1

DISTANCE & DISPLACEMENT

1. Distance  it is the total length travelled
 a 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒚
 has 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆 only
 unit : 𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 , 𝒎
2. Displacement  it is the distance from the starting
point to the end point
 a 𝒗𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒚
 has 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆 and 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏
 unit : 𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 , 𝒎

SPEED & VELOCITY

1. Speed  is the rate of change of distance

 is a scalar quantity
 unit : 𝑚𝑠 −1.
𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑

𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 =
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛

2. Velocity  is the rate of change of displacement

 is a vector quantity
 unit : 𝑚𝑠 −1.
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝑉𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛

2
Test Otak 1
a) In a journey, a car driven by Suria takes 6 hours to travel from Kuala Lumpur to Penang.
If the distance from Kuala Lumpur to Penang is 600 𝑘𝑚, calculate the average speed of
the car. Give your answer in 𝑘𝑚ℎ−1 and 𝑚𝑠 −1.

[100 𝑘𝑚 ℎ−1 ; 27.8 𝑚𝑠 −1 ]

Test Otak 2
2 In a 200 𝑚 swimming competition, Fatima takes 12.2 𝑠 for the first lap, 12.6 𝑠 for the
second lap, 12.8 𝑠 for the third lap and 12.5 𝑠 for the fourth lap. One lap is 50 𝑚 long.
Find the average speed of the swimmer.

[ 3.99 𝑚𝑠 −1 ]

3
 Test Otak 3
Ahmad covers 60 𝑚 in 12 𝑠 with constant speed.
a) What is his speed in
(i) 𝑚𝑠 −1 [ 5 𝑚𝑠 −1]
(ii) 𝑘𝑚 ℎ−1 [18 𝑘𝑚 ℎ−1 ]
b) If he took 40 𝑠 to complete the race, what is the distance covered?
[ 200 𝑚]

ACCELERATION
1. Acceleration is the 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚
2. Its unit is 𝑚𝑠 −2 and its value will be given a +𝒗𝒆 sign
𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 − 𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚
𝑨𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 = =
𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏

4
3. Deceleration is a condition where the movement will be slowed down.
4. Its value given a 𝒗𝒆 sign

5. If an object moves at a constant velocity, there will be 𝒏𝒐 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 or

deceleration.

Test Otak 4
A vehicle accelerates uniformly from rest to a speed of 25 𝑚𝑠 −1 in 100 𝑠 along a

straight road. It then decelerates uniformly at 0.2 𝑚𝑠 −2 for 60 s. Find

a) The initial acceleration, [0.25 𝑚𝑠 −2 ]

b) The final speed after decelerating. [ 13 𝑚𝑠 −1 ]

5
Test Otak 5
A rocket, moving with a constant velocity of 2000 𝑚𝑠 −1 , increases the rate of combustion

in the combustion chamber to increase its velocity to 3000 𝑚𝑠 −1 in 5 𝑠. What is the

acceleration of the rocket? [ 200 𝑚𝑠 −2 ]

Test Otak 6
A trolley is released from rest and moves down an inclined plane. The trolley reaches a
velocity of 10 𝑚𝑠 −1 after 5 𝑠. What is its acceleration? [ 2 𝑚𝑠 −2 ]

Test Otak 7
Maya cycles at a uniform speed of 20 𝑚𝑠 −1 . She then stops pedaling and
finally she and her bicycle came to a stop after 8 s. What is her average
deceleration? [ − 2.5 𝑚𝑠 −2 ]

6
Test Otak 8

Every morning Amirul walks to Ahmad’s house which is situated 80 𝑚 to the

east of Amirul’s house. They then walk towards their school which is 60 𝑚 to
the south of Ahmad’s house.
a) What is the distance travelled by Amirul and his displacement from his
house? [140𝑚, 100𝑚, 53.1 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡]
b) If the total time taken by Amirul to travel from his house to Ahmad’s house
and then to the school is 15 minutes, what is his speed and velocity?
[ 0.16 𝑚𝑠 −1 , 0.11 𝑚𝑠 −1 ]

Test Otak 9

An aeroplane flies towards the north with a velocity 300 𝑘𝑚 ℎ−1 in one hour.
Then the plane moves to the east with the velocity 400 𝑘𝑚 ℎ−1 in one hour.
a) What is the average speed of the plane? [ 350 𝑘𝑚 ℎ−1 ]
b) What is the average velocity of the plane? [250 𝑘𝑚 ℎ−1 ]

7
Summary
Physical Quantity Definition, Quantity, Symbol and unit
Distance,s Distance is the total path length travelled from one location to
another
Quantity: scalar
SI unit: meter (m)
Displacement,s i. The distance in a specified direction.
ii. The distance between two location measured along the shortest
path connecting them in a specific direction.
iii. The distance of its final position from its initial position in a
specified direction.

Quantity: vector
SI unit: meter (m)
Speed, v Speed is the rate of change of distance

𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

Quantity: scalar
SI unit: 𝑚 𝑠 −1
Velocity, v velocity is the rate of change of displacement

𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

Direction of velocity is the direction of displacement

Quantity: vector
SI unit: 𝑚 𝑠 −1
Average speed 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 =
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

Average velocity 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡

𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

Uniform speed Speed that remains the same in magnitude without considering its
direction
Uniform velocity Velocity that remains the same in magnitude and direction
An object has a non- a) The direction of motion changes or the motion is not linear
uniform velocity if b) The magnitude of its velocity changes

8
 Acceleration,𝑎 When the velocity of an object increases, the object is said to be
𝑣−𝑢 accelerating
𝑎=
𝑡
Acceleration is defined as the rate of change of velocity
Unit: 𝑚 𝑠 −1
𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 − 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = =
Acceleration is positive 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛

The velocity of an object increases from an initial velocity, 𝑢, to a

higher final velocity, 𝑣

The rate of decreases in speed in a specified direction

Deceleration is
The velocity of an object decreases from an initial velocity, 𝑢, to a
negative
lower final velocity, 𝑣.
Zero acceleration An object moving at a constant velocity, that is, the magnitude and
direction of its velocity remain unchanged
Constant acceleration Velocity increases at a uniform rate

Comparison between distance and displacement

Distance Displacement
Total path length travelled from one location The distance between two locations
to another measured along the shortest path connecting
them in specified direction
Scalar quantity Vector quantity
It has magnitude but no direction It has both magnitude and direction
SI unit : meter Si unit: meter

Comparison between speed and velocity

Speed Velocity
The rate of change of distance The rate of change of displacement
Scalar quantity Vector quantity
It has magnitude but no direction It has both magnitude and direction
SI unit : 𝑚 𝑠 −1 SI unit : 𝑚 𝑠 −1