Distance/Position vs. Time

Experiment Question:

Vocabulary:

• Reference Point: A place or object used for comparison to determine if something is in motion.  The reference point explains the position of the object.
• Position:  The location of an object compared to the reference point

Part 1: Constant Speed

Data Table/Results: (constant speed)

The edge of the chair is the reference point for this experiment.

Qualitative Information:

• Straight Line
• Constant Slope
• Linear Graph
• As distance increases, so does the time
• Positive slope
• From dot to dot, the line is equal distance

Part 2: Speeding Up

Data/Results: (speeding up)

 The top of the front of the bucket is the reference point of the experiment.

Qualitative Information:

• Positive slope

• Non-linear graph (not a straight line)
• Inconstant slope
• Slope is increasing (the line gets steeper)
• The distance between two dots decrease as time increases

Part 3: Slowing Down

Data/Results: (slowing down)

The reference point is where the board meets the ground.

Qualitative Information:

• The slope is positive
• As the time increases, the distances between dots increase
• Slope is decreasing (line is flattening)
• Non-linear graph (curved graph)

Part 4: Analyzing Distance Vs. Time graph

Distance Range	Is the car speeding up, slowing down, or moving at a constant speed?	Did the slope increase, decrease, or stay the same?
0 to 5 min	Speeding up	Increase
5 to 10 min	Constant speed	Stays the same
10 to 15 min	Speeding up	Increase
15 to 20 min	Slowing down	Decrease
20 to 25 min	Speeding up	Increase
25 to 30 min	Slowing down	Decrease

 

 

 

Part 5: Summary

 

Summary

The experiments we performed over the course of a few days were ones where an object was put through a series of tests where it either slowed down, sped up, or remained at a constant speed over the course of 3-4 meters (depending on the test).  Based on these three experiments we conducted, the following conclusions can be made.  On a line graph the speed of an object is displayed through a slope which changes based on the changing distance over a certain amount of time.  Since the slope is the change in "y" over the change in "x", when the speed increases or decreases, so does the slope.  When the object speeds up, the slope increases, meaning that the line is steeper than before.  However, if the object being tested slows down then the slope decreases, and the line is flatter than it previously was. If the speed is constant throughout the entire experiment then the slope remains the same, and the graph is classified as linear because the data forms a straight line.