Motion in One Dimension

Scope:

➔ Scalar and Vector quantities,

➔ Distance, Speed, Velocity, Acceleration.

➔ Graphs of distance-time and speed-time.

➔ Equations of uniformly Accelerated motion with derivations.

➔ Examples of Scalar and vector quantities.

➔ Rest and Motion in one dimension.

➔ Distance and Displacement.

➔ Speed and Velocity.

➔ Acceleration and Retardation.

➔ Distance-time and Velocity-time graphs.

➔ Meaning of slope of the graphs.

➔ Equations to be derived:

• v = u + at

• S = ut + ½at2

• S = ½ (u+v) t

• v2 = u2 + 2aS

Scalar and Vector Quantities

➔ Scalar Quantities: quantities that can only be represented by their magnitude. ➔ Parameters of
Scalar Quantities:

◆ Unit in which the quantity is being measured.

◆ Numerical value of the quantity

➔ Examples: Mass, length, time, Distance, volume, speed, temperature. The distance traveled by
car is 80 km (distance).

➔ Vector Quantities: physical quantities that require magnitude and direction. ➔ Parameters for
Vector quantities:
◆ Numerical value of the quantity

◆ Unit

◆ Direction

➔ Examples: Displacement, velocity, acceleration, momentum, force, torque, impulse, weight,

temperature gradient.

A man jogged 300m south (displacement).

E.g. -F (hyphen is supposed to be an arrow) and F are in opposite directions.

Rest and Motion

➔ A body is in motion if it changes its position with respect to its immediate surroundings. ➔ For
example: If we are sitting in our room and we see a tree, it is said that the tree is at rest because it
does not change its position with respect to us. However, if we see a

dog playing in the garden, it is said that the dog is in motion because it is changing its position
constantly with respect to us.

One Dimensional/Rectilinear Motion

➔ When a body moves along a straight path, its motion is said to be in one dimensional or
rectilinear motion. (no lateral direction/sideways motion) ➔ For example: A train travelling along a
straight track, A rock thrown vertically towards the ground.

Representation –

➔ It can be represented as a straight line parallel to the X-axis if the X-axis is taken as the direction
of motion.

➔ Each point on the line represents the position of an object at different instants.

➔ The position of the object at any instant is represented by t by specifying the x coordinate at that
instant.

➔ As the particle moves, its x coordinated changes with time(t)

DISTANCE AND DISPLACEMENT

Distance

➔ Distance - The total length of the path along which a

body move is known as the distance.

➔ It depends on the path followed by the body.

➔ It is a scalar quantity.
➔ Represented by S

➔ SI UNIT: meter, CGS unit: centimeter

Displacement:

➔ Displacement - The shortest distance from the initial to the final position of the body. ➔ It is a
vector quantity.

➔ SI unit: meter, CGS unit: centimeter

➔ Represented by S (hyphen is supposed to be an arrow)

Representation –

➔ It is represented by a straight line with an arrow, using a scale.

➔ The tip of the arrow on the straight line represents the direction of

displacement.

➔ The length of the line on a proper scale represents its magnitude.

Distinction between Distance and Displacement

Distance Displacement

It is the length of the path covered The distance travelled by an object in a certain direction in a
by the object in a certain amount certain amount of time that is the shortest between the initial
of time and final position

Scalar quantity Vector quantity

Depends on the path followed by

Does not depend on the path followed by the object
the object

Always positive Can be negative or positive

Magnitude can be less than or equal to

Can be more than or equal to magnitude
the distance, but can never be greater than
of displacement
the distance

May not be zero even if displacement is zero, It is zero if distance is zero, but it can be
but cannot be zero is displacement is not zero zero even if distance is not zero.

SPEED AND VELOCITY

Speed:

➔ Speed: The quantity that depicts how fast the body is moving.
➔ It depends on the path followed by the body.

➔ It is a scalar quantity.

➔ Represented by u or v.

➔ SI UNIT: m/s or m s1-, CGS unit: cm s1- or cm/s.

