MOTION AND TIME

An object is said to be at rest if it does not change

its position with respect to its surrounding with
the passage of time.
A body is said to be in motion if its position
changes continuously with respect to the
surroundings (or with respect to an observer) with
the passage of time.

(a) Linear motion : The motion of a moving car,

a person running, a stone being dropped.
(b) Rotational motion : The motion of an electric
fan, motion of earth about its own axis.
(c) Oscillatory motion (to and fro motion) : The
motion of a simple pendulum, a body
Measurement of any physical quantity is suspended from a spring etc are the examples
expressed in terms of an internationally accepted of oscillatory motion.

certain basic standard called unit.

Length, time & mass are measured in metre, sec,
(a) Uniform Motion :
and kilogram
A body has a uniform motion if it travels equal
distances in equal intervals of time, no matter how
small these time intervals may be.
For example, a car running at a constant speed of
The quantities which can be measured by an say, 10 m/s, will cover equal distances of 10
instrument and by means of which we can metres, in every second, so its motion will be
uniform.
describe the laws of physics are called physical
(b) Non-Uniform motion :
quantities. A body has a non-uniform motion if it travels
Eg. length, velocity, acceleration, force, time, pressure, unequal distance in equal intervals of time.
mass, density etc. For example, if we drop a ball from the roof of a
building, we will find that it covers unequal
distances in equal intervals of time.
 It covers : Note : If a body travels in such a way that it
4.9 meters in the 1st second comes back to its starting position, then the
14.7 metres in the 2nd second displacement is zero. However distance travelled
24.5 metres in the 3rd second and so on. never zero.

(b) SPEED :
(i) Speed : Speed of a body is the distance
(a) DISTANCE & DISPLACEMENT :
travelled by the body in one second
(i) Distance : Distance is the actual path travelled
by a body in a given time.
Consider a body travelling from A to B along any Distance travelled is measured in metre and time
path between A and B. The actual length of the in second.
path that a body travels between A and B is Therefore, the unit of speed is metre/second.[(m/s)].
known as the distance. Here if the body goes from It can also be expressed in kilometer/hour [km/h]
A to B via C, the distance travel will be ACB. If we know the speed of an object we can find out
The distance travelled will be different for the distance covered by it in a given time.
different paths between A and B. It is a scalar Distance covered= speed × time.
quantity. (ii) Average speed :
The speed of a bus during a journey may vary.
When the bus is nearing a bus stop, its speed
decreases. On the highways the bus travels with
(ii) Displacement : The distance travelled in a
greater speed but in a city or town it travels with
given direction is the displacement. Thus
less speed due to heavy traffic.
displacement is the shortest distance between the
The bus has different speeds at different times. So
given points.
we say that it has variable speed.
S.I. unit of distance and displacement is metre.
Ex. When an object moves from O to B and then
from B to A. Then displacement = x2 – x1.

for such bodies, we can calculate the average

speed.

Ex. Suresh walks from point A to B and then

If a body moves with the same speed at all times
again from B to C.
we say that it has uniform speed.

Distance he has travelled is A to B + B to C.

Displacement he has travelled is line A to C
(c) VELOCITY : moving body decreases, we say that it has
Every day when you go to school from your negative acceleration or retarding or deceleration.
house, you could take path 1 or path 2 or path 3.
Do these paths have the same distance? No, the ACCELERATION DUE TO GRAVITY :
distance is not the same; it varies with the path Let us see what happens when a ball is thrown up
taken. Imagine that you travel from your house to vertically? As it rises, its velocity gradually
school in a straight line. This will be the shortest decreases till it becomes zero i.e., the ball is
distance between them, called displacement. In retarded. As the ball falls down its velocity
the picture, it is represented by a dotted line. gradually increases i.e., it is accelerated. The
Displacement is the shortest distance between retardation or acceleration is due to the earth’s
two points. gravitational force. It is known as acceleration
Velocity is the displacement of a body in one due to gravity. This means that the velocity of a
second. body decreases by 9.8 m/s every second when it is
thrown up and the velocity increases by 9.8 m/s
every second when it falls down.

