111Equation

Chapter (Next)
Section 1

Analysing Linear Motion

Lesson 2
Learning outcomes
1. define distance and displacement
v

s
t

2. define speed and velocity and state that average velocity,

.
v u
a
t
3. define acceleration and deceleration and state that
.
4. calculate speed and velocity
5. calculate acceleration and deceleration
6. solve problems on linear motion with uniform acceleration using
v u at
(a)
1
s ut at 2
2
(b)
v 2 u 2 2as
(c)
A

Distance and displacement

s
d
is the distance travelled in
Distance,
is the total length of path travelled Displacement,
specific direction.
from one location to another location.
scalar quantity
vector quantity
SI unit : meter, m
SI unit: meter, m
1. Example
B
C

Diagram 1

Diagram 1 shows a student moving from point A to B and then to point C.

What is the
(a) distance travelled by the student?
(b) displacement travelled by the student?
Solution

Speed,

Speed and velocity

is rate of change of distance.

distance
Speed, v
time taken

Velocity,

scalar quantity
SI unit : m s-1
Total distanced travelled

Total time taken

The average speed

is rate of change of displacement.

displacement
Velocity, v
time taken

vector quantity
SI unit : m s-1
dispalcement

Total time taken

The average velocity

1. Example 1
B
C

Diagram 2

Diagram 2 shows a student moving from point A to B by using 30 s and then from point B to point C
by using 40 s.
What is the
(a) average speed of the student?
(b) average displacement of the student?
Solution

2. Example 2
The diagram below shows the path travelled by a student from point A to point C. He took 2 hours to
travel from point A to point B and 3 hours from point B to point C.

Diagram 3

Find
(a) the velocity from A to B

(b) the velocity from B to C

(c) the average velocity of the whole journey
Solution

C
1. (a)
(b
)

Acceleration and deceleration

a
Acceleration, is rate of change of velocity.
Formula
change of velocity
a
time taken
final velocity initial velocity

time taken
vu

(c) SI unit for acceleration: m s-2

(d Acceleration is a vector quantity
)
2. An object is accelerating if it velocity is increasing with time.

Diagram 4

3. An object is decelerating (negative acceleration, retardation) if it velocity is decreasing with time.

Diagram 5

3. Example 3
A car moving with constant velocity of 50 m s-1 increases its velocity to 80 m s-1 in 2 s.
What is the acceleration of the car?
Solution

4. Example 4
A car is slowing down from 60 m s-1 to 0 m s-1 in 9 s.
What is the deceleration of the car?
Solution

Equations of Motion

v
s
t
1. For an object moving with uniform velocity, , its displacement, after time, is given by:
s vt
212\* MERGEFORMAT (.)
a
2. The equation of motion of an object with uniform acceleration, , are as follows:
s
Displacement, is given by:
s average velocity time
initial velocity final velocity
=
time
2
Hence,

u v
t
2

313\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

Since
v u

a
Rearranging equation 14,

v u at

Substitute equation 15 into equation 13,

s

414\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

515\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

u u at
t
2

Simplifying,
1
s ut at 2
2

Rearrange equation 14 into

vu
t
a

616\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

, and substitute into equation 13,

v2 u 2
u v v u
s

a
2a
2

Hence,
v 2 u 2 2as
Summary
constant velocity

717\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

constant acceleration

s vt

v u at

v 2 u 2 2as

1
s ut at 2
2

1
u v t
2

is not involved
is not involved
is not involved
is not involved

Tips
In solving questions, we need to list out all the variables given. For example
u
v
(a) Start from rest,
0 m s-1
(b) Stop,
0 m s-1
If we cannot identify the variables involved, look out for the units given. For example
(a) 20 m s-2 acceleration
(b) 5 m s-1 velocity
(a) 85 m displacement
5. Example 5
A car travelling with uniform velocity of 80 km h -1. What is the displacement of the car after 15
minutes?
Solution

6. Example 6
A car travelling at 20 ms-1 stops after a distance of 30 m. What is its deceleration?
Solution

7. Example 7
A car starts off at 5 ms-1 and accelerates at 4 ms-2 for 10 s. What is its final velocity?
Solution

8. Example 8
An object moving from rest in a straight line with constant acceleration and covers a distance of 100
m in 5 s.
Calculate the final velocity of the object.
Solution

