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Fundamentals Physics
Eleventh Edition

Halliday

Chapter 2
Motion Along a Straight Line

2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average

Velocity
• Kinematics is the classification and comparison of motions
• For this chapter, we restrict motion in three ways:
1. We consider motion along a straight line only
2. We discuss only the motion itself, not the forces that cause it
3. We consider the moving object to be a particle
• A particle is either:
o A point-like object
o Or an object that moves such that each part travels in the same
direction at the same rate (no rotation or stretching)
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2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average

Velocity
• Position is measured relative to a reference point:
o The origin, or zero point, of an axis
• Position has a sign:
o Positive direction is in the direction of increasing numbers
o Negative direction is opposite the positive

Figure 2-1
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2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average

Velocity
• A change in position is called displacement
o x is the change in x, (final position) − (initial position)
x  x2  x1 Equation (2-1)

Examples A particle moves . . .

o From x = 5 m to x = 12 m: Δ𝑥 =?
o From x = 5 m to x = 1 m: Δ𝑥 =?

o From x = 5 m to x = 200 m to x = 5 m: Δ𝑥 =?

• The actual distance (d) covered is irrelevant

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2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average

Velocity
• Displacement is therefore a vector quantity (unlike distance)
o Direction: along a single axis, given by sign (+ or −)
o Magnitude: length or distance, in this case meters or feet
• Ignoring sign, we get its magnitude (norm or absolute value)
o The magnitude of x  4 m is 4 m.

Checkpoint 1
Here are three pairs of initial and final positions, respectively, along an x axis. Which pairs
give a negative displacement: (a) −3 m, +5 m; (b) −3 m, −7 m; (c) 7 m, −3 m?

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2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average

Velocity
• Average velocity is the ratio of:
o A displacement, x
o To the time interval in which the displacement occurred, t

x x2  x1
vavg   Equation (2-2)
t t2  t1

• Average velocity has units of

 distance 
 time 
o Meters per second, m/s

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2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average

Velocity
• On a graph of x vs. t, the average velocity is the slope of the
straight line that connects two points
• Average velocity is therefore a vector quantity
o Positive slope means positive average velocity
o Negative slope means negative average velocity

Figure 2-4
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2-1 Position, Displacement, and Average

Velocity
• Average speed is the ratio of:
o The total distance covered
o To the time interval in which the distance was covered, ∆t
total distance
savg  Equation (2-3)
t
• Average speed is always positive (no direction)
Consider: A particle moves from x = 3 m to x = −3 m in 2
seconds.
o Average velocity = −3 m/s; average speed = 3 m/s
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Example 1
You drive a beat‐up pickup truck along a straight road for 8.4 km at 70 km/h, at which
point the truck runs out of gasoline and stops. Over the next 30 minutes, you walk
another 2.0 km farther along the road to a gasoline station.
a) What is your overall displacement from the beginning of your drive to your arrival
at the station?

b) What is the time interval Δt from the beginning of your drive to your arrival at
the station?

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Example 1 continued
c) What is your average velocity from the beginning of your drive to your arrival at the
station? Find it both numerically and graphically.

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Example 1 continued
d) Suppose that to pump the gasoline, pay for it, and walk back to the truck takes you
another 45 minutes. What is your average speed from the beginning of your drive to your
return to the truck with the gasoline? Would it be the same as the magnitude of your
average velocity over this time period?

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2-2 Instantaneous Velocity and Speed

• Instantaneous velocity, or just velocity, v, is:
o At a single moment in time
o Obtained from average velocity by shrinking t
o The slope of the position-time curve for a particle at an instant
(the derivative of position)

o A vector quantity with units

 distance 
 time 
• The sign of the velocity represents its direction
x dx
v  lim  Equation (2-4)
t  0  t dt
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2-2 Instantaneous Velocity and Speed

• The graph shows the position
and velocity of an elevator cab
over time.
• Where is there no velocity?
Constant velocity? Changing
velocity?

Figure 2-6
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2-3 Acceleration
• A change in a particle's velocity is acceleration
• Average acceleration over a time interval t is
v2  v1 v
aavg   Equation (2-7)
t 2  t1  t
• Instantaneous acceleration (or just acceleration), a, for a
single moment in time is:
o Slope of velocity vs. time graph

dv
a Equation (2-8)
dt
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2-3 Acceleration
• Combining Equations. 2-8 and 2-4:
𝑎 =… Equation (2-9)

• Acceleration is a vector quantity:

o Positive sign means in the positive coordinate direction
o Negative sign means the opposite

o Units of
 distance 
 time squared 

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2-3 Acceleration
If the signs of the velocity and acceleration of a particle
are the same, the speed of the particle increases. If the
signs are opposite, the speed decreases.

• Note: accelerations can be expressed in units of g

1g  9.8 m/s 2  g unit 

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Example 2
An automobile is moving to the left along a straight highway, which we choose to be
the x axis. Then the driver puts on the brakes. If the initial velocity (when the driver
hits the brakes) is v1 = ‐15.0 m/s, and it takes 5.0 s to slow down to v2 = ‐5.0 m/s,
what was the car’s average acceleration? Do the signs make sense?

