Pearson Science Double Award Physics 1: Forces and Motion
Pearson Science Double Award notes on motion graphs, resultant force, stopping distance, falling objects and elastic behaviour.
Mechanics links measurable motion to the forces that change it. This note follows the 4SD0 Double Award boundary: linear resultants, stopping distance, terminal velocity and elastic behaviour are included, while momentum, impulse and moments are separate-Physics additions and are not taught as required content here.
Describing motion
Distance is the total path length and is a scalar. Displacement includes direction and is a vector. Speed is the rate at which distance changes, while velocity is speed in a stated direction. Average speed is
On a distance-time graph, gradient represents speed. A horizontal line means stationary, a steeper line means faster motion and a changing gradient means changing speed. The graph cannot show a negative distance travelled. On a velocity-time graph, gradient represents acceleration and signed area between the graph and time axis represents displacement. An area below the axis is negative displacement because the object moves in the chosen negative direction.
Acceleration is change in velocity divided by time:
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