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Unit 3: Uniformly Accelerated Particle Model Teacher Notes

Uniformly Accelerated Particle Model


Teacher Notes
INSTRUCTIONAL GOALS
1.

Conceptsofacceleration,averagevs.instantaneousvelocity
Contrastgraphsofobjectsundergoingconstantvelocityandconstantacceleration
r
Defineinstantaneousvelocity(slopeoftangenttocurvein x vs.tgraph)
Distinguishbetweeninstantaneousandaveragevelocity
Defineacceleration,includingitsvectornature
Motionmapnowincludesaccelerationvectors

2.

Multiplerepresentations(graphical,algebraic,diagrammatic)
Introducestackofkinematiccurves
positionvs.time(slopeoftangent=instantaneousvelocity)
velocityvs.time(slope=acceleration,areaundercurve=changeinposition)
accelerationvs.time(areaundercurve=changeinvelocity)
Relatevariousexpressions

3.

UniformlyAcceleratingParticlemodel
Kinematicalpropertiesofobjectsundergoinguniformlyacceleratedmotion
r
r
Derivethefollowingrelationshipsfrom x vs.tand v vs.tgraphs
r
r v
a

t
r r
r
v v0 at

r
r r
v f vi a t

r r r
r
x x0 v0t 12 at 2
r
r r
r
x f xi vi t 12 at 2

r
r
r r
v f2 vi2 2ax

definitionofaverageacceleration
r
linearequationfora x vs.tgraph
generalizedequationforanytitotfinterval
r
parabolicequationforan x vs.tgraph
generalizedequationforanytitotfinterval
timeindependentequation

4.

Analysisoffreefall

5.

Software
ConceptualKinematicsTutorial
GraphsandTracks(PhysicsAcademicSoftware)
Equivalentonlineversionsareavailable

Notre Dame Modeling Project 2012

ICP RAP Uniform Acceleration - Teacher Notes

SEQUENCE
1.WheelLab:Motionofanobjectonanincline;instantaneousvelocity;slopesoftangents;Tangent
Practice
r
2.Worksheet1af:UniformlyAcceleratedMotionWorksheet.Relatetheaveragevelocityforatimeinterval( v
r
)totheinstantaneousvelocity( v )atthemiddleofthattimeinterval.
3.Worksheet2a:AcceleratedMotionRepresentations
4.Worksheet2b:StacksofKinematicCurves
5.Quiz1:Stacksofxt,vt,andatgraphs
6.DeploymentLabs:Freefallandtopoftheflight;Fancartmotion
7.Worksheet3:QuantitativeAccelerationProblems
8.Quiz2:Velocityvs.TimeGraphs
9.FreefallofWileECoyotePlanetNewtonia
10.FreefallofWileECoyoteNewtoniasMoon
11.ReviewSheet
12.UniformlyAcceleratedParticleModelTest

Notre Dame Modeling Project 2012

ICP RAP Uniform Acceleration - Teacher Notes

1. Lab: Wheel Lab


Develop the position proportional to time-squared relation during whiteboarding.
Post-lab: Use tangents to the x-t graph curve to create a v-t graph and define instantaneous velocity.

Lab Notes: Wheel Lab


Apparatus
Wheel(buildfrom4inchholesawcutout,dowel,golftees)
Track(twolengthsofelectricalconduit)
Maskingtape
Tickertape
Metronome

Pre-lab discussion

Letawheelrolldownaninclinedrailandaskstudentsforobservations.Recordallobservations.
Toproceed,theymustmentionsomethingtotheeffectthattheballspeedsupasitrollsdown.
Toobtainafinerdescription,askstudentswhichobservationsaremeasurable.Makesurethey
includetheobservationthattheballspeedsupasitrollsdowntherail.(Donotletthemstatethe
ballacceleratessincewehaven'tdefinedaccelerationyet!)
Askthemhowtheycanmeasurespeeddirectly.Leadthemtotheconclusionthattheycannot,
butthattheycanmeasurepositionandtime.Note:SincethislabissosimilartotheBBlaband
othermotionlabs,thisshouldbeamatterofreviewtomostofthem.
Studentsshouldmarkthepositionoftheobjectatequaltimeintervals.
Timeshouldbeplottedastheindependentvariable.
Onekeydifferencebetweenthislabandthepastmotionlabsisthatthewheelmuststartfrom
position0withavelocityof0.Studentsdontneedtoknowwhyyet.Theyshouldbetoldtomakea
markonthetapenearthetopofthetracktocallposition0.Uponhearingabeatofthemetronome,
theywillreleasethewheelfromrest.Marksforpositionshouldbemadeonsubsequentbeats.

