Matters relating to length and duration in physics and transportation
A clock provides a linear reference to measure duration of motion. Similarly, there is a linear reference to measure length of movement. What is this linear reference? In mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) a linear referencing system (LRS) “is a method of spatial referencing, in which the locations of features are described in terms of […]
Previous posts deal with terms for motion, such as here. Further thoughts are below. When someone asks about the length of a trip, they are not asking for the distance between the origin and destination of the trip – that is the magnitude of the displacement. They are asking about the length of the route
Tempo in a piece of music is often stated with conventional Italian terms (recall that the Renaissance began in Italy). Since the invention of the metronome, tempo is also given in beats per minute (bpm). However, a slow tempo is one in which a beat takes more time, and a fast tempo is one in
The various ways of measuring space and time are parallel. Measuring space: A ruler measures length, that is, the distance between two points (A to B). An ruler turned upside-down measures length backwards (B to A). A tripmeter measures the travel distance of a vehicle trip. An odometer measures the cumulative travel distance. A measuring
Say you’re standing near the bottom of a hill and see a small rock rolling down. How should the motion of the rock be interpreted? It could be that the rock happened to brake loose and roll down the hill. Or it could be that someone took the rock and rolled it down the hill.
This post continues the topic posted here. The action motion of a particle or rigid body may be measured by the scalar (or 1D) rate of motion, expressed as a speed or a pace. The numerator of a speed is the measured length or travel distance, and the denominator is the unit of time or
The English words motion and movement are similar. They both have to do with “changing position or going from one place to another.” (Collins English Dictionary) Then what’s the difference? Here are a few ways of putting it: motion is used to describe physical properties, while movement is used to describe the qualities of motion. Ref.
For kinematics and dynamics, one can begin with a body – something that takes space – and apply a motion to it. Or one can begin with a motion – something that takes time – and apply it to a body. In either case the result is a body and a motion – either a
Space and time are dual concepts. They are complementary to one another as an inverse binary symmetry. They go together as space with time in classical physics or time with space or spacetime as in relativistic physics. Parallel terms: Space Time 3D space +reference time 3D time + reference length vector space + scalar time
In 3D space the distance between points is the magnitude of the displacement vector, which is a path length. In 3D time the duration between instants (time points) is the magnitude of the dischronment vector, which is a path time. Radial space is space with radial coordinates, 2D polar or 3D spherical, in which the
