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Describing and Measuring Motion (Describing Motion (Measuring Distance…
Describing and Measuring Motion
Describing Motion
Reference Points
An Object is in motion if it changes position relative to a reference point
A
reference point
is a place or object used for comparison to determine if something is in motion
Stationary objects (Objects that can stay still) are good reference points
An object is in
motion
if its distance from another object is changing
Relative Motion
Measuring Distance
International System of Units
is what all scientists use so they can communicate clearly
The SI unit of length is the
meter
The length of an object smaller than a meter often is measured in a unit called the centimeter
There are 100 centimeters in a meter
Calculating Speed
If you know the distance of an object travels in a certain amount of time, you can calculate the speed of an object
The Speed Equation
To calculate the speed of an object, divide the distance of the object travels by the amount of time it takes to travel that distance.
Speed= Distance/Time
Average speed
To calculate the
Average Speed
divide the total distance traveled by the total time
Instantaneous Speed
Instantaneous speed
is the rate at which an object is moving at a given instant time
Describing Velocity
When you know both the speed and direction of an object's motion, you know the velocity of the object
Speed in a given direction is called
Velocity
Graphing Motion
You can show the motion of an object on a line graph in which you plot distance versus time
The steepness of a line is called a
slope
The slope tells you how fast one variable changes in relation to the other variable in the graph
The steeper the slope, the greater the speed
Calculation Slope
You can calculate the slope of a line by dividing the rise by the run
Slope= Rise/Run
Different Slopes
Most moving objects don't travel at a constant speed.