Essential Physics: Sample Chapter 3
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Chapter Study Guide


Where are you? Where are you going? How fast? These are questions that are addressed quantitatively in physics using position, coordinates, displacement, speed, and velocity. An important distinction among some of these quantities is that some are scalars and some are vectors. In this chapter you will learn the equations of motion for displacement and velocity and use these to solve increasingly difficult problems—and how to tell from a graph whether an object is moving quickly or slowly.


By the end of this chapter you should be able to
distinguish between position and displacement and between speed and velocity;
solve multiple displacement problems in one and two dimensions;
write down the equations of motion for constant velocity;
solve one- and two-step problems using those equations;
draw, analyze, and interpret position–time and velocity–time graphs; and
describe motion in different frames of reference.


3A: Displacement
3B: Motion graphs


72Position and displacement
73Vectors and scalars
74Adding and subtracting displacements
753A: Displacement
76Two-dimensional coordinates
77Section 1 review
78Speed and velocity
79Setting up velocity, time, and position problems
80The language of physics: motion
81Calculating displacement, velocity, or time
82Position versus time graph
83Velocity versus time graph
84Average and instantaneous velocity
85Model for constant-velocity motion
863B: Motion graphs
87Motion in different frames of reference
88Section 2 review
89Solving motion problems
90Using more than one equation
91Getting to a solution
92Using consistent units
93Speed of light and special relativity
94Time in moving frames of reference
95Consequences of special relativity
96Simultaneity
97Section 3 review
98Chapter review
x f = x i +d
v= d t
v = Δx Δt or v = d Δt
v avg = Δx Δt = x f x i t f t i
x f = x i +vt
 
positionorigindisplacement
vectormagnitudescalar
coordinatesspeedvelocity
slopeaverage velocityinstantaneous velocity
reference frameinertial reference frame

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