1. Physics 3.2 - Motion Graphs

2. What’s the speed?
Do you think the distance each object travelled allowed you to collect valid results for the object's speed?
How can your reaction times affect the results obtained?
What is the difference between average speed and instantaneous speed?

3. Think about your journey to school today.
Did you travel at the same speed for the whole of your journey?

4. Lesson Outcomes By the end of this lesson I will be able to:
interpret distance–time graphs
calculate speed using a distance–time graph.
I will be working scientifically to:
present data in a motion–time graph.

5. Comparing Speeds
Here is a list of some typical speeds for various activities.
Walking m/s
running slowly 4 m/s
riding a bike 10 m/s
riding a horse 24 m/s
For each activity, calculate how long it will take to travel 10 m.
You must show your workings.

6. Using Distance-Time graphs
A journey can be represented using a distance–time graph.
You are going to draw a distance–time graph for the Tour de France, a migrating bird, or the Iditarod trail sled dog race.
Use your distance–time graph to calculate the speeds travelled by the moving body at two different sections of your graph.
Download the worksheet from here: - file name Motion Graph Task.

7. Using Distance-Time graphs
What does each section on your distance–time graph represent?
How did you calculate the speed of the moving body?
How do you think distance–time graphs can be useful?

8. Motion graphs Why do Formula 1 teams study motion graphs?
Go to Kerboodle. P2.3.2 Motion Graphs, watch the animation on Formula 1 Cars, then answer the questions after the video.
Screen shot your answers (and check them), put the screenshot into a word document and save it as Motion graphs.

9. This lesson I have learnt:
a distance–time graph shows the distance something travels over a certain period of time
to calculate speed from a distance–time graph we can use the equation
average speed (m/s) = total distance (m)
total time (s)
acceleration is how quickly speed is changing.
Steeper line shows the movement of a faster object.

10. Homework
Take note of the typical time it takes for you to travel to or from school, a friend's house, or an after-school club.
Use this to draw a distance–time graph for your journey.
Calculate the speed at different stages of your journey.
Explain what is shown on each section of your graph using labels.