YOC004: Physical Science physics component

Ian Beckett email: ibeckett@preston.ac.uk

Resources
Advanced Physics For You ISBN-13: 978-0748752966
Assessment

(First term)
Practical reports 12.5% e
Open book test Combination of physics and chemistry components
(End of first term), 25%
(Second term)
Practical reports 12.5%
Poster & presentation electromagnetic waves, 25%
Final Exam - Combination of physics and chemistry components (May), 25%

YOC004: Physical Science physics component

First section first term

Defining motion

Equations of motion
Forces and motion
Hookes law
Solids under stress
Falling
Moments
Energy

Describing motion: definitions

APFY Chapter 4

And yet it moves

Galileo Galilei
learning objectives

what are:
Distance and displacement

Speed and velocity

Acceleration
Velocity time (v-t) graphs

Work in groups to investigate

what you think is meant by all the
terms here 5 mins

Describing motion: distance and displacement

Distance:

total length moved by an object

Scalar (no direction) : in metres (m)

Displacement: the distance moved in a particular direction.

Vector (has direction) : in metres (m)

Calculation
A student walks from their desk to a bin, which is 5m away, to
sharpen a pencil. They then walk back to the desk.
What is the distance and the displacement travelled by the
student.
Distance
= 10 m
Displacement = 0 m

Describing motion: speed and velocity

Speed:
the distance moved per second the rate of change of distance.
Scalar: in metres per second ms-1 can be written as m/s

speed

ms1

Distance (m)
=
Time(s)

Velocity:
the rate of change of displacement speed in a particular direction
Vector: in metres per second ms-1 can be written as m/s

velocity

ms1

Displacement (m)
=
Time(s)

Describing motion: speed and velocity

A boat sails 100m due south and then 100m due east
in 30 seconds.
Calculate the speed and the velocity of the boat.

speed = distance travelled/time

= 200/30 = 6.7 m/s

100m

141m
velocity = displacement/time
= 141/30 = 4.7 m/s

100m

Describing motion: acceleration

Acceleration:
the rate of change of velocity.
Vector: in metres per second squared ms-2 and can be written as m/s2

acceleration ms2

final velocity ms1 initial velocity ms1

=
Time taken for the change(s)

Note .. A slowing down, deceleration, is represented by a negative value for the acceleration.

v u
a
t

a is the acceleration
v is final velocity
u is initial velocity
t is time taken for change

Describing motion: acceleration

An acceleration of 2 m/s2 means that the velocity increases by 2 m/s

every second

What will the cars velocity be after..

Start

1 second
2 ms-1

2 second
4 ms-1

3 second
6 ms-1

v u
a
t

Describing
motion:
acceleration
Describing motion:
acceleration
Example 1

A cyclist accelerates uniformly from rest and reaches a velocity of

10ms-1 after 5s, before decelerating uniformly and coming to rest in a
further 10s. Calculate both the acceleration and the deceleration of
the cyclist.
Tip..
Draw a time line

acceleration =
deceleration =

100
= 2ms-2
5
010
= -1ms-2
10

Example 2
A tennis ball travelling at 25ms-1 is hit by a racket. The ball is in
contact with the racket for 0.015s and is knocked back at a velocity of
20ms-1. Calculate the acceleration of the tennis ball.
acceleration = -20-25/0.015 = -3000ms-2

v u
t
1. An Intercity train leaves the station. It takes 2.5 minutes to reach
a speed of 90 ms-1. What is its acceleration?
a

Describing motion: acceleration

tip.. u =0 m/s v =90m/s and t =2.5 mins = 180 seconds

0.6 ms-2

2. If a bus travelling at 20 ms-1 is subject to a steady deceleration of

5 ms-2, how long will it take to come to rest?
tip.. deceleration means ve acceleration ie a = -5m/s2

4 seconds

3. A vehicle moving with uniform acceleration of 2 ms-2 has a velocity

of 4 ms-1 at a certain time. What will its velocity be,

(i), 1 second later,

(ii), 5 seconds later.

