Describing Motion with Diagrams
Describing Motion with Diagrams
• Ticker Tape Diagrams
Ticker Tape Diagrams
The distance between dots represents the
object’s change in position during that time
interval
Ticker Tape Diagram
A changing distance between dots indicates a
changing velocity – acceleration
Graphing Motion
Graphing Motion
ZERO MOTION
The object is at rest
Position-time graph (x vs t) position of an
object remains constant over time
Velocity-time graph (v vs t) object is not
moving, it has 0 velocity
Acceleration-time graph (a vs t) If the object’s
velocity is not changing, its acceleration is 0
Sketch above graphs
Graphing Motion
Uniform Motion – Constant Velocity
x vs t graph as time increases so does
the position
*slope of a x vs t graph = velocity
v vs t graph velocity remains constant
over time *this should reflect the value
of the slope of the x vs t graph
a vs t graph velocity is not changing,
acceleration is 0
*slope of a v vs t graph is acceleration
Graphing Motion
Uniform Accelerated Motion
x vs t graph – position is increasing
exponentially with time (acceleration)
v vs t graph – velocity is increasing with
time (acceleration)
a vs t graph – acceleration is constant.
• The value of a is equal to the slope of
the v vs t graph
• Acceleration will always be a horizontal
line
Position time graph
Tangent
Lines
x
t
On a position vs. time graph:
SLOPE
VELOCITY
SLOPE
SPEED
Positive
Positive
Steep
Fast
Negative
Negative
Gentle
Slow
Zero
Zero
Flat
Zero
Position time graph
x
Increasing &
Decreasing
t
Increasing
Decreasing
On a position vs. time graph:
Increasing means moving forward (positive direction).
Decreasing means moving backwards (negative direction).
Position time graph
x
Concavity
t
On a position vs. time graph:
Concave up means positive acceleration.
Concave down means negative acceleration.
Describe the motion
• This object is moving in the positive
direction and accelerating in the
positive direction (speeding up).
• This object is moving in the negative
direction and accelerating in the
negative direction (speeding up).
• This object is moving in the negative
direction and accelerating in the
positive direction (slowing down).
Try this
Area under a v vs t graph
The area of a v vs t graph is displacement