Who are we?

Lecturer: Fru V. Akuma

BSc in Physics, BSc in Physics Education, University of Yaoundé
MSc in Science Teaching, NMT, Socorro
PhD in SMTE, University of Pretoria

PhD thesis: Strengthening teachers in inquiry-based

practical work
Working experience:
• School physics teacher
• Physics teacher trainer
• Chemistry education lecturer

Contact: [email protected]
……………………………..……………………………………………………
Tutors: Mr. Mpho Molamu, Honours Student ([email protected])
Mr. Siyabonga Maphanga, BEd Student ([email protected])
Mr. Tshireletso Sathekge, BEd Student ([email protected])
Unit 1: Patterns of motion and equilibrium
Part one: Motion, scalars, and vectors

This lecture will help you understand:

1. The idea of motion based on

Aristotle and Galileo
2. Inertia and mass
3. Distance and displacement
4. Speed and velocity
5. Acceleration
6. Free fall
7. Scalars and vectors
 What is my understanding?
Poll everywhere activities
1.1 Idea of motion: Aristotle & Galileo
Aristotle
• He divided motion into two types:
o Natural motion – straight up or straight down
o Violent motion – imposed by an external push or a
pull (a force)

• Focused on logic
• Believed that heavier objects fall faster than
lighter objects
• Also believed there must be an external force
on moving object, or the object will stop
moving.
 .

Galileo
• Proposed that experiment is superior to
logic.
• Demolished Aristotle’s idea about
motion
• Showed that the unequal masses
dropped at the same time from the same
height reach the ground at the same
time.
 .

• Galileo realised that going up objects slow down, and

when doing down they speed up.
• What happens if the path remains straight and does
not lift?
• He realised that if surfaces were frictionless, objects
on the horizontal paths would continue forever with
the same speed
• The objects wouldn’t need a force to keep moving
Inertia and mass
Basic idea:
• Tendency of moving bodies to keep moving is natural
• Every material object resists change in its state of motion.
• This property of things to resist changes in motion is called
inertia.
• This is sluggishness an object exhibits in response to any effort
made to start it, stop it, or change its motion in anyway
• The inertia of objects depends on their mass:
greater mass ----> greater inertia
smaller mass ----> smaller inertia
 .

Examples of inertia:
• Our bodies will resist stopping when a car slows down or
stops suddenly. So, we need seatbelts to keep us in place.
• If you carefully pull the tablecloth quickly, the items on the
table would resist change and would remain in place. This is
not magic, it’s inertia at work!
• More examples in a form of questions:
 Position, distance and displacement
• Consider the following diagram:
A B y
10 m
x

20 m

• A and B are positions.

• Point B is at a distance of 10 m to the right of Point A.
A is a distance 10 m to the left of B.
• Displacement is the change in position (∆x), along the straight line
between the start point and the end point.
• Displacement has a magnitude (size) and direction.
• The displacement of B from A (∆xAB) is 10 m right. But ∆xBA = 10 m left
• Distance (d) is the total length of the actual path taken by a moving
object. Distance lacks direction. d = 20 m.
Speed and velocity
• Before Galileo’s time, people used “fast” and “slow” to describe motion.
• Galileo introduced speed by comparing the time taken by objects to cover
the same distance.
• Speed has no direction, hence it is calculated using distance:
distance d
• Speed = ;v=
time t
• Consider previous slide. If it takes 5 seconds to move from A to B, the
20 𝑚
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = = 4 𝑚. 𝑠 −1 [or 4 m/s]
5𝑠
• Velocity like speed, measures how fast an object is moving. However…
• velocity is how fast an object is moving in a given direction. Therefore is
calculated using displacement.
displacement ∆x
• Velocity = ;v =
time ∆t
• In the previous slide, with 5 s being the time it takes to move from A to B,
10 𝑚 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
V𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦𝐴𝐵 = = 2 m/s right [or 2 m 𝑠 −1 right]
5𝑠
Acceleration
Basic ideas
• Galileo reach concept of acceleration in his
experiments with inclined planes.
• Velocity can change in magnitude, in direction, or
both.
• Acceleration refers to the rate at which the
velocity of an object is changing.
𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝜟𝑣
• 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = (𝑎 = )
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝜟𝑡
• Change in velocity is measured in m/s and time in
s, acceleration is measured in m/s2
• It has magnitude and direction; e.g. a = 5 m/s2 [or
5ms-2 ] to the right.
Acceleration example
Lap 1:
If a car starts from rest and reaches 15 m/s in 5 s while moving to
the right, what is its acceleration?
• The initial velocity zero because the object started from rest.
The final velocity will be 15 m/s.
𝜟𝑣 𝑣𝑓 −𝑣𝑖 15 −0 𝑚.𝑠 −1 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
• 𝑎= = = = 3m/s2 to the right.
𝜟𝑡 𝜟𝑡 5𝑠
• This means that in every second, the velocity changes by 3
m/s.
Lap 2:
After reaching 15 m/s, the car continues with this velocity for 10
more seconds. What is its acceleration during this time?
 .