➔ Speed = Distance/Time

• Uniform Speed: A body is said to be moving at a uniform speed if it

covers equal distances in equal intervals of time throughout its motion.

• E.g. The motion of a ball on a frictionless surface with uniform speed.

• Non-uniform Speed: A body is said to be moving with non-uniform

speed if it covers unequal distances with equal intervals of time or vice

versa.

• E.g. A car moving in a crowded street.

• Instantaneous Speed: When the speed of a body keeps changing, its

speed at a certain second is measured by dividing the distance

travelled in a short time interval with the time interval.

• Instantaneous Speed = S travelled in a short time interval / Time

interval

• Average Speed = Total S travelled/ Total Time Taken

• In the case of an object moving at a uniform speed, the instantaneous

speed and the average speed are equal.

Velocity:

➔ Velocity: The quantity that depicts how fast a body is moving in a certain direction. ➔ It is a
vector quantity.

➔ SI unit: m/s or m s1-, CGS unit: cm/s or cm s1-

➔ Represented by u or v (hyphen is supposed to be an arrow)

➔ v= s/t

➔ s= vxt

➔t= v/ s
 • Uniform Velocity: If a body travels equal distances in a particular

direction, in equal intervals of time. Then, the body is said to be

travelling with a uniform velocity.

• E.g. Rain drops reaching on earth’s surface falling with a uniform

velocity.

• Non-uniform Velocity: If a body moves unequal distances in a

particular direction in equal intervals of time or it moves in equal

distances in equal intervals of time, but the direction of the motion

varies, then the velocity of the object/body is said to be non-uniform.

• E.g. A person running around a circular track with constant speed is an

example of non-uniform velocity because the direction keeps changing.

• Instantaneous Velocity: When a body is moving with a variable

velocity, the velocity of the body at any instant is known as

instantaneous velocity. It is important to have the time interval small

enough so that the direction of motion doesn’t change during this

interval.

• Instantaneous Velocity = distance travelled in a sufficiently small-time

interval / time interval

• Average Velocity = s / total time taken

Distinction between Speed and Velocity

Speed Velocity

The distance travelled per second by a The distance travelled per second by a moving object in
moving object. a particular direction

Scalar quantity Vector quantity

The speed is always positive since The velocity can be both positive as well as negative
there is no direction depending on the direction of the motion

After one round in a circular path, the After completing each round in a circular path,
average speed is not zero. the average velocity is zero.

Points to note –
 • If a body starts its motion from a point and comes back to the same point after a certain
time interval, the displacement is zero, so the average velocity is also zero. However, the
total distance travelled is not zero and hence, the average speed is not zero.

• If a body moves in a circular path and covers equal distances in equal intervals of time,
the speed is uniform, but due to the continuous change in the direction of motion, its
velocity is non uniform/variable. The instantaneous speed and velocity are not zero. The
displacement for one round is zero and therefore the average velocity is also zero, but
the average speed is 2π r/ T (if “r” is the radius and “T” is the time taken in one round).

ACCELERATION AND RETARDATION

Acceleration:

➔ Acceleration: Increase in velocity per second. In other words, it’s the rate of change of velocity
with time.

➔ Acceleration [ a (hyphen is meant to be an arrow)] = Change in velocity / time interval

➔ SI unit: m/s2 or m s2-, CGS unit: cm s-2 or cm/s2

➔ It is a vector quantity.

➔ Relation for Acceleration:

• Let a body be moving in a straight line in a fixed direction with an initial velocity (u).

• Its velocity changes in a short time interval (t).

• The final velocity becomes (v) after time (t).

• Then the change in velocity = (v-u) and time taken = t

• If v > u, then a is positive, thus a is the acceleration. However, if v < u, then a is negative, and
a is the retardation.

or retardation = 5 m/s2(since negative acceleration is called retardation.