9. Example 9
A car slow down from 8 m s-1 and cover the distance of 6 m. What is the time taken for the car to slow
down to 4 m s-1?
Solution

Try it yourself
1. A car travels 600 m due west in half minute, and then travels 800 m due north in 1 minute 20 seconds.
Calculate
(a) the total distance travelled,
(b) its displacement,
(c) the total time taken for the journey,
(d) the average speed,
(e) the average velocity.
2. An aeroplane is moving with a velocity of 600 km h-1 due south. Calculate its displacement after 20
minutes.
3. In a 400 m race, a student runs with an average speed of 8.0 m s -1. How long does the student take to
finish the race?
4. A lorry travels from town P to town Q in 2 hours 45 minutes. The distance between town P and town
Q is 99 km. Calculate its average speed in (i) km h-1 and (ii) m s-1.
5. A bus leaves from town A to town C at 9 a.m. The bus travels with an average speed of 90 km h -1
before it reaches town B at 12 noon and takes a rest there. The bus leaves town B to town C half an
hour later with an average speed of 80 km h-1. The bus reaches town C at 6 p.p. sharp.
(a) Calculate the total distance travelled by the bus.
(b) Calculate the average speed for the journey from town A to town C, excluding the resting time of
the bus.
6. In a car test, the velocity of a car increases uniformly from rest to 30 m s -1 in 15 seconds. What is the
acceleration of the car?
7. A car moves with a constant acceleration of 2 m s-2. What is its velocity after 8 seconds?
8. A mass is moving with a velocity of 2 m s -1 and it is under a constant acceleration of 3 m s -2. Calculate
the velocity of the mass after a quarter minute.
9. A lorry is moving with constant velocity of 30 km h -1. When the driver steps on the accelerator, the
lorry accelerates uniformly until its velocity reaches 90 lm h-1 in 1 minute. Determine the acceleration
of the lorry in m s-2.
10.

A car is moving with a constant velocity of 20 m s -1. When the driver steps on the brake, the car stops
in 5 seconds. What is the deceleration experienced by the car?

u
t
11. A particle has an initial velocity of
m s-1 moving in a straight line for seconds. It undergoes a
uniform acceleration of a m s-2 and finally it reaches a velocity of v m s-1. If the distance travelled is s
m, state the relationship between
(a) v in terms of u, a and t
(b) s in terms of u, a and t
(c) v in terms of u, a and s

12. Using suitable equations of motion and complete table 1

v / m s-1
2.4

100

u / m s-1
0
0

25

40

10
2
10

s/m
(a)
(b
)
(c)
(d
)
(e)

a / m s-2
3

t/s
10.0

2
4
2.5

table 1

13. A student riding his bicycle from rest. The bicycle accelerates uniformly and reaches a velocity of 36
km h-1 in 10 seconds. Calculate its acceleration and its displacement.
14. A mass is moving with constant acceleration of 3 m s -2. If its initial velocity is 2 m s -1, calculate its
final velocity after the mass has travelled 10 m.
15. A car having an initial velocity of 10 m s-1, is being accelerated uniformly until it reaches a final
velocity of 20 m s-1 in 10 seconds. Calculate the distance travelled by the car.
16. A rocket is moving with an initial velocity of 2000 m s-1 and undergoes a constant acceleration of 10
m s-2. What is the velocity of the rocket after 5 minutes?
17. A car is moving from rest and it is experiencing a constant acceleration of 2 m s-2.
(a) What is the velocity of the car after it has travelled 100 m?
(b) What is the time taken for it to reach the final velocity?
18. A car, initially at rest, undergoes a constant acceleration of 4 m s-2 for 10 seconds.
(a) What is the velocity of the car after 10 seconds?
(b) How far does it travel in 10 seconds?
19. A car which moves with an initial velocity of 5 m s -1 is being retarded to rest in 5 seconds. Calculate
the retardation of the car and the distance travelled by the car.
20. A bicycle is moving in a straight line PQ with a constant acceleration. The velocity of the bicycle at
point P and Q is 15 m s -1 and 25 m s-1 respectively. What is the acceleration of the bicycle if the
distance between P and Q is 40 m?
21. A lorry is moving with a velocity of 20 km h -1 and it is being accelerated uniformly. One minute later,
its velocity increases to 40 km h-1. What is the distance travelled by the lorry in 1 minute?
22. A car is moving with a velocity of 10 m s -1. It then accelerates uniformly at 4 m s -2 for 6 seconds.
Later, brake is applied and the car experiences a uniform deceleration of 8 m s -2. Calculate the
distance travelled by the car before the car comes to rest.
23. A bus is moving in constant velocity of 20 m s-1. The driver steps on the brake to slow down the bus
with uniform deceleration. The bus stops at a distance of 100 m after the brake have been applied.
(a) Determine the deceleration of the bus when the brake is applied.
(b) How long does the bus take to stop?

