Objects Around Us: An Introduction
An object is in motion with reference to a point of origin. Every object in this universe is undergoing some kind of motion, it may be slow or fast but always going on. The basic particle that is the atom is also in a state of continuous motion. Any change observed in an object by comparing its current position to its original position with respect to a time frame is known as the motion of that object. For example, in a moving bus, the passengers are at rest and the bus is in motion, also the passengers can observe any person standing outside as not moving at all.
Moving Things
The movement of an object from one position to another with respect to a time frame is called motion. When movement happens along a straight line, it's called rectilinear motion. Moving of things, objects, living or nonliving things happen when there is a change in location or position, so whatever is in motion is moving around us whereas objects not moving are said to be at rest. A plane flying overhead, a boy kicking a ball, the blades of a fan and a person riding a bicycle are all examples of moving objects.
Types of Motion Examples
A book being moved, the air we breathe and our universe in constant motion all are examples of motion. An object which is moving fast and covers a longer distance compared to an object which is moving slowly in the same duration of time taken by both objects. Fast and slow motion is defined as the speed of an object, an object in fast motion covers a larger distance in a relatively lesser amount of time than an object moving in slow motion.
It's categorised by how some objects move in a different manner than the rest, according to the nature of the movement, and motion is broadly of three types:
Linear Motion: The particles or objects move from one point to another either in a straight line or follow a curved path, so it's dependent on the path; it's further sub-categorised as:
(i) Rectilinear Motion - The path is always a straight line.
Rectilinear Motion
(ii) Curvilinear motion - The path is curved.
Curvilinear Motion
Rotatory Motion: This type of motion occurs when a body rotates on its axis. For example, the movement of the earth on its own axis around the Sun causes the days and nights. It's a revolution which causes the change of seasons. The movement of wheels of a car moves on their own axis.
Rotatory Motion
Oscillatory Motion: It is a motion of an object about its mean position. An example is a child on a swing, the swing moves to and fro about its mean position. The pendulum of a clock has an oscillatory motion about its mean position. Another type of oscillatory motion is simple harmonic motion where a particle moves along a straight line with a defined acceleration and moves toward a fixed point on that line so that the magnitude is proportional to the distance from that point.
Oscillatory Motion
Another kind of motion is periodic motion which gets repeated after a certain period of time. Circular motion is the movement of an object in a circulatory path, it can be uniform and with constant speed and non-uniform with a changing rate of rotation. For example, merry-go-rounds in fairs, gears in a turbine and cars movement on a circular path.
Circular Motion
Example of Object in Motion
There are certain factors that affect the motion in things around us. For example, if we consider a car in motion, then its velocity, friction and mass will have an effect on the motion of the car. We exhibit motion on a daily basis in our daily activities like walking, running, breathing as air is moving in and out of our lungs, eating food, writing, the motion of an automobile, the vibration of a string on a guitar, an athlete running on a track; all these are various examples of motion.
Interesting Facts
Motion is a phenomenon occurring subconsciously and involuntarily like the air we breathe is motion, the blood in our veins is motion, the earth is in constant motion and the universe is moving at a consistent pace all the time.
An object can be forever in an oscillatory motion in the absence of any type of friction but in reality, it's not possible as the object has to settle in some kind of equilibrium.
Key Features of Moving Things Around Us
Moving things also depend on a variable called position, if the object's position changes, for example, a passenger moves towards the rear end of a bus, and his position changes, this change in position is known as displacement.
A moving thing is only said to be moving if there is a change in its position and is in a definite direction.
The objects which do not change their position are said to be at rest and if any object around us moves with respect to a time frame it's said to be in motion.
FAQs on Moving Things Around Us
1. Is the Milky Way our galaxy in a state of movement?
Our galaxy belongs to a cluster of other galaxies, the milky way or Akash Ganga as it's called commonly is continuously moving in the vastness of the humongous intergalactic space. The cluster of other galaxies which is called the Local Group we are moving towards is situated in our own galaxy at a very slow 130 miles per second. The Milky way moves due to the gravitational attraction of all overdense matter regions.
2. How can you define a slow and a fast motion?
A body is moving and its movement can be slow or fast. This can be determined by taking into account the relative velocity of both objects with respect to each other. If we take an example of a train and a moving car both going in a specific direction, the car driver can surmise the train is moving faster than his car whereas the passenger in the train can see the car is moving slowly. Both are moving but the train is moving faster in comparison to the car as we compare their velocities.
3. What are uniform and non-uniform motions?
When an object moves an equal distance in an equal interval of time, this is called uniform motion. For example, the motion of our earth around the Sun. When an object moves an unequal distance in an equal interval of time, it is said to be a non-uniform motion. For example, a bouncing ball or galloping horse exhibits non-uniform motion. Both uniform and non-uniform motions are irresponsible of time duration.
