PHYS 1421

Physics with Life Science

Applications 1
FW 2023
Professor Orchard
Monday September 11th 2023

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PHYS 1421 In-Lecture Announcements
Achieve Assignment #1 – A1 - Math Review – Due September 13th
2023, 11:59 pm.

Lab 1 – Data Analysis Using Logger Pro – remote asynchronous lab -

Due on Friday September 15th 2023, 11:59 pm.

This week’s Wednesday (Sep 13) office hours will be held from 1:30
to 3 pm.

In-Class Pop-up Activity #1 – Practice will be available until

tomorrow (Tuesday Sep 12).
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2 Linear Motion
This Photo by Unknown Author is
licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Recall on Friday we defined the variables we need to describe

motion of any object! (𝑥, 𝑥𝑜 , 𝑣, 𝑣𝑜 , 𝑎, 𝑡)

Using these defined variables, we are able to answer the following

questions:

• How fast (speed/velocity) is an object moving?

• How far (displacement) will an object move in a certain amount of time?
• How long (time interval) will it take an object to move a certain distance?

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2-3 Motion under Constant Acceleration
We learned these two equations describe the motion of any object
moving at constant acceleration.

Variable Definitions:
𝑣 − 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡
𝒗 = 𝒗𝒐 + 𝒂𝒕 𝑣𝑜 − 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝟏 𝟐 𝑥 − 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡
𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 = 𝒗𝒐 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕 𝑥𝑜 − 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝟐 𝑎 − 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡
𝑡 − 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙

We can use these two equations to solve problems since everything

we need to know about motion under constant acceleration is
described!
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2-3 Motion under Constant Acceleration
Let’s work through an in-class example where we will use both of
these equations to solve a problem.
𝒗 = 𝒗𝒐 + 𝒂𝒕
𝟏 𝟐
𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 = 𝒗𝒐 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕
𝟐

Practice Problem 2-8 (Kesten and Tauck, 2012, pg. 48):

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 2-3 Motion under Constant Acceleration
Let’s look at another example (Example 2-8 Hit the Wall, Kesten and Tauck,
2012, pr 47-48)

SET UP
Sketch and
Variable table
= 1.7 x 102 km/h

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 𝒗 = 𝒗𝒐 + 𝒂𝒕
Example 2-8 Hit the Wall, 𝟏
Kesten and Tauck, 2012, pr 47-48 𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 = 𝒗𝒐 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕𝟐
𝟐

We will use the two motion equations to find an expression for the
acceleration in terms of all our known variables in the table. (We
want to eliminate the time interval, t, as we don’t have a value for
this variable.)
Rearranging 𝒗 = 𝒗𝒐 + 𝒂𝒕 by isolating 𝒕:
SOLVE
𝒗 − 𝒗𝒐
𝒕=
𝒂
𝟏
Substitute this equation into 𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 = 𝒗𝒐 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕𝟐 to eliminate 𝒕:
𝟐

𝒗 − 𝒗𝒐 𝟏 𝒗 − 𝒗𝒐 𝟐
𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 = 𝒗𝒐 + 𝒂
𝒂 𝟐 𝒂
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Example 2-8 Hit the Wall,
Kesten and Tauck, 2012, pr 47-48

𝒗 − 𝒗𝒐 𝟏 𝒗 − 𝒗𝒐 𝟐
𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 = 𝒗𝒐 + 𝒂
𝒂 𝟐 𝒂

We can continue to simplify this equation and solve for acceleration, however, to make it
simpler, since we know the final velocity is 0 m/s, let’s substitute this value to get:

𝟐
𝟎 𝒎/𝒔 − 𝒗𝒐 𝟏 𝟎 𝒎/𝒔 − 𝒗𝒐
𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 = 𝒗𝒐 + 𝒂
𝒂 𝟐 𝒂

𝟐
−𝒗𝒐 𝟏 −𝒗𝒐
𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 = 𝒗𝒐 + 𝒂
𝒂 𝟐 𝒂

𝒗𝒐 𝟐 𝟏 𝒗𝒐 𝟐 𝟏 𝒗𝒐 𝟐
𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 = − + =−
𝒂 𝟐 𝒂 𝟐 𝒂
Expression for the acceleration in
terms of the given known variables!
𝟏 𝒗𝒐 𝟐
𝒂=−
𝟐 (𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 )
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Example 2-8 Hit the Wall,
Kesten and Tauck, 2012, pr 47-48