SpeedingUpWheelLab
Purpose:todevelopgraphical,mathematical,diagrammatical,andverbalrepresentationsforanobject
thatstartsfromrestandgraduallyincreasesinspeed.
Wheelandaxle
Procedure:

Lineonwheelmustpoint
downtheincline.
paperstriponboard
besidepipes
pipes

bricks

Useamarkeronthepapertapetomarkthepositionoftheaxleatequaltimeintervals.
Notre Dame Modeling Project 2012

ICP RAP Uniform Acceleration - Teacher Notes

IMPORTANT:Yourfirstdotmustbefortime=0,position=0,andvelocity=0.
DataTables:
Lowincline(onebrick)
Heightofraisedend=______

Highincline(twobricks)
Heightofraisedend=______
Time (s)
Position (m)

Graphs:
Createapositiontimegraphforeachsetofdataindividually.Doanynecessarytestplots.Print.Save
yourgraphstothecomputer.
Next,printeachpositiontimegraphindividuallysothatitistheonlythingonthepage,inlandscape
orientation.(UseFile>PrintGraph)

Lab performance notes

Ifwheelsandaxlesarentavailable,othersetupscanbeusedsuchasacartrollingdownatrack,
abowlingballrollingdownanaccessramp,oradiscandaxlerollingdownarampoftwoparallel
piecesofconduitpipe.Justmakesuretheobjectmovesslowlyenoughforstudentstoaccurately
markpositionandtime.
Timingvariationscouldincludeusingwaterclocks,pendulumsandmetronomesinadditionto
stopwatches.Callingtheunitoftimesomethinglikebeatsinsteadofticksreducesconfusion
betweenunitsandvariableswhendoingmathematicalanalysis.
Twoanglesofinclinationshouldbeused.Positiontimedatacanbeplottedononesetofaxes.
Butinstructstudentstomakethegraphalargeaspossibleandtoorientthegraphsothatthelong
sideofthepaperisthetimeaxis.

Notre Dame Modeling Project 2012

ICP RAP Uniform Acceleration - Teacher Notes

Sample Data: Wheel Lab


Wheel Lab Data Tables with columns for kinematics graph
Wheel/Axle on Low Incline
time position time position avg velocity midtime time^2
(beats) (cm) (beats) (cm)
(cm/beat) (beats) (beats^2)
0.0
0.0
0.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
0.5
1.0
2.0
3.2
1.0
2.2
2.2
1.5
4.0
3.0
5.6
1.0
2.4
2.4
2.5
9.0
4.0
9.6
1.0
4.0
4.0
3.5
16.0
5.0
13.5
1.0
3.9
3.9
4.5
25.0
6.0
18.3
1.0
4.8
4.8
5.5
36.0
7.0
24.9
1.0
6.6
6.6
6.5
49.0
8.0
31.0
1.0
6.1
6.1
7.5
64.0
9.0
38.1
1.0
7.1
7.1
8.5
81.0
10.0
46.2
1.0
8.1
8.1
9.5
100.0
11.0
55.4
1.0
9.2
9.2
10.5
121.0
12.0
65.0
1.0
9.6
9.6
11.5
144.0
13.0
76.0
1.0
11.0
11.0
12.5
169.0
14.0
86.8
1.0
10.8
10.8
13.5
196.0
15.0
99.2
1.0
12.4
12.4
14.5
225.0

Wheel Lab Graphs of Position vs. Time, Velocity vs. Time and Position vs. Time 2

Notre Dame Modeling Project 2012

ICP RAP Uniform Acceleration - Teacher Notes

Notre Dame Modeling Project 2012

ICP RAP Uniform Acceleration - Teacher Notes

Post-lab discussion
Fromthelab,thestudentshavethefollowinggraph:

r
x(cm)

t(s)

Focusthewhiteboarddiscussionontheirexperimentalprocedureandtheverbalinterpretationofthe
parabolicxtgraph.Studentsshouldbeabletodescribethatthedisplacementduringeachtimeinterval
increasesovertheprevioustimeinterval.Sincetheobjecttravelsgreaterdistancesineachsuccessive
timeinterval,thevelocityisincreasing.

