This page organizes the solved example problems from kinematics into several common categories. Most problems appear in more than one category. The entire list of kinematics problems is shown in the table of contents in the left navigation bar.
Problem Categories |
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One-Dimensional Motion
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Overdriving Headlights — How long can you drive at constant velocity before you have to hit the brakes, assuming standard night detection distances?
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Keys Please — Keys moving in 1D freefall with or without initial velocity.
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Training Flight — In this example we will calculate acceleration, time, speed, and distance assuming constant acceleration.
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Campus Tour — Basic problem to illustrate graphical representation of position and velocity.
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An Exercise in Continuity — An introduction to continuously piecing together kinematic solutions for time intervals with different accelerations.
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Fan-Powered Ice Boat — Graphing 1D motion with constant acceleration.
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Accelerate, Decelerate — Determining the relationships between position, velocity and acceleration from a position vs. time plot.
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Where Do We Meet? — Two people moving in one dimension with constant speed are destined to meet – but where?
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Speed Trap — Police car with constant acceleration must catch speeder with constant velocity.
Constant Velocity
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Overdriving Headlights — How long can you drive at constant velocity before you have to hit the brakes, assuming standard night detection distances?
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Campus Tour — Basic problem to illustrate graphical representation of position and velocity.
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Where Do We Meet? — Two people moving in one dimension with constant speed are destined to meet – but where?
Constant Acceleration
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Keys Please — Keys moving in 1D freefall with or without initial velocity.
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Training Flight — In this example we will calculate acceleration, time, speed, and distance assuming constant acceleration.
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Dwarf Mistletoe — Perhaps this parasitic plant should be called "Dwarf Missiletoe".
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Path Independence — An illustration of the path independence of gravitational work.
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An Exercise in Continuity — An introduction to continuously piecing together kinematic solutions for time intervals with different accelerations.
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Fan-Powered Ice Boat — Graphing 1D motion with constant acceleration.
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Throwing a Baseball 2 (Vectors) — How fast is the ball moving just before it impacts the ground?
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Speed Trap — Police car with constant acceleration must catch speeder with constant velocity.
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Throwing a Baseball 1 (The Basics) — How far will the ball travel horizontally from the instant it leaves your hand until the instant it first contacts the ground?
Catch-Up
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Where Do We Meet? — Two people moving in one dimension with constant speed are destined to meet – but where?
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Speed Trap — Police car with constant acceleration must catch speeder with constant velocity.
Freefall
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Fountain — Modern fountains are an excellent example of projectile motion.
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Keys Please — Keys moving in 1D freefall with or without initial velocity.
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Dwarf Mistletoe — Perhaps this parasitic plant should be called "Dwarf Missiletoe".
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Throwing a Baseball 2 (Vectors) — How fast is the ball moving just before it impacts the ground?
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Throwing a Baseball 1 (The Basics) — How far will the ball travel horizontally from the instant it leaves your hand until the instant it first contacts the ground?