tip.. what is the definition of

acceleration

6 ms-1

14 ms-2

4. A ball is thrown at a wall. It strikes the wall at 8ms-1 and it rebounds

back at 6ms-1. If the ball is in contact with the wall for 0.04s, what
is the acceleration of the ball?
-350 ms-2
tip.. if the ball rebounds its velocity becomes ve ie v = - 6m/s

Describing motion: velocity time graphs

Example motion of a car

30

Velocity ms-1

25
20

Flat line indicates a

constant velocity.

15
10
5
0
0

10

Positive sloped straight line

indicates that the car is
accelerating at a constant
value.

15

20

25

30

Time
/ s
Negative
sloped straight line

indicates that the car is

decelerating at a constant value.

Describing motion: acceleration

The gradient of a v-t graph is equal to the value of the

acceleration

To calculate the gradient, you need to find the change in the

velocity (v) and divide it by the change in the time (t).

v
Acceleration gradient
t

Describing motion: acceleration

Remember, graph co-ordinates are always written in terms of (x,y)

In this case the x axis is time and the y axis is the velocity!

Example motion of a car

30

v = 0 so acceleration = 0

Velocity ms-1

25

(5,25)

20

Acceleration =
(15,25) 0-25 = -25 = -2.5ms-2
15-25 10

15
10
5
0

(0,0)
0

Acceleration = 25-0 = 25 = 5ms-2

5-0
5
5

10

15
Time / s

20

(25,0)
25

30

Describing motion: velocity time graphs

What does a constantly increasing gradient in a v-t graph signify ?

Acceleration of a cyclist
16
Velocity / ms-1

14
12

10
8

increasing acceleration

a straight +ve line would

indicate constant
acceleration ..see red line

2
0
0

10

15
Time / s

20

25

30

Describing motion: velocity time graphs

1.

The total area that is between the line on a v-t graph and the time
axis is equal to the distance the object has travelled.

2. The difference between the area enclosed by the line of a v-t

graph above and below the time axis is equal to the displacement of
the object.
We know this because the displacement = velocity X time.
For most v-t graphs, we can split the graph into convenient sections,
finding the area for each section, then adding them all up to find the
total displacement.
Just remember
1.

area of a rectangle is the length X width

2. area of a triangle is X the length X width!

Describing motion: velocity time graphs

Example motion of a car

30

10 X 25 = 250m

Velocity ms-1

25

X 10 X 25 = 125m

20
15
10
5
0
0

X 5 X 25 = 62.5m

10

15

20

Time / s

Displacement = 62.5 + 250 + 125 = 437.5m

25

30

Describing motion: velocity time graphs 2 .. try this one

Example motion of a car

30

total distance travelled = 62.5+250+125+45+45+45= 572.5m

accel = 0m/s

accel = + 5m/s

25

total displacement = 62.5+250+125 - 45+45+45= 302.5 m

20
accel = -40/16= - 2.5 m/s

Velocity ms-1

15

250

whats happening here?

10
125

5
0

here?

62.5

10

15

20

25

-5

30
45

35

45

45
45

-10
-15
-20

40

decel = + 5m/s
or
accel= + 5 m/s to zero

Time / s

estimate total distance and total displacement travelled

calculate accel/decel for each slope

here

Describing motion learning outcomes

what is the difference between distance and displacement

displacement is the distance in a particular direction

what is the difference between speed and velocity
speed is the rate of change of distance - scalar
velocity is the rate of change of displacement - vector
what is acceleration
acceleration is the rate of change of velocity
how do we find the acceleration on a v-t graph
the gradient
what is the area between the line and the time axis on a v-t graph
distance travelled

what is the difference in area above and below the time axis on a v-t graph
displacement is the distance in a particular direction

Questions!

APFY End of chapter 4: 3, 5, 6, 7, 8

Download Describing motion, AQA questions.