Speed vs Velocity
Two cars travel at 60 mph - one north, one south. What do they have in common and what's different?
Same speed, different velocities
You walk around a 400-meter circular track and return to your starting point. What's your displacement?
0 meters
On a distance-time graph, what does a horizontal line indicate?
The object is stopped
If an object has zero acceleration, what can you conclude about its motion?
The object is moving at constant velocity
A student analyzes a velocity-time graph showing a horizontal line at 5 m/s for 10 seconds. What's the object's displacement?
50 meters
A car's speedometer reads 50 mph going east, then 50 mph going west. What changed?
The car's velocity (direction changed)
Object 1 travels 100m north then 100m south. Object 2 travels 200m east. Which has greater displacement?
Object 2 (200m vs. 0m)
Object A's line is steeper than Object B's line on a distance-time graph. What does this mean?
Object A is moving faster than Object B
On a velocity-time graph, what does a line with positive slope represent?
Positive acceleration
An elevator moves up 3 floors (30m) in 15s, stops for 10s, then down 2 floors (20m) in 10s. What's the average speed for the entire trip?
1.43 m/s
You walk 200m north in 40 seconds, then 100m south in 20 seconds. What's your average speed?
5 m/s (total distance 300m ÷ total time 60s)
An elevator moves up 30m, stops, then down 20m. What's the total distance traveled?
50 meters
What type of motion would produce a curved line on a distance-time graph?
A bicycle speeding up while going downhill (changing speed)
A ball is thrown upward and falls back down. When does it experience negative acceleration?
Both going up and falling down (gravity always pulls downward)
What's the key difference between speed and velocity in terms of what they measure?
Speed measures how fast; velocity measures how fast AND in what direction
Two students measure the same moving object but get different speed calculations. What's the most likely reason?
They measured different time intervals or distances
What's the difference between distance and displacement in one sentence?
Distance is total path traveled; displacement is straight-line distance from start to finish
On a velocity-time graph, what does the area under the curve represent?
Distance traveled
A car accelerates from 20 m/s to 30 m/s in 5 seconds, then maintains 30 m/s for 10 seconds. What's the average acceleration for the entire 15 seconds?
0.67 m/s²
Two objects start at the same point. Object 1 goes 100m north then 100m south. Object 2 goes 200m east. Compare their distance and displacement.
Both travel 200m distance, but Object 1 has 0m displacement while Object 2 has 200m displacement
A runner starts from rest and reaches 6 m/s after 3 seconds. What's the runner's acceleration?
2 m/s² (change in velocity ÷ time)
A cyclist travels 150m in 30 seconds, then 300m in the next 30 seconds. What can you conclude about the motion?
The cyclist was accelerating (speed increased from 5 m/s to 10 m/s)
What graph feature shows an object returned to its starting position?
A line that returns to the x-axis on a distance-time graph
Why is a student wrong when they claim an object moving in a circle at constant speed has zero acceleration?
The object is changing direction (requires acceleration toward center)
Explain why gravity causes negative acceleration throughout a ball's entire flight when thrown upward.
Gravity always pulls downward, opposing upward motion and assisting downward motion