24. A trolley at rest is allowed to move down a slope with a constant acceleration. In the first second, the
trolley has moved a distance of 10 cm. Calculate
(a) the average velocity in the first second.
(b) the velocity of the trolley at the end of the first second,
(c) its acceleration,
(d) the velocity of the trolley after 5 seconds,
(e) distance travelled by the trolley after 5 seconds.
25. Which of the following defines acceleration?
A Rate of change of distance
B Rate of change of displacement
C Rate of change of speed
D Rate of change of velocity
26. If a car travels at a speed of 60 ms-1 for 2 minutes, what is the acceleration of the car during that
period of time?
A Zero
B Uniform
C Increases uniformly
D Decreases uniformly
27. If a car is slowing, the motion of the car can be described as
A deceleration
B acceleration
C stationary
D velocity

28.

Past year question

1. SPM 2007 Paper 1 Question 4
Diagram 1 shows the path travelled by a car from P to S.

Diagram 1

What is the displacement of the car?

A 5.0 km

B 6.8 km

C 8.2 km

D 9.0 km

2. SPM 2010 Paper 1 Question 5

Which physical quantity is equal to
A Speed

displacement
time

B Velocity

?
C Distance

D Acceleration

3. SPM 2012 Paper 1 Question 6

Diagram 6 shows Ali stands at O. He walks towards A, then moves towards B and stops at B.

Diagram 6

What is the displacement of Ali?

A 2 m towards west

5 m towards east

4. MRSM 2009 Paper 1 Question 4

Which ticker tape shows a motion with a deceleration?
A

Direction of motion

Direction of motion

Direction of motion

Direction of motion

C 7 m towards east

5. MRSM 2010 Paper 1 Question 4

Diagram 5 shows a car moving at 20 m s-1 slowing down when it approaches a red traffic light. The
car travels distance of 50 m before it stops completely.

Diagram 5

What is the acceleration of the car?

A 4.0 m s-2

B 8.0 m s-2

C - 4.0 m s-2

D - 8.0 m s-2

6. MRSM 2011 Paper 1 Question 3

Diagram 6 shows a ticker tape obtained from a moving trolley.

Diagram 6

Which of the following statements is true?

A The time interval at Y is longer than at X
B The acceleration at X is greater than at Y
C The frequency at X is greater than at Y
D The velocity at Y is greater than at X
7. MRSM 2007 Paper 1 Question 8
Diagram 7 shows a pattern on a ticker tape.

Diagram 7

Which statement describes the motion of the trolley?

A Moves with constant velocity
B Moves with an acceleration
C Moves at constant speed and then decelerates
D Moves at constant speed and then accelerates

8. SBP 2007 Paper 1 Question 8

Oil drips at a constant rate from a moving car. Diagram 8 shows the pattern of the drips on the road.

Diagram 8

Which statement describes the motion of the car?

A It accelerated and then moved at a steady speed
B It accelerated and then decelerated
C It moved at a steady speed and then decelerated
D It moved at a steady speed and then accelerated
9. MRSM 2014 Paper 1 Question 6
Diagram 9.1 shows the speedometer of a car at 11.00 a.m.
Diagram 9.2 shows the speedometer of the car at 11.05 a.m.

Diagram 9.1

Diagram 9.2

Which of the following is correct about the acceleration of the car?

A Zero

B Constant

C Increasing

D Decreasing