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Home Minds On 1D Kinematics Mission KC8 Pos'n-Time and Vel-Time Data Help Help 3

Mission KC8 Pos'n-Time and Vel-Time Data

The Question

The position-time data sets below represent the motion of four objects. Which data sets depict an acceleration? List all that apply ... .

Physics Rules

Constant Velocity versus Accelerated Motion:
An object that has a constant velocity is moving with a constant speed in an unchanging direction. The distance traveled in each consecutive second is the same. An object that has an accelerated motion is changing its velocity. It could be speeding up, slowing down or changing direction. If the object is slowing down, then the amount of distance traveled in each second is decreasing. If the object is speeding up, it is covering a greater distance in each consecutive second.

Think About It

Data tell a story - in this case, a story about how the position of the object is changing at 1-second (or even 0.5-second) intervals. An object that is accelerating (while moving in a straight line) is changing its speed. It is NOT moving with a constant speed. A constant speed motion involves a change in position by the same amount every 1-second or every 0.5-seconds. If moving at a constant speed, the position would increase or decrease by a constant amount each second. On the other hand, an accelerated motion would be represented by a change in position that occurs by different amounts every 1 second or 0.5 seconds.

A Very Fine Detail

The questions in this mission include data tables. There are two types of data tables - position-time data and velocity-time data. For each question, give careful attention to which type of data table is being represented. Quite obviously the interpretation of the data is dependent upon what type of data is being displayed.

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