15 −15
• 𝑎= = 0 m/s2
10
• This shows that if the velocity does not change, there is no
acceleration.
Lap 3:
The car driver then spots an obstruction ahead and brings the
car to a stop in 4 s. What is the acceleration during this time?
• The initial velocity is 15 m/s and final velocity is zero because
that is what happened last, the car came to a stop.
0 −15
• 𝑎= = − 3.75 m/s2 = 3.75 m/s2 to the left.
4
• The negative sign indicates direction. Therefore the object is
accelerating in the opposite direction (this is often called
deceleration).
 .

• Because the velocity and acceleration have opposite signs, the

object is slowing down.
• Please note that a negative acceleration is not necessarily a
deceleration, it depends on your choice of direction. Consider
the next example.
Acceleration example 2
Lap 4:
The way is blocked, the car must move backwards in reverse to
find the next possible turn to change the route. The car starts
from rest and reaches 5 m/s in 5 s. What is the acceleration?
• Remember that the car is now moving to the left, so be
careful in your substitutions.
(−5) −0
• 𝑎= = −1 m/s2 = 1 m/s2 to the left.
5
 .

• The acceleration is negative, but because the car is also

moving to the negative direction, it speeds up from a velocity
of zero to 5 m/s. So in this case, this is NOT a deceleration.
Lap 5:
The car driver then steps on the breaks and brings the car to a
stop in 2 s before changing the route. What is the acceleration
during this time?
0 −(−5)
• 𝑎= = 2.5 m/s2 to the right.
2
• The car is moving the left while accelerating to the right, this
means the car is slowing down.
• In this regard, the car is decelerating.
• A rule of thumb: the accelerator of a car gives you
acceleration while the brakes give you deceleration.
 Free fall
• When the only force acting on a falling
object is gravity,(with negligible air
resistance), the object is in a state of
freefall.
• Acceleration is also present when objects
fall freely near the surface of an object, for
example planets and moons.
• The acceleration is known as gravitational
acceleration because it is caused by the
gravitational force.
• On earth, the gravitational acceleration is 9.8 m/s2 [WE WILL
ALWAYS USE 10m.s-2 IN OUR WORK] while on the moon it is
1.62 m/s2. Mars is 3.7 m/s2 and Jupiter is 23 m/s2. These
values are constants.
• If a falling object gains 10 m/s each second it falls, its
acceleration is
A. 10 m/s.
B. 10 m/s per second.
C. Both of the above.
D. Neither of the above.
 Vectors and scalars
Before we engage further, it is important to understand the nature of
quantities and some of the quantities that will be discussed in this module.
• Firstly, you need to understand the nature of a vector and a scalar quantity.
• Both describe physical quantities with magnitude and unity. The difference
is that a vector also includes direction.
• Examples of scalars include: Energy, mass, speed, distance, time.
• In a scalar, you only write the variable, the magnitude and the unit. E.g.
Energy = 58 J.
• Examples of vectors include: Force, velocity, momentum, acceleration,
displacement.
• In a vector, you have to specify the variable, the magnitude, the unit and the
direction. E.g. Force = 25 N upwards.
 Your understanding now
Poll everywhere activity.
Summary