CBSE

Class XI PHYSICS
Revision Notes
CHAPTER 3
MOTION IN A STRAIGHT LINE

1. Position, path length and displacement

2. Velocity and Speed
3. Acceleration and Relative velocity
4. Kinematic equations for uniformly accelerated motion

1. An object is said to be in motion if its position changes with time. The position of the object
can be specified with reference to a conveniently chosen origin. For motion in a straight line,
position to the right of the origin is taken as positive and to the left as negative.

2. Path length is defined as the total length of the path traversed by an object.

3. Displacement is the change in position: . Path length is greater or equal to

the magnitude of the displacement between the two points.

4. An object is said to be in uniform motion in a straight line if its displacement is equal

in equal intervals of time. Otherwise, the motion is said to be non-uniform.

5. Average velocity is the displacement divided by the time interval in which the
displacement occurs: . It is a vector quantity and its SI unit is m/s.
On an x-t graph, the average velocity over a time interval is the slope of the line connecting
the initial and final positions corresponding to that interval.

6. Average Speed is the ratio of total path length traversed and the corresponding time
interval. It is a scalar quantity and its SI unit is same (m/s) as that of velocity.
The average speed of an object may be greater or equal to the magnitude of the average
velocity over a given time interval.

7. Instantaneous velocity or simply velocity is defined as the limit of the average velocity as
the time interval Δt becomes infinitesimally small: . It is also a

vector quantity and its SI unit is m/s.

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The velocity at a particular instant is equal to the slope of the tangent drawn onposition-time
graph at that instant.

8. Average acceleration is the change in velocity divided by the time interval during which
the change occurs:

It is a scalar quantity and its SI unit is m/s2.

9. Instantaneous acceleration is defined as the limit of the average acceleration as the time
interval Δt goes to zero:

It is a vector quantity and its SI unit is m/s2.

The acceleration of an object at a particular time is the slope of the velocity-time graph at
that instant of time. For uniform motion, acceleration is zero and the x-t graph is a straight
line inclined to the time axis and the v-t graph is a straight line parallel to the time axis. For
motion with uniform acceleration, x-t graph is a parabola while the v-t graph is a straight
line inclined to the time axis.

10. The area under the velocity-time curve between times and is equal to the
displacement of the object during that interval of time.

11. For objects in uniformly accelerated rectilinear motion, the five quantities, displacement
x, time taken t, initial velocity v0, final velocity v and acceleration a are related by a setof

simple equations called kinematic equations of motion :

provided the position of the object at time t = 0 is 0.

If the particle starts at x = x0 , x in above equations is replaced by (x- ).

When a body moves in a circular path with Increasing angular velocity, it has two
linear accelerations.

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(i) Centripetal acceleration ac and tangential acceleration aT. Resultant acceleration of the

body is at an angle Beta given by

Where Beta is the angle between a and .

The minimum height through which a motor cyclist has to descend to a vertical loop
of radius r is h=
Circular Motion

Angular displacement : The angular displacement of an object moving around a

circular path is defined as the angle subtended by the radius vector at the centre of
the circular path in the given time.
Angular velocity : It is defined as the time rate of change of angular displacement
of the object = . Its S.I unit is rad/s.
Uniform circular motion: when a point object is moving on a circular path with a
constant speed ,then the motion of the object is said to be a uniform circular motion.
Centripetal acceleration: It is defined as the acceleration of an object undergoing
uniform circular motion .It always acts along the radius towards the centre of the

circular path. The magnitude of centripetal acceleration is, a = v2/r.

The rate of change of angular velocity is called its angular acceleration.

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 The acceleration which changes the magnitude of the velocity is called tangential
acceleration. It is given by ,where is the angular acceleration,

The direction of tangential acceleration is along the tangent to curved path.

velocity of projection at lowest point

velocity at the highest point H is

Tension at lowest point

For oscillation in vertical circle

For leaving the vertical circle somewhere between

Acceleration of a body down a rough inclined plane a =

When a person of mass m climbs up a rope with acceleration a, the tension in the
rope is t = m(g+a)

When the person climbs down the rope with acceleration a, tension in the rope is T= m(g-a)

Suppose two masses and are suspended vertically from a rigid support with
the help of strings as shown in Fig. When mass is pulled down with a force F, then
and

When the same system of two masses attached to a string passes over a frictionless

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 pulley at the edge of an inclined plane ,as shown in Fig.

Equation wil be…

During motion on level curved road, the necessary centripetal force is provided by
the force of friction between the tyres and the road. The maximum velocity with
which a vehicle can go round a level curve without Skidding is

To increase speed on turn, curved roads are usually baked outer edge of the
curved road is raised suitably above the inner edge. If 0 (theta) is the angle of banking
,then .

When frictional force is ignored ,the optimum speed is

While rounding a banked curved road ,maximum permissible speed is given by

when friction is taken into account.

When a cyclist takes a turn he bends a little inwards from his vertical position, while
turning. Angle of bending from vertical position is given by

Motion along a vertical circle is a non uniform circular motion. Tension in the string
at any position is where is the angle of string with vertical
line for looping with optimum speed:- (when tension at highest point is zero)

Impulse =

Any system is said to be in equilibrium if net force applied on the system is zero . In

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 this case system is either at rest or in uniform motion .
Friction is the opposing force that comes into play when one body is actually moving
over the surface of another body or one body is trying to move over the surface of the
other,

Two causes of friction are: roughness of surface in contact;(ancient view) and,

Force of adhesion between the molecules of the surfaces in contact.(Modern view)

Type of solid friction:-

1. Static friction. It comes into effect when object is at rest but external force is applied.
2. Dynamic friction .it comes into effect when object is in motion.
3. Rolling friction-it comes into effect when object is rolling.

Limiting friction is the maximum value of static friction, whereas dynamic/ Kinetic
friction is somewhat less than the force of limiting friction.
Coefficient of friction

When F= external force and R= normal reaction

Angle of friction is the angle which resultant of F and R makes with the direction
of R. The relation between
Angle of repose(a) is the minimum angle of inclination of a plane with the horizontal
,such that a body placed on the plane just begins to slide down.
Centripetal force is the force required to move a body uniformally in a circle.

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