(a) Measurement of time :

Many events in nature repeat themselves after
definite intervals of time. For example, we can
find that the sun rises everyday in the morning.
The time between one sunrise and the next was
called a day. Similarly, a month was measured
from one new moon to the next. A year was fixed
as the time taken by the earth to complete one
revolution of the sun clocks or watches are
perhaps the most common time measuring
its unit is m/s devices.
Velocity is nothing but speed in a definite All of them make use of some periodic motion.
direction. One of the most well-known periodic motions is
that of a simple pendulum .
(d) ACCELERATION :
A simple pendulum consists of a small metallic
Do you ride a bicycle to school? If you are late,
ball or a piece of stone suspended from a rigid
what would you do? you would increase your
stand by a thread. The metallic ball is called the
velocity or accelerate.
bob of the pendulum.
Acceleration is the change of velocity in one
Initially the pendulum at rest in its mean position.
second
When the bob of the pendulum is released after
taking it slightly to one side, it begins to move to
and fro. The to and fro motion of a simple
Its unit is m/s2 .
pendulum is an example of a periodic or an
If car has an acceleration of 5 m/s2 every second
oscillatory motion.
its velocity increases by 5 m/s. If the velocity of a
 Consider the example : Rajesh was travelling
with his father in their car from Kota to Bundi.
He kept himself busy by noting the distance
travelled by the car every 5 minutes. This is what
The pendulum is said to have completed one
he noted in the first 30 minutes.
oscillation when its bob, starting from its mean
position O, moves to A, to B and back to O. The S. NO. Time in minutes Distance in
time taken by the pendulum to complete one
km
oscillation is called its time period.
1 0 0
To set the pendulum in motion, gently hold the
2 5 5
bob and move it slightly to one side. Now release
the bob from its displaced position. Measure the 3 10 10
time the pendulum takes to complete 20 4 15 15
oscillations. Repeat this activity a few times and 5 20 20
record your observations. You will note that a 6 25 25
slightly change in the initial displacement not 7 30 30
affect the time period of your pendulum.

 Unit of time : You can make a graphical representation of his

The basic unit of time is a second. Its symbol is s. observations follow these simple steps.
Larger units of time are minutes (min) and hours (h). Taking axes and scale : Take a graph sheet an
Many time measuring devices were used in draw two lines perpendicular to each other.
different parts of the world before the pendulum Mark the horizontal line as OX (x-axis) and the
clocks became popular. Sundials, water clocks and vertical line as OY(y-axis). Time is taken on the
sand clocks are some examples of such devices. X-axis and distance on the Y-axis.
(b) Measurement of speed : By calculating the
distance travelled in the given time, we can
calculate speed. Speed generally measured in m/s.
In vehicles speed is measured in km/h by the
instrument speedometer.
(c) Odometer : It measure the distance moved by
vehicles directly.

Choose scales to represent distance and time.

For example, the scales could be
X-axis : 1 cm = 5 minutes
Y-axis : 1 cm = 5 km
 Plotting the graph: Mark the value on the axes Plot the distance time graph of the three cars in
for time and distance according to the scales you the same graph sheet.
have chosen. According to the values noted, mark
the points on the graph sheet. Join the points Sol.
For uniform speed, the distance time graph is
always a straight line.
For variable speed, it could be of any shape.
Ex. Three cars A, B and C travel from Delhi to Agra.
The time taken and the distance covered are given
in the table below.

S. Time Distance
NO. taken in travelled in km
hours Car Car Car Greater the speed, steeper will be the graph
A B C
1 1 20 50 40
2 2 40 100 80
3 3 60 150 120
4 4 80 200 160
5 5 100 250 200
 EXERCISE # 1

Q.1 Selvi goes for a morning walk in the park

near her house. She starts from point 'A'
walks a circular path or radius 7 meter and
returns to same point 'A'.

(i) What is her displacement

(ii) Find the distance she has walked

Q.6 Which of the following are not correct?

(i) The basic unit of time is second.
(ii) Every object moves with a constant
speed.

Q.2 Classify the following as motion along a (iii) Distances between two cities are

straight line, circular or oscillatory motion: measured in kilometers.

(i) Motion of your hands while running. (iv) The time period of a given pendulum is
(ii) Motion of a horse pulling a cart on a not constant.
straight road. (v) The speed of a train is expressed in m/h.
(iii) Motion of a child in a merry-go-round.
(iv) Motion of a child on a see-saw. Q.7 The odometer of a car reads 57321.0 km
(v) Motion of the hammer of an electric bell. when the clock shows the time 08:30 AM.
(vi) Motion of a train on a straight bridge.
What is the distance moved by the car, if at
08:50 AM, the odometer reading has changed
Q.3 A simple pendulum takes 32 s to complete 20
to 57336.0 km? Calculate the speed of the car
oscillations. What is the time period of the
in km/min during this time. Express the speed
pendulum?
in km/h also.

Q.4 The distance between two stations is 240 km.

