1. Describing Motion Motion occurs as an object changes position.
Distance is how far an object travels.
The SI unit of distance and displacement is the meter (m).
Displacement is the difference in the starting position and the final position…if a runner runs a circular track and runs a distance of 400 m, if he ends up where he started, his displacement is 0.

2. Speed and Velocity Speed is how ‘fast’ an object moves.
Speed= distance/time or s=d/t
Velocity is similar, except it involves a direction.
Velocity is displacement/time v=disp./time
Average speed is the speed over a range of time, while instantaneous speed is the speed at any one point in time.

3. Graphing Motion
When graphing displacement place the position in the Y axis and the time in the x axis…slope of the graph-line is an important concept.

4. Graphing Position …place position in the Y axis and time in the x axis
Position of a Runner –v- Time
Remember slope = Rise/Run or position, in m, over time , in s.
In this case slope = m/s or velocity. Always look at the y axis, or rise, over run, the x axis, to determine what the slope of the line tells you!

5. Graphing Velocity –v- Time
When graphing velocity –v- Time, put velocity on the y axis and the time on the x axis.
This gives rise/run as m/s over s which means the slope is equal to acceleration.

6. Acceleration
Acceleration and how it looks on a graph.