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Q.Explain the term relative velocity with the help of position-time graph.

Jammu Kashmir JkboseJammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (Class 11) 2018Subjective· 5mImportance★★★★★
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Figure — The stem explicitly asks to explain relative velocity 'with the help of position-time graph', so a two-object
Figure — The stem explicitly asks to explain relative velocity 'with the help of position-time graph', so a two-object

On a position-time graph, each object's velocity is the slope of its own line; the relative velocity of B with respect to A is the slope of the line obtained by plotting the separation (x_B - x_A) against time, and it equals v_B - v_A.

Consider two objects A and B moving along the same straight line (the x-axis). Their positions at time t are x_A(t) and x_B(t), and their individual (instantaneous) velocities are the slopes of their own x-t graphs:

v_A = dx_A/dt, v_B = dx_B/dt

The relative velocity of B with respect to A, written v_BA, is defined as the rate at which B's position changes as measured by an observer moving WITH A, i.e. the rate of change of the separation (x_B - x_A):

v_BA = d(x_B - x_A)/dt = dx_B/dt - dx_A/dt = v_B - v_A

Reading this off a position-time graph: draw the x-t graphs of A and B on the same axes. At any instant, the vertical gap between the two graphs is the separation (x_B - x_A). The relative velocity v_BA is simply the slope of the curve you get by plotting this gap against time -- equivalently, it is the difference of the two individual slopes at that instant.

Special cases, easily read from the graph:

  • If both A and B move with uniform (constant) velocity, both x-t graphs are straight lines, and v_BA = v_B - v_A is itself constant -- the separation-vs-time graph is also a straight line. …

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