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CHAPTER 3 Multi-Dimensional Kinematics

Position Vector
In the multi-dimension, the position of an object can be given by the position vector
r xi y j zk

(3.1)

Vector and Acceleration


In multi-dimension, the displacement velocity and the acceleration can be given by
r xi y j zk

(3.2) (3.3) (3.4)

v vx i v y j vz k a a x i a y j az k

Projectile Motion
The projectile motion is one of the most common type of multi-dimensional motion, for general projectile motion, there is no acceleration in horizon (since we ignore the air resistance), and the vertical acceleration is the gravitational acceleration, hence the equations for general projectile motion become x x0 v0 x t (3.5) v x v0 x (3.6)
y y0 v0 y t 1 2 gt 2

(3.7) (3.8) (3.9)

v y v0 y gt
2 v2 y v0 y 2 g ( y y 0 )

And in the projectile motion there are some thing we need to know

(I)Y-Velocity When the Object Reach Ground


When the object touch the ground (we assume the object is on the ground initially), from Eq.(3.9), since no displacement, the magnitude of the velocity will be equal to the initial velocity, but the direction will be opposite.

(II)Total Times Traveled


Since wehave know that the Y-velocity when the object touch the ground will be equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the initial velocity, hence the total change in velocity during the trip is negative and twice as the initial velocity, hence the total time travel is given by the change of velocity over the

acceleration g

ttot

2v0 y g

(3.10)

And since at the maximum height, the velocity will be zero, hence the change of velocity is negative of the initial velocity, thus, the time needed for the object to reach its maximum height is

v0 y g

(3.11)

Since the change of velocity is half of the total trip, the time traveled is also the half of it.

(III)Maximum Horizontal Distance


The horizontal distance of a projectile motion can be given by Eq.(3.5), now substitute the time by Eq.(3.10) , we have

x x0

2 v0 x v0 y g

Where the initial x-velocity and y-velocity can be expressed as v0 x v0 cos v y v sin
0 0

Substitute them into, then we have

v02 sin 2 x x0 g
We can see that the distance is determined by the angle between the initial velocity and the horizontal, and has the maximum value at 45o

v02 g

(3.12)

(IV)Trajectory of the Projectile Motion


In the projectile motion, the trajectory of it is a open-down parabola, and this can be shown mathematically, the t can be given by Eq.(3.5)

x x0 v0 x

Now, substitute it into Eq.(3.7) and setting x0 to be zero, the equation can be reduced to the form

y y0

v0 y v0 x

1 g 2 x 2 v02x

Which has the form

y Ax 2 Bx
Just the equation of open-down parabola.

Circular Motion
Circular motion is another case of multi-dimensional motions, circular motion is the motion that the object moves in a circle, can be classified into two kinds, uniform and non-uniform, in former, the object move with the same speed but the direction will change, in latter, neither the speed nor the direction is constant.

(I)Uniform Circular Motion

Figure 3.1 As shown above, v i , v f and


approaches to zero, the

v form a similar triangle to the triangle form by ri , rf and

r , as
v,

r will be equal to the arc length corresponded to , similarly for


v vi v f v

hence, we have From the definition of acceleration, we have


a lim
t 0

v v r v s v lim lim lim t 0 t t r t 0 t r t 0 t


very small, hence

Where the arc length will approaches the displacement since


lim
t 0

s v t

And since

very small, v i and v f

almost parallel to each other, hence the direction of

v will be

point to the centered of the circle, finally, the acceleration can be given by

v2 (r) r

(3.13)

Also, we can give the formula mathematically by setting


r rr r cos i r sin j

The velocity can be given by the derivative of position vector

d r d r d d d r sin i r cos j v sin i v cos j dt d dt dt dt

And the acceleration is the derivative of velocity

d v d v d d v ds v( cos i sin j ) ( cos i sin j ) dt d dt dt r dt

Finally the acceleration can be given by Eq.(3.13).


a v2 (r ) r 2 r v

and the period of one cycle is given by the total path length in one cycle over the speed.
T

(3.14)

(II)Non-Uniform Circular Motion


In non-uniform circular motion, not only the speed but also the direction of the velocity will change, the acceleration can be given by the same setting
r rr r cos i r sin j

similarly, the velocity can be given by


v v sin i v cos j

Here, the speed is also a function, the the derivative should be

d v d v d dv d [( )( sin i cos j ) v( cos i sin j )] dt d dt d dt

Which can be reduced to


a v2 dv ( cos i sin j ) ( sin i cos j ) r dt v2 dv ( r ) ( ) r dt

Where the direction of the second term is the direction of velocity, hence, the acceleration is given by
a

(3.15)

Relative Motion
A man walk with velocity 1 m/s on a moving train with velocity 20 m/s, what is the velocity of the man relative to the ground? The mans velocity 1 m/s is relative to the train, denoted by vmt ,the velocity of the train is relative to the ground, denoted by vtg , the velocity of the man relative to the ground can be given by vac vab vbc (3.16) hence, the velocity of the man relative to the ground will be 21 m/s.

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