Motion Notes – Omegar Chavolla-Zacarias (Test on 10/10/08)

Aristotle on Motion
Aristotle classified motion into two kinds
Natural motion – motion that is straight up or straight down
Violent motion – imposed motion resulting from an external push or pull

Galileo’s Concept of Inertia

In the absence of a force, objects once set in motion tend to continue
moving indefinitely.

Legend of the Leaning Tower of Pisa: Galileo showed that dropped objects
fall to the ground at the same time when air resistance is negligible.

Discovery: In the absence of friction, no force is necessary to keep a

horizontally moving object moving.

Experiment: The tendency of a moving body to keep moving is natural –

every material object resists change in its state of motion. This property of
things to resist change is called inertia.

Mass – A Measure of Inertia

The amount of inertia possessed by an object depends on the amount of
matter – the amount of material that composes it – its mass:

Greater mass = Greater inertia

Smaller mass = Smaller inertia

Mass
Quantity of matter in an object
Measure of inertia or sluggishness that an object exhibits in response to any
effort made to start it, stop it, or change its state of motion in any way.

Weight: Amount of gravitational pull on an object

Weight and mass are proportional.
Twice the mass = twice the weight
Half the mass = half the weight

Mass versus volume:

Mass involves how much matter an object contains
Volume involves how much space and object occupies

Standard unit of measurement for mass – the kilogram

1kg of any material on Earth’s surface weighs 9.8 newtons
Away from the Earth, as on the Moon or other small bodies, 1kg of material
weighs less than 9.8 newtons.

Speed and Velocity

Speed is described as the distance covered per amount of travel time
Equation – Speed = distance covered/travel time

Average speed is the total distance traveled divided by the time of travel
Equation – Average speed = total distance covered/travel time

Instantaneous speed is speed at any instant of time

Acceleration
Acceleration is the rate at which velocity changes with time. The change in
velocity may be in magnitude, in direction, or both.
Equation – change of velocity/time interval

Velocity m/h North

Velocity – when we describe speed and the direction of motion.
Constant Velocity – constant speed with no change in direction
Acceleration = ∆v/t ∆ - delta = change, v = velocity, t = time
Si(initial speed) – 25 m/h in 10s you speed up to Sf(final speed) –35 m/h
(35m/h - 25 m/h)/10s = (10 m/h)/10s
A = 1 m/h/s

Acceleration due to Gravity

9.8 m/s2
9.8 m/s every second

Momentum
Momentum – is inertia in motion defined as the product of mass and
velocity: momentum = mv

Momentum = mass x velocity

or Momentum = mass x speed (when direction is unimportant)
Momentum = mv

High mass or high velocity = high momentum

High mass and high velocity = higher momentum

Low mass or low velocity = low momentum

Low mass and low velocity = lower momentum

Potential Energy
Potential Energy
 • Is defined as stored energy due to position, shape, or state. In its
stored state, energy has the potential for doing work
• Examples: Drawn bow, stretched rubber band, raised ram of a pile
driver.
Equation for gravitational potential energy: PE = weight x height or mgh
(mass x gravity x height)

Graitational potential energy examples: Water in an elevated reservoir,

elevated ram of a pile driver.

Kinetic Energy
Kinetic Energy
• is defined as the energy of a moving body equation for kinetic
energy: kinetic energy = ½ mass x speed2 or kinetic energy = ½
mv2
• small changes in speed – large changes in kinetic energy