MathematicsCode 9709
Kinematics of motion in a straight line
What this topic asks you to be able to do
- understand what distance and speed mean as scalar quantities, together with displacement, velocity and acceleration, which are vector quantities
- sketch and interpret displacement–time and velocity–time graphs, knowing in particular that a displacement–time graph's gradient gives velocity, a velocity–time graph's gradient gives acceleration, and the area beneath a velocity–time graph gives displacement
- apply calculus to simple problems about displacement, velocity and acceleration, differentiating and integrating with respect to time as needed
- apply suitable formulae for straight-line motion with constant acceleration