Table of Contents
What is Uniform Motion?
An object is said to be in uniform motion if it covers equal distances in equal intervals of time, however small these time intervals may be, in the same fixed direction. So, if an object in uniform motion covers 1200 m in 1 minute in a given direction, it indicates that it covers 600 m in every 30 s, 300 m in every 15 s, 100 m in every 5 s, and so on.
Some Important Features of Uniform Motion:
(i) The velocity in uniform motion does not depend on the choice of origin.
(ii) The velocity in uniform motion does not depend on the choice of the time interval (t2 – t1).
(iii) For uniform motion along a straight line in the same direction, the magnitude of the displacement is equal to the actual distance covered by the object.
(iv) The velocity is positive if the object is moving towards the right of the origin and negative if the object is moving towards the left of the origin.
(v) For an object in uniform motion, no force is required to maintain its motion.
(vi) In uniform motion, the instantaneous velocity is equal to the average velocity at all times because velocity remains constant at each instant or at each point of the path.
Non-uniform motion
A body is said to be in non-uniform motion if its velocity changes with time. Here either the speed of the body or its direction of motion or both change with time. For example, when a vehicle starts moving from rest, its velocity increases for some time, then its velocity may become constant for some time and finally slow down and come to rest again. The velocity of the vehicle is different at different instants and so it has non-uniform motion.