Linear Motion

Syllabus tag: KCSE | Physics | Form 3 | Topic 21 Linear Motion

Lesson objectives

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

• Distinguish distance from displacement and speed from velocity.
• Define acceleration and interpret motion graphs.
• Apply the equations of uniformly accelerated motion.
• Describe motion under gravity and the use of the ticker-timer.

Summary

Distance and speed are scalars; displacement, velocity and acceleration are vectors. Uniformly accelerated motion is described by three equations, of which v = u + at is the first. On a velocity-time graph the gradient is acceleration and the area is distance. Bodies falling freely accelerate at g ≈ 10 m/s².