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tion.
Every time you drive a ar, you are using one-dimensional mo-
The point of a
ar is to move you along the road in time. This is x (t).
Your
ar has a speedometer. This tells how qui
kly the
ar is moving along the
road (usually in mph, but if we lived in Europe, you'd see kph!). This number
shows up as v in your equations.
A velo
ity is a bit dierent than speed be
ause it has to tell the dire
tion the
ar
is moving. Fun thing to think about: does your speedometer work when driving in
reverse? DO NOT try this on a busy street! In one dimension, we have v.
The a
elerator in
reases the speed of the
ar, and the brake (hopefully) de
reases
the speed of the
ar. Again for
onstant a
eleration this just shows up as a (or a
if the
ar is slowing down).
There are only three main equations you HAVE to know for 1-dimensional motion
with
onstant a
eleration. Two of them are dire
tly related to driving a
ar
1
x (t) = x0 + v0 t + at2
2
v (t) = v0 + at.
The third
omes from using algebra to eliminate t in the above equation, and leads
to
v 2 (t) = v02 + 2a (x (t) x0 ) .
Two other extremely important equations are the denitions of velo
ity and a
eleration:
v=
x
v
, a=
.
t
t
Near the surfa
e of the earth, all obje
ts experien
e the same `gravitational for
e'
pulling towards the earth. This is typi
ally written as g = 9.81m/s2 and points
towards the earth. This means the sign
an
hange, depending on whi
h way you
hoose to draw your axes for a problem! In fa
t, it is important to be able to gure
out the sign of the a
eleration based on the way the velo
ity is pointing. Try it
out in the gures below.
1
James Stankowi z
6A
Figure 1.
x
x
Trying to gure out whi
h way a
eleration points
Now let's try to apply these prin
iples to help James Bond make a mira
ulous
es
ape!
Agent Bond is standing on a bridge, h [meters above the road
below, and his pursuers are getting too
lose for
omfort. He spots a atbed tru
k
approa
hing at v [m/s, whi
h he measures by knowing that the telephone poles
the tru
k is passing are d [meters apart in this
ountry. The bed of the tru
k is
h [meters above the road, and Bond qui
kly
al
ulates how many poles away the
tru
k should be when he jumps down from the bridge onto the tru
k, making his
getaway. How many poles is it?
Problem 2.89:
Two Dimensions. It's all well and good to be able to solve problems in one
dimension, however we a
tually live in a three dimensional world, so we need to be
able to solve problems in higher dimension. We'll start with two whi
h will allow
us to introdu
e ve
tors.
Imagine trying to get to your friend's apartment. All he tells you is that you have
to walk 7 blo
ks. Terrible friend! What he should tell you is how far you should
walk to the north, then how far you should walk east. If your friend new physi
s
he
ould even tell you to walk
x = ___blo ks i + ___blo ks j.
James Stankowi z
6A
If you wanted to gure out how far away from your apartment you were, you
an
nd the magnitude of the ve
tor using the Pythagorean theorem, and you
an gure
out the angle with respe
t to east using trigonometry. Alternatively, if you have a
problem where you are given the magnitude of the ve
tor, and the angle, you
an
onvert to x and y
omponents! (We'll see that when we try to solve a problem.)
Whi
h of the following are ve
tors?
The speedometer reading on your
ar.
The temperature in the room.
The pilot telling you over the inter
om that you ying at 600 mi/hr NNE.
The Hammer Museum is 5 blo
ks south of UCLA.
The Hammer Museum is 5 blo
ks away from UCLA.
The dieren
e between a strike and a ball in baseball.
Running into the wrong end zone from the 50 yard line.
Now let's see if we
an't apply some of these ideas to help out a long-jumper!
A long jumper leaves the ground at 45 above the horizontal and
lands d [meters away. What is her "takeo" speed?
Problem 3.44.