• The positive or negative sign of acceleration tells us whether a velocity is increasing or

decreasing with time, whereas the positive or negative sign of velocity tells its direction of
motion.
 • Uniform acceleration: The acceleration is said to be uniform (or constant) when equal
changes in velocity take place in equal intervals of time. The motion of a body under gravity
is an example of uniformly accelerated motion.

• Variable acceleration: If the change in velocity is not same in the same intervals of time, the
acceleration is said to be variable. The motion of a vehicle on a crowded

• Acceleration due to gravity: when a body falls freely under gravity, the acceleration
produced in the body due to earth’s gravitational attraction.

• It is denoted by the letter g.

• When a body falls down, its velocity increases with time, so the acceleration is +g, while if
the body moves vertically upwards, its velocity decreases with time, so the acceleration is -
g (or the retardation is g).

• The acceleration of gravity one earth is 9.8 m/s2

• Note: The value of g doesn’t depend on the mass of the body. Hence if two bodies of
different masses are simultaneously dropped in vacuum

from a height, both will reach the ground simultaneously because then

there is no effect of friction and buoyancy due to air.

Retardation:

➔ Retardation: The decrease in velocity per second.

➔ It is a vector quantity.

➔ SI unit: meter, CGS unit: centimeter

➔ Represented by S (hyphen is supposed to be an arrow)

Graphical Representation of Linear Motion

➔ Displacement-time graph:

• In a displacement time graph, the time is taken on X-axis and the

displacement of a body is taken on Y-axis. From this graph we can

determine the velocity of an object.

• Since velocity is the ratio of displacement and time, therefore the slope of displacement-
time graph gives the velocity. If the slope is positive, it

implies that the body is moving away from the starting (or reference)

point, but if the slope is negative, the body is returning towards the

starting (or reference) point.

Situations: -

• Case (1): If the position of a body doesn’t change with time, the body is said to be stationary
and the displacement as measured from the origin at all instants is same as that at t = 0, so
the displacement-time graph

is a straight line parallel to the time axis.

• Case (2): If a body is moving with uniform velocity, its displacement increases by the same
amount in each second and so the displacement-time graph is a straight line which is
inclined to the time axis. The velocity of the certain object/body can be derived by finding
the slope of the straight line.

o Slope = the change in the vertical direction (y) / the change in the horizontal direction (x)

Slope = 30/3

= 10

∴ Velocity = 10 m/s

• Note: The displacement-time graph can never be a straight line, parallel to the
displacement axis because such a line would mean that the distance covered by the body
in a certain direction increases without any increase in time which is impossible.

• Case (3): If a body moves with varying speed in a fixed direction (with variable velocity), the
displacement-time graph is not a straight line, but it is a curve. The velocity at any instant
can then be obtained by finding the slope of the tangent drawn on the curve at that instant of
time.

(cite: textbook)

• Conclusions:

(a) If the displacement-time graph of an object, is a straight line parallel to the time axis, the object
is stationary.

(b) If the graph is a straight line inclined to the time axis, the motion is with uniform velocity.

(c) If the graph is a curve, the motion is with non-uniform velocity.

In the displacement-time graph, the slope of the straight line gives the velocity of the object at that
instant:

(a) If the slope is positive, it represents the motion away from the origin.

(b) If the slope is negative, it represents the motion towards the origin.

Knowing the velocity of the object at different instants from

the displacement-time graph, the velocity-time can be drawn.

➔ Velocity-time graph:
 • In the velocity-time graph, time is taken on the X-axis and the velocity is taken on the Y-axis.

• Since velocity is a vector quantity, the positive velocity means that the body is moving in a
certain direction away from its initial position and the negative velocity means that the
body is moving in the opposite direction (towards the initial position).

• From the velocity-time graph, we can determine (a) the displacement of the body in a
certain time interval and (b) the acceleration of the body at any instant.

