Understanding Motion through Distance-Time Graphs, Study notes of Physics

Download Understanding Motion through Distance-Time Graphs and more Study notes Physics in PDF only on Docsity! Distance-time Graphs Describing the motion of an object is occasionally hard to do with words. Sometimes graphs help make motion easier to picture, and therefore understand. Remember: • Motion is a change in position measured by distance and time. • Speed tells us the rate at which an object moves. • Velocity tells the speed and direction of a moving object. Name: _______________________________ Summary: A distance-time graph tells us how far an object has moved with time. • The steeper the line, the faster the motion. • A horizontal line (ßà) means the object is not changing its position - it is not moving, it is at rest. We can also use the graph to determine the speed of an object. 1. The amount the graph goes up represents the distance traveled (20 meters). 2. The amount the graph goes over represents the time (2 seconds). 3. We can then calculate speed by dividing 20 meters by 2 seconds to get 10 m/s. Goes up 20 meters Goes over 2 seconds