𝟏 𝒗 𝟐
Substitute the known variables into 𝒂 = − 𝟐 (𝒙−𝒙
𝒐
to find the acceleration of the car:
)𝒐

𝟏 (𝟒𝟖 𝒎/𝒔)𝟐
𝒂=− = −𝟏. 𝟕 × 𝟏𝟎𝟑 𝒎/𝒔𝟐
𝟐 𝟎. 𝟔𝟔 𝒎

David’s acceleration during the crash was: −𝟏. 𝟕 × 𝟏𝟎𝟑 𝒎/𝒔𝟐

REFLECT
Notice the acceleration value is negative. What does this tell us? This tells us the velocity
and the acceleration have opposite sign and the racecar slowed down! This is sometimes
referred to as deceleration.

Watch Out! Deceleration does not mean the acceleration is negative. An object is
decelerating (slowing down) when acceleration and velocity have opposite signs!
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2-4 Gravity at the Surface of Earth
A very important motion with constant acceleration is the motion of
objects near the surface of Earth.
• Ex. Rollercoasters at Canada’s Wonderland!

Let’s investigate objects that fall under the influence of Earth’s

gravitational force.
• We will neglect air resistance (the effect that air has in slowing down moving objects).
• This leads to ideal results and these results are great approximations to small speeds
of relatively short time intervals.

We can use the same equations we have developed for linear motion with
constant acceleration to describe the motion of vertically moving objects
near the Earth’s surface due to gravity!

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 2-4 Gravity at the Surface of Earth
We will define new variables to describe vertical linear motion.

𝑦𝑜 = 0 𝑚, 𝑣𝑜 = 0 𝑚/𝑠

Earth
Surface
Kesten & Tauck, 2012, pg 49
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 2-4 Gravity at the Surface of Earth

Recall: slope of 𝑣 𝑣𝑠 𝑡 plot is the

acceleration Kesten & Tauck, 2012, pg 50
Check for yourself, find the slope of
𝑎 = − 9.8 𝑚/𝑠 2 the 𝑣 𝑣𝑠 𝑡 graph using any two data
points in table 2-3 on previous slide.

Note: In this example BOTH the acceleration and velocity

have negative values indicating the velocity of the ball is
12 increasing as it falls towards the Earth’s surface.
2-4 Gravity at the Surface of Earth
We are going to define the constant acceleration due to
gravity near Earth’s surface using the physical constant, 𝑔.

𝑔 = 9.8 𝑚/𝑠 2
𝑦
Using the linear motion equations for constant acceleration,
the new variables (𝑦 and 𝑦𝑜 ) and 𝑎 = −𝑔 we can rewrite the Earth
Surface
equations to express vertical motion (ex. free fall) due to
gravity:
𝒗𝒙 = 𝒗𝒐𝒙 + 𝒂𝒕 𝒗𝒚 = 𝒗𝒐𝒚 − 𝒈𝒕
𝟏 𝟐 𝟏 𝟐
𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 = 𝒗𝒐𝒙 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕 𝒚 − 𝒚𝒐 = 𝒗𝒐𝒚 𝒕 − 𝒈𝒕
13 𝟐 𝟐
Summary
Linear motion (along a straight line) with constant Variable Definitions:
acceleration can be described using two equations: 𝑣 − 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡
𝑣𝑜 − 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝒗 = 𝒗𝒐 + 𝒂𝒕 𝑥 − 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡
𝑥𝑜 − 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝟏 𝟐 𝑎 − 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡
𝒙 − 𝒙𝒐 = 𝒗𝒐 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕 𝑡 − 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙
𝟐

The special case of motion under constant acceleration

due to gravity (vertical motion) can be described using:
Variable Definitions for vertical motion due to gravity:
𝑣𝑦 − 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡 𝑦
𝒗𝒚 = 𝒗𝒐𝒚 − 𝒈𝒕
𝑣𝑜𝑦 − 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝟏 𝟐 𝑦 − 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡 Earth
𝒚 − 𝒚𝒐 = 𝒗𝒐𝒚 𝒕 − 𝒈𝒕 𝑦𝑜 − 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 Surface
𝟐
𝑔 − 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑔 = 9.8 𝑚/𝑠 2
14 𝑡 − 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