point mass freefall position time function

You drive a beat-up pickup truck down a straight road for 5.2 mi at 43 mi/h,at which point you run out of fuel. This is nicely illustrated in sample problem 2-1and 2-2. It is clear fromthe definition of the average velocity that depends only on the position of the object at time t = t 1 and attime t = t 2. Anobject moving to the left has a negative average velocity. If the object moves to the right, the average velocity is positive. The averagevelocity of an object during a specified time interval is defined as: t graphs for various creatures.Īn object that changes its position has a non-zero velocity. tgraph corresponds to a higher velocity.įigure 2.3. It is clear that a steeper slope of the curve in the x vs. The cheetah covers 300 meter in 10 s, the human in 30 s, and the pigrequires 60 s. A similarconclusion is obtained when we consider the time required to cover a fixeddistance. Obviously, the cheetah has the highest velocity. After 10 seconds, thecheetah has covered a distance of 310 meter, the human 100 meter, and the pig50 meter. The slope of the curve in the position versus time graph depends on thevelocity of the object. shows the position as a function of time for anobject at rest, and for objects moving to the left and to the right.

The position of the object will in general be a functionof time: x(t). For example, the position of the object at time t = 0 is oftenchosen as the origin. t graphs for various velocities.įor a given problem, the origin can be chosen at whatever point isconvenient. Note: theposition is fully specified by 1 coordinate (that is why this a 1 dimensionalproblem).įigure 2.2. The position of an object along a straight line can be uniquely identified byits distance from a (user chosen) origin. In mechanics we are interested in trying to understand the motion of objects.In this chapter, the motion of objects in 1 dimension will be discussed.Motion in 1 dimension is motion along a straight line.

Point mass freefall position time function