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2-3 Acceleration
Checkpoint 3
A wombat moves along an x axis. What is the sign of its
acceleration if it is moving (a) in the positive direction with
increasing speed, (b) in the positive direction with decreasing speed,
(c) in the negative direction with increasing speed, and (d) in the
negative direction with decreasing speed?

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2-3 Acceleration
• The graph shows the velocity and
acceleration of an elevator cab over
time.
• When is acceleration…0? Positive?
Negative?
• Steeper slope of the velocity-time graph
indicates a larger magnitude of
acceleration: the cab stops in half the
time it takes to get up to speed.

Figure 2-6

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Example 3
A jet engine moves along an experimental track (which we call the x axis) as shown. We
will treat the engine as if it were a particle. Its position as a function of time is given by
the equation x = At2 + B, where A = 2.10 m/s2 and B = 2.80 m (a) Determine the
displacement of the engine during the time interval from t1 = 3.00 s to t2 = 5.00 s. (b)
Determine the average velocity during this time interval.

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Example 3 cont’d
(c) Calculate the instantaneous velocity as a function of time and sketch it. (d)
Determine the speed at t = 5.00 s. (e) Calculate the instantaneous acceleration as
a function of time and sketch it.

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2-4 Constant Acceleration

• In many cases acceleration is
constant, or nearly so.
• For these cases, 5 special
equations can be used.
• Note that constant
acceleration means a
velocity-vs-time graph with a
constant slope, and a position
with varying slope (unless a
= 0).
Example 4: Review graphical Figure 2-9
interpretation with The Moving Man
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2-4 Constant Acceleration

o When the acceleration is constant, the average and
instantaneous accelerations are equal
o Rewrite v  v0
a  a avg 
t 0

v  v0  at Equation (2-11)

• This equation reduces to v = v0 for t = 0

dv
• Its derivative yields the definition of a,
dt

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2-4 Constant Acceleration

• For motion at constant acceleration, we can write:
1
vavg 
2
 v0  v 

• Why? What does the v-t graph for constant acceleration look
like?

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2-4 Constant Acceleration

By combining the equations we have so far, we can get another
important equation:
1
x  x0  v0t  at 2
2

This equation can also be obtained using integration, which you will
cover in your calculus course later this semester. We will return to
this idea near the end of the course.

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2-4 Constant Acceleration

• Additional useful forms:

v 2  v 02  2a  x  x 0 

1
x  x0  v  v t
2 0

1
x  x 0  vt  at 2
2

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2-4 Constant Acceleration

• Table 2-1 shows the 5 equations and the quantities missing from
them.
Table 2-1 Equations for Motion with Constant Acceleration a
Equation Number Equation Missing Quantity
2-11 v  v0  at x − x0
1
2-15 x  x 0  v0t  at 2 v
2
2-16 v  v  2a  x  x 0 
2 2
0
t
1
2-17 x  x0   v0  v  t a
2
2-18 1 v0
x  x0  vt  at 2
2
a Make sure that the acceleration is indeed constant before using the equations in this table.

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Example 5
Calculate the total stopping distance for a car with an initial velocity
of 14 m/s and an acceleration of ‐6.0 m/s2 . (Assume the car is
travelling in the positive direction; the minus sign on the
acceleration appears since the car is slowing down.) The driver’s
reaction time is 0.50 s.

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2-5 Free-Fall Acceleration

If a particle is in free flight (whether
upward or downward) and if we can
neglect the effects of air on its
motion, the particle has a constant
downward acceleration with a
magnitude g
that we take to be 9.8 m/s 2 .
We can apply the constant
acceleration equations (Table 2-1) to
free-fall motion.
Figure 2-12
Hammer and feather video
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Example 6
Robert takes his physics textbook for a hot air balloon ride. He waits until the
book is 35.0 m above ground and the balloon is travelling upward at a speed of
3.5 m/s. Then he lets his physics textbook go over the edge of the basket (he
was a bit frustrated).
a) After how many seconds does the book reach its maximum height?
b) At what speed will the book hit the ground?
c) How many seconds elapse before the book is 25.0 m above the ground?

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Example 7
Catching the train. You are going to Toronto for the weekend and you decide to go first‐
class by taking the GO train. Unfortunately, you are late finishing your math exam, so you
arrive late at the Kitchener train station. You run as fast as you can, but just as you reach
the platform your train departs, 30.0 metres ahead of you down the platform. You can
run at a maximum speed of 8.0 m/s and the train is accelerating at 0.80 m/s2. You can
run along the platform for 50.0 metres before a barrier prevents you from going further.
Will you catch your train?

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Example 8
A ball is thrown with an upward velocity of 5.0 m/s from the top of a 10.0‐m high
building. One second later another ball is thrown vertically from the ground with a
velocity of 10.0 m/s. At what time do the balls meet? Also determine the height from
the ground where the two balls meet.

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