Speed
Distance & Displacement
Distance time graph
Concept Check
100

A runner covers 100 m in 20 s. What is their speed?

50 m/s

100

Maria walks 200 m to the park, then 200 m home. What is her displacement?

0, no displacement 

100

A distance–time graph shows a straight line sloping upward. Is the object moving at a constant speed, accelerating, or stopped?

Constant speed

100

Which has direction: speed or velocity?

Velocity = Speed + Direction 

200

A car drives 300 km in 5 hours. What is its speed?

70 km/h

200

A student walks 10 m forward and then 10 m back. Why is their distance different from their displacement?

Distance is the total length of a path traveled.

Displacement is a straight line distance and direction from start to end   

200

On a position–time graph, a flat (horizontal) line means what?

The object is at rest.

200

Which unit is correct for speed: m/s, kg, or liters?

m/s

300

A cyclist rides 1,200 m in 200 s. What is their speed in m/s?

6 m/s

300

Jacob walks 80 m east, then 30 m west. What is his displacement?

50 m east

300

Two students’ position–time graphs are shown. Student A’s line is steeper than Student B’s. Who is moving faster?

Student A

300

What is the formula for speed?

Speed = Distance/Time

400

A cheetah runs 500 m in 20 seconds. What is its speed?

25 m/s

400

A runner goes 400 m around a track and ends at the start. What is their displacement?

0 displacement, start and end points are the same.

400

A speed–time graph shows a line sloping downward. What does that mean about the object’s motion?

The object is returning to its starting point 

400

Can an object have a speed of 0 but still have a displacement that is not 0? Explain.

yes, an object can have speed = 0 while still having a nonzero displacement.

500

A plane flies 720 km in 8 hours. What is its speed in km/h?

90 km/h

500

A student walks 10 m north, then 30m south. What is their distance? What is their displacement?

Distance = 40m

Displacement = 20m south

500

A car drives 3 km east, then 4 km west. What is the total distance? What is the displacement?

Distance = 7 km Displacement = 1 km west

500

On a position–time graph, an object moves away from the start for 5 seconds, stops for 5 seconds, then returns back to the start in the next 5 seconds. Sketch what this graph would look like.

NA

M
e
n
u