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Describing and Measuring Motion-Summer (Graphing Motion (Calculating Slope…
Describing and Measuring Motion-Summer
Describing Motion
Reference Points
A reference point is a place or object used for comparison to determine if something is in motion.
An object is in motion if it changes position relative to a reference point
Stationary objects are reference points that are not in motion
If it seems like you are moving backwards, your reference point is in motion
Relative Motion
Measuring Distance
Scientists use the same system of measurement - International System of Units (SI)
The SI unit of length is the meter (m)
The units of measurement are the meter, the centimeter, the millimeter, and the kilometer
Calculating Speed
The Speed Equation
Speed = Distance/Time
If you measure distance in meters and time in seconds, you express speed in meters per second or m/s
Average Speed
The speed of most moving objects is not constant
To calculate average speed divide the total distance traveled by the total time
TOTAL
distance divided by
TOTAL
time
Instantaneous Speed
Instantaneous speed is the rate at which an object is moving at a given instant in time
If you know the distance an object travels in a certain amount of time, you can calculate the speed of the object
Describing Velocity
To describe an object's motion completely you need to know the direction it is going in
When you know both the speed and the direction of an object's motion, you know the velocity of the object
Speed in a given direction is called velocity
velocity is very important to some people, such as air traffic controllers and airplane pilots
Graphing Motion
Calculating Slope
Slope = rise/run
The rise is the vertical difference between any two points on the line. The run is the horizontal difference between the same two points
Different Slopes
Most moving objects do not travel at a constant speed.
There can be many different segments on a line with different slopes
You can show the motion of an object on a line graph in which you plot distance versus time
The steepness of a line on a graph is called a slope. the slope tells you the rate of change.
A constant slope represents motion at a constant speed