• Determining of displacement from a velocity-time graph (1):

o Since velocity x time = displacement, the area enclosed between the velocity-time sketch and X-
axis (the time axis) gives the displacement of the body.

o The area enclosed above the time axis represents the positive displacement (the distance
travelled away from the starting point, while the area enclosed below the time axis represents the
negative displacement (the distance travelled towards the initial position). The total displacement
is obtained by adding them numerically with proper sign. But the total distance travelled by the
body is their arithmetic sum (without sign). (cite:textbook)

Area of Δabc = ½ x base x height

= ½ x 4s x 5 m/s

= 10m

Area of trap. cdef = ½ x (sum of parallel sides) x height

= ½ x (5+3) s x 5m/s = 20 m

Are of trap fghi = ½ x (sum of parallel sides) x height = ½ x (4+2) s x 5m/s = 15m

Displacement of the body = area of Δabc - area of trap. cdef + area of trap fghi = 10 – 20+15 = 5m

Total distance travelled by the body = area of Δabc + area of trapezium cdef + area of trapezium fghi
= 10m + 20m + 15m = 45m

• Determining of acceleration from a velocity-time graph (2): o Acceleration is the change

of velocity divided by the time taken, hence the slope of the velocity-time sketch gives us
the acceleration.

o If we refer to the same example shown above:

Part ab of the motion -

Slope = change in velocity / change in time

∴ Acceleration = 53= 1.67 m/s2

Part bd,

Slope =

∴ Acceleration = -5 m/s2
Part de,

Slope = 0

∴ Acceleration = 0

The slope in part ab is positive, hence it is an accelerated motion; the slope in part bd is negative so
it represents retarded motion and in part de and in part de the slope is zero, so the motion is with
constant velocity. The parts eg, gh and hi are with positive, zero and negative
acceleration respectively.

Case (1):

If a body is in motion with uniform velocity, the velocity-time graph is a straight line parallel to the
time axis.

(cite : BYJU’S)

o Case (2): (a) If a body is in motion with uniform acceleration, the velocity-time graph is a straight
line inclined to the time axis.

Since the slope of the line gives acceleration…

Slope = 40/4

= 10 m/s2

o Case (2): (b) If the motion is with uniform retardation, the velocity-time graph will be a straight
line inclined to the time axis with a negative slope.

Distance travelled by the body in 5s:

= Area of triangle AOB

= 404m/s2 = 10 m/s2

Larger the slope, higher the acceleration or retardation.

o Case (2): (c) The velocity-time graph can never be a straight line parallel to the velocity axis,
because this would mean

that the velocity increases without any increase in time, which is impossible.

o (b) If the body is initially moving with some constant velocity a then accelerates, the velocity-
time sketch for the

accelerated motion will start from the point on the velocity axis corresponding to the initial velocity
of the body.

• Conclusions:
o (a) For motion with a uniform velocity, the velocity-time graph is a straight line parallel to time
axis. (b) If the velocity-time graph is a straight line inclined to the time axis, the motion is with
uniform acceleration. (c) If the velocity-time graph is a curve, the motion is with non-uniform
acceleration.

o The slope of the straight line gives the acceleration at that instant. (a) If there is a positive slope it
means that the

velocity is increasing with time (accelerated motion). (b) If there is a negative slope it means that
the velocity is

decreasing with time (retarded motion). (c) If there is a zero slope it implies a motion with constant
velocity.

o By knowing the acceleration at different instants from the velocity-time graph we can also draw
the acceleration-time graph.

o The area that is enclosed between the velocity-time sketch and the time axis for a certain time
interval gives the

displacement in that interval of time. The area above the time axis gives the positive displacement,
and the area below the time axis gives the negative displacement.

o By knowing the distance or the displacement in different time

intervals from the velocity-time graph, we can also draw the

displacement-time graph/distance-time graph.

EQUATIONS OF MOTION

➔ Equations of Uniformly Accelerated Motion

• When a body is moving with a uniform acceleration, you should follow these 3 equations:

1. v = u + at

2. s = ½ (u+v)t = ut + ½ at2

3. v2 = u2 + 2as

u – initial velocity

v – final velocity

a – acceleration

t – time