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SPH3U--Introduction to Kinematics (Scalars and Vectors (Scalars are…
SPH3U
--Introduction to Kinematics
Introduction
Kinematics is describing the motions of objects using words, graphs, diagrams, and equations.
Scalars and Vectors
Scalars
are quantities that are fully described by a magnitude (numerical value) alone.
Vectors
are quantities fully described by both a magnitude and direction.
Distance and Displacement
Distance
is a scalar quantity that refers to how much ground an object has covered during its motion.
Displacement
is a vector quantity that describes the object's overall change in position.
If an object changes displacement multiple times, we can add all of them together as long as they are going in the same direction
for opposite directions (e.g. east and west), we can subtract
stays the same no matter how much the distance changes. For example, if one walks from point A through point B to end at point C, the displacement would be the same even if she went through points B, D, and E to get to C.
Speed and Velocity
Speed
is a scalar quantity that refers to how fast an object is moving.
Average Speed=Distance/Time
Instantaneous Speed VS Average Speed
Velocity
is a vector quantity that refers to how fast the object changes its position. It is the displacement over the change in time.
Average Velocity=Displacement/Time
Acceleration
Acceleration
is a vector quantity which refers to the rate at which the object changes its velocity.