1. Graphical Displays of Motion
Activity 2
Graphical Displays of Motion

2. Goals:
Investigate the differences between motion with constant speed and motion with changing speed.
Learn to use the simple technology of Dot-Cars to collect motion data.
Create bar graphs and line plot graphs to illustrate constant speed motion and changing speed motion.
Learn how graphs can be used to understand an objects motion.
Use probe technology and computers to collect and graph motion data.

3. Average Speed To find average speed, you divide distance by time
d/t = average speed
For example, if a buggy went a distance of 100cm in 5 seconds, we would divide the distance (100cm) by the time (5 seconds)… divided by 5 = 20.
Therefore, the average speed of this buggy would be 20cm/s

4. Constant Speed
When the speed of an object does not increase or decrease, it is moving at a constant speed.
Our red and blue buggies both move at a constant speed, though the red buggy travels at a faster constant speed than the blue buggy.
Using the Dot-Car, we are able to investigate the motion of the red and blue buggies.

5. Constant Speed Results
When the blue buggy pushed the Dot-Car, the marks left by the Dot-Car looked like this:
The Dot-Car leaves a dot at every time-click and each time-click is exactly the same amount of time.
The dots above tell us that the blue buggy was moving at a constant speed because they are the same distance away from each other from start to finish.

6. Constant Speed Results
When the red buggy pushed the Dot-Car, the marks left by the Dot-Car looked like this:
The dots above are the same distance apart, so we know that the red buggy was also moving at a constant speed.

7. Comparing Constant Speed
We can learn more about an object’s motion by looking at the dots left by the Dot-Car.
If a dot-car is moving slow, the dots will look more like dots and they will be closer together.
If the dot-car is moving faster, the dots will look more like dashes and they will be further apart.

8. Graphing Constant Speed
This bar chart shows what constant speed looks like.
You can tell that it is constant speed because the height of each bar, for each buggy, is the same.

9. Graphing Constant Speed
This line graph shows what constant speed looks like.
You can determine constant speed on a line graph because the lines are straight. If the lines had curves, it would not be constant speed.

10. Non-Constant Speed
We can investigate non-constant speed, also known as changing speed, by using the dot-car on a ramp.
If we release the dot car from the top of a ramp that is not too steep, the dot car will slowly increase in speed as it goes down the ramp.

11. Non-Constant Speed
If we release the dot car from the top of a ramp that is much steeper, the dot car will quickly increase in speed as it goes down the ramp.

12. Non-Constant Speed
The dot-car on the first ramp will leave a dot trail like this:
Start Finish
As the dot car begins down the ramp, a dot can be seen at the beginning. As the dot-car slowly increases in speed, the dots become longer and longer dashes and they gradually get further and further apart.
This shows us speed that is increasing slowly.

13. Non-Constant Speed
The dot-car that was released from the steeper ramp will leave a dot trail that looks like this:
Start Finish
As the dot car begins down the ramp, a dot can be seen at the beginning. However, as the dot-car quickly increases in speed, the dots immediately become longer and longer dashes and they quickly get further and further apart.
This shows us speed that is increasing rapidly.

14. Graphing Non-Constant Speed
The different heights of the bars in this chart show us non-constant speed.
If it was constant speed, the bars would be the same height.
We can also tell that the dot car moved faster on the steep ramp than the shallow ramp.

15. Graphing Non-Constant Speed
In this line graph we can see the low ramp’s curve occurs slowly just as the dot-car’s speed increased slowly.
The steep ramp’s curve occurs quickly, just as the dot-car’s speed increased quickly on the steep ramp.

16. Questions to Think About
How is constant speed different from non-constant speed? How can this difference be displayed graphically?
How can you tell if an object is traveling at a constant speed? ……..speeding up?......slowing down?
How can you illustrate constant speed and changing speed using bar graphs and line graphs?
How can graphs be used to understand the motion of objects?