Post-lab extension
Discussion
Contrastthexvstgraphforthislabwiththeoneobtainedinunit1.
Unit1

Unit2

One can speak of the average velocity as the slope of the graph (above left) because the slope of a
straight line is constant. It doesn't matter which two points are used to determine the slope.
On the other hand, one could speak of the average velocity of the object in the graph to the right, but
since the object started very slowly and steadily increased its speed, the term average velocity has
little meaning.

r
x
t

Notre Dame Modeling Project 2012

ICP RAP Uniform Acceleration - Teacher Notes

Whatwouldbemoreusefulistohaveawayofdescribingtheobject'sspeedatagiveninstant(oras
Aronstermsit:clockreading).Todevelopthisidea,youmustshowthat,asyoushrinkthetime
intervaltoverwhichyoucalculatetheaveragevelocity,thesecant(lineintersectingthecurveattwo
points)morecloselyresemblesthecurveduringthatinterval.

r
x

r
x

r
x

r
x
Thatis,theslopeofthesecantgivestheaveragevelocityforthatinterval.Astheintervalgetsshorter
x
x
andshorter,thesecantmorecloselyapproximatesthecurve.Thus,theaveragevelocityofthisinterval
t
becomesamoreandmorereasonableestimateofhowfasttheobjectismovingatanyinstantduringthis
t
t
t
t
t
interval.
Asoneshrinkstheinterval,ttozero,thesecantbecomesatangent;theslopeofthetangentisthe
averagevelocityatthisinstant,orsimplytheinstantaneousvelocityatthatclockreading.

r
x

Student activity
Usingthepositionvs.timegraphsthestudentsproducedinthelab,studentsshould
constructatleastfivetangentstothecurveanddeterminetheslopeofeachtangent.Thisis
thereasonstudentsmadegraphsaslargeaspossiblewithtimeonthelongsideofthe
paper.Thestudentsshouldthenmakeanewgraphofinstantaneousvelocityvstime.
r
r
Aplotofinstantaneousvelocity( v ,insteadof v )vstimeshouldyieldastraightline.Theslopeofthis
r
v r
lineis r a .Thatis,thechangeinvelocityduringagiventimeintervalisdefinedtobetheaverage
t
acceleration.Studentsneedtounderstandtheunitsforacceleration.Inthislab,theunitsfortheslope
ofthegraphwillbe centimeters / beat / beat .Studentsmustbeabletostatethataslopeof5cm/b/bfor
example,meansthatthewheelsvelocitychanged5cm/bforeachbeatoftime.Manytimes,cm/b/bis
writtenascm/b2.Itwillreduceconfusioniftheaccelerationisstatedascentimetersperbeatperbeat
evenifitiswrittenascm/b2.
r
Thegraphof v vstforthewheellab,showntotheright,islinearmeaningthat
accelerationisconstant.Iftheaccelerationisconstant,thentheaverage
accelerationfortheentiretimeintervalisequaltotheinstantaneous
accelerationatanygivenclockreading.Theequationforthelinecanbe
r
r
r
r
writtenas v = at + v 0 ,where v 0 istheyintercept.Itisimportanttodefine
r
theaccelerationthisway,andthenshowexamplesof x vstgraphsinwhichtheaccelerationis
r r
negative.Accelerationwillbenegativeifthequantity v f vi isnegative.
Notre Dame Modeling Project 2012

ICP RAP Uniform Acceleration - Teacher Notes

r
Onthe x vstgraphsshowntotheright,tangent
linesweredrawntoshowtheinstantaneous
r
r
r
r
v1
v
x
x
2
velocityattwodifferentclockreadings.Inboth
r r
cases, v2 v1 isnegative,yetverydifferent
situationsarebeingrepresented.Inthegraph
r
v2
ontheleft,anobjectslowsdownwhilemoving
r
v1
inthepositivedirection.Inthegraphonthe
right,theobjectspeedsupwhilemovinginthe
t
t
negativedirection.Inbothgraphs,the
accelerationisinthenegativedirection.Weadviseagainsttheuseofthetermdeceleration,because
studentsinvariablythinkthatthistermimpliesnegativeaccelerationmeansslowingdown;thetwo
conditionsarenotsynonymous.
Generalizingthelinearequationