AP Practice

Kinematics

Kinematics is the part of physics that talks about how things move. In AP Physics 1, it’s one of the first topics we learn, and it helps us understand motion without worrying about what causes it. Basically, kinematics is all about describing motion using terms like position, velocity, and acceleration. Displacement is how far something has moved from where it started, and it includes direction. Velocity is the speed of something but with direction, and acceleration is how fast the velocity changes. These are all vector quantities, which means they have both size and direction. We use certain formulas in kinematics, but only when the acceleration is constant.

These formulas can help us figure out things like how far something has traveled, how fast it's going, or how long it takes to get somewhere. One example is the equation: v = v₀ + at, which tells us the final velocity if we know the initial velocity, acceleration, and time.

Graphing is also important in kinematics. A position vs. time graph shows us how far an object has gone, and the slope tells us the velocity. A velocity vs. time graph shows us acceleration, and the area under the graph tells us how far the object has moved. One special case in kinematics is free fall, which is when something is falling and the only force acting on it is gravity. On Earth, the acceleration due to gravity is about 9.8 m/s² downward. Overall, kinematics is super important in physics because it helps us understand how objects move. Once we get this down, we can move on to bigger ideas like forces and Newton’s Laws.