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Understanding Kinematics and Free Fall

Kinematics is the study of motion using words, diagrams, graphs, and equations. It defines terms like distance, displacement, speed, velocity, and acceleration. Motion can be described using distance-time, speed-time, and velocity-time graphs. The gradient of these graphs relates to speed and acceleration. Uniform and changing accelerations result in different motion patterns on these graphs. Near the earth's surface, freely falling objects experience a constant acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2 due to gravity.

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118 views3 pages

Understanding Kinematics and Free Fall

Kinematics is the study of motion using words, diagrams, graphs, and equations. It defines terms like distance, displacement, speed, velocity, and acceleration. Motion can be described using distance-time, speed-time, and velocity-time graphs. The gradient of these graphs relates to speed and acceleration. Uniform and changing accelerations result in different motion patterns on these graphs. Near the earth's surface, freely falling objects experience a constant acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2 due to gravity.

Uploaded by

lovejoy
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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2.

1 Kinematics
Kinematics is the science of describing the motion of objects using words, diagrams, graphs,
and equations.

Definition of terms

 Distance – length of actual path taken


 Displacement – distance travelled in a specified direction. Or shortest distance between
two points
 Speed – rate of change of distance
 Velocity - rate of change of displacement
𝑣−𝑢
 Acceleration – rate of change of velocity , a = where v is the final velocity, u the
𝑡
initial velocity and t time

Describing motion with graphs

Distance-time Graph
 Gradient of the Distance-time Graph is the speed of the moving object
Speed-time Graph
 Gradient of the Speed-time Graph is the acceleration of the moving object
 Area under the Speed-time Graph is the distance travelled
Velocity-time Graph
 Gradient of the velocity-time Graph is the acceleration of the moving object
 Area under the velocity-time Graph is the displacement

Uniform Velocity Uniform Acceleration


Uniform deceleration Increasing acceleration

Increasing acceleration

Decreasing acceleration

Example
Fall freely

 A free-falling object is an object which is falling under the sole influence of gravity.
 Any object which is being acted upon only be the force of gravity is said to be in a state
of free fall
 All objects fall freely at g = 9.81 m s-2 when near the earth and air resistance is negligible.
 Speed of a free-falling body increases by 9.8 m s-1 every second or when a body is thrown
up, its speed decreases by 9.8 m s-1 every second.
 Although the acceleration due to gravity is considered constant, it tends to vary slightly
over the earth since the earth is not a perfect sphere.

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