity of an object with time is called its acceleration. It
tells how fast the velocity of an object changes with time.
Change∈velocity
acceleraion=
change ∈time
Acceleration is a vector quantity. It has the same direction as that of the change in velocity.
• The SI unit of acceleration is ms⁻².
• The CGS unit of acceleration is cms⁻².
• The dimensional formula of acceleration is [M⁰L¹T⁻²].
(i) Uniform acceleration: The acceleration of an object is said to be uniform acceleration if its
velocity changes by equal amounts in equal intervals of time, however small these time intervals
may be.
(ii) Variable acceleration: The acceleration of an object is said to be variable acceleration if its
velocity changes by unequal amounts in equal intervals of time.
(iii) Average acceleration: For an object moving with variable velocity, the average
acceleration is defined as the ratio of the total change in velocity of the object to the total time
interval taken.
v 2−v 1 ∆ v
a av = =
t 2−t 1 ∆ t
(iv) Instantaneous acceleration: The acceleration of an object at a given instant of time or at a
given point of its motion is called its instantaneous acceleration. It is equal to the limiting value
of the average acceleration of the object in a small time interval around that instant, when the
time interval approaches zero. Thus:
Δv dv
a=li m Δt→ 0 =
Δt dt

( )
2
dx dv d dx d x
as v= so a= = = 2
dt dt dt dt dt

Thus, acceleration is the first order derivative of velocity and second order derivative of position
with respect to time.