A train takes 4 hours to cover this distance. Q.8 Salma takes 15 minutes from her house to
Calculate the speed of the train. reach her school on a bicycle. If the bicycle
has a speed of 2 m/s, calculate the distance
between her house and the school.
Q.5 Mani and Shankar walk from their home to
the market in 20 minutes, Mani takes path 1
Q.9 Show the shape of the distance-time graph for
while Shankar takes path 2.
the motion in the following cases:
(i) What do you infer about their speeds ?
(i) A car moving with a constant speed.
(ii) Who has the greater velocity? Why ?
(ii) A car parked on a side road.
Q.10 Which of the following relations is correct? Q.14 Figure shows the distance-time graph for the
(i) Speed = Distance × Time motion of two vehicles A and B. Which one
of them is moving faster?
(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

Q.11 A car moves with a speed of 40 km/h for 15

Q.15 Which of the following distance-time graphs
minutes and then with a speed of 60 km/h for
shows a truck moving with speed which is not
the next 15 minutes. The total distance
constant?
covered by the car is:

(i) 100 km (ii) 25 km

(iii) 15 km (iv) 10 km

Q.12 Raju is travelling in a train moving at a speed

of 72 km/h. In order to stop the train, the
driver decreases the speed. The rate of
decrease in speed of the moving body is
known as deceleration.
If the declaration of the train is 10m/s 2, how
much time will it take to come to a stop? Q.16 The given graph depicts the motion of a bus.
Interpret the motion of the bus.

Q.13 Suppose the two photographs, shown in (a) AB represents ............

figure 1 and figure 2 had been taken at an interval (b) BC represents ............

of 50 seconds. If a distance of 100 metres is (c) CD represents ............

shown by 1 cm in these photographs, calculate

the speed of the blue car.
 EXERCISE # 2

Q.7 A particle is travelling with a constant speed.

This means-
Q.1 A boy whose position with respect to
(A) Its position remains constant as time
surrounding does not change, is said to be in a
passes
state of -
(B) It covers equal distance in equal interval
(A) Rest (B) Motion
of time
(C) Vibration (D) Oscillation
(C) Its acceleration is zero
(D) It does not change its direction of motion
Q.2 In case of a moving body-
(A) Displacement > Distance
Q.8 In 10 minutes, a car with speed of 60 kmh–1
(B) Displacement < Distance
travels a distance of
(C) Displacement  Distance
(A) 6 km (B) 600 km
(D) Displacement  Distance
(C) 10 km (D) 7km

Q.3 A distance is always -

Q.9 A car acceleration uniformaly from 18 km/h
(A) Shortest length between two points
to 36 km/h in 5s. The acceleration in ms–2 is-
(B) path covered by and object between two
(A) 1 (B) 2
points
(C) 3 (D) 4
(C) product of length and time
(D) none of these
Q.10 The brakes applied to a car produce a
negative acceleration of 6ms–2. If the car stops
Q.4 Which of the following is not characteristic of
after 2 seconds, the initial velocity of the car
displacement ?
is-
(A) It is always positive
(A) 6ms–1 (B) 12 ms–1
(B) It has both magnitude and direction
(C) 24 ms–1 (D) Zero
(C) It can be zero
(D) Its magnitude is less than or equal to the
Q.11 A body is moving with uniform velocity of
actual path length of the object
10 ms–1. The velocity of the body after 10 s
is-
Q.5 In five minutes distance between a pole and a
(A) 100 ms–1 (B) 50 ms–1
car changes progressively. What is true about –1
(C) 10 ms (D) 5 ms–1
the car ?
(A) Car is at rest
Q.12 In 12 minutes a car whose speed is 35 kmh –1
(B) Car is in motion
travels a distance of-
(C) Nothing can be said with this information
(A) 7 km (B) 3.5 km
(D) None of the above
(C) 14 km (D) 28 km

Q.6 A distance-
Q.13 A body is moving along a straight line at
(A) Is always positive
20 ms–1 undergoes an acceleration of 4ms–2.
(B) Is always negative
After 2 s. its speed will be-
(C) May be positive as well as negative
(A) 8 ms–1 (B) 12 ms–1
(D) Is neither positive nor negative –1
(C) 16 ms (D) 28 ms–1
Q.14 A car increases its speed from 36 km/h to
Q.17 The increase in the speed of a car is
54 km/h in 10s. Its acceleration is-
proportional to the additional petrol put into
(A) 30 ms–2 (B) 3 ms–2
–2 the engine. Is it possible to accelerate a car
(C) 18 ms (D) 0.5 ms–2
without putting more petrol or less petrol into
the engine ?
Q.15 The device used to measure speed of a
(A) Yet it is possible, if we add additional
vehicle is -
peterol
(A) Odometer (B) Speedometer
(B) Not possible, the statement is wrong
(C) Thermometer (D) Voltmeter
(C) May be possible if there is a leakage in
the car
Q.16 The duration of the day from the moment the
(D) Yes it is possible provided the car moves
sun is over head today to the moment the Sun
in circular path.
is overhead tomorrow is determined by-
(A) the rotation of Earth around the sun
(B) the revolution of Earth on its axis
(C) the inclination of the axis of rotation of
the Earth from its plane of revolution
(D) The rotation and revolution of Earth
around the sun.

ANSWER KEY

EXERCISE-2