Summary
Highlights
Mr. P reminds us of the four UAM equations and states the goal is to understand what constant acceleration means. Billy provides the acceleration equation (change in velocity over change in time), and Bo confirms the SI units are meters per second squared. Mr. P clarifies that meters per second squared means 'meters per second every second' for better understanding.
To illustrate, an example of a basketball accelerating down an incline is used. For simplicity, the acceleration is assumed to be 2 meters per second every second, even though the actual value is different. The initial velocity of the ball is 0 m/s.
Ignoring UAM equations temporarily, the velocity after one second is 2 m/s (0 + 2). After two seconds, it's 4 m/s (2 + 2). After three, four, and five seconds, the velocities are 6, 8, and 10 m/s respectively, demonstrating that velocity changes by 2 m/s each second due to the constant acceleration.
A table is created for time and velocity. To find the positions, the UAM equation for displacement (displacement = initial velocity * time + 0.5 * acceleration * time squared) is used. With initial velocity as zero and acceleration as two, the displacement simplifies to time squared. The positions are calculated as 1m, 4m, 9m, 16m, and 25m at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 seconds, respectively.
A second example is presented where the initial velocity is -10 m/s (10 m/s to the left) and the acceleration is still +2 m/s every second. After one second, the velocity becomes -8 m/s (-10 + 2). Continuing this, the velocities become -6, -4, -2, and 0 m/s for the subsequent seconds. The positions are also calculated and can be found in the lecture notes.
The video concludes by reiterating that this explanation helps in better understanding Uniformly Accelerated Motion, emphasizing the consistent change in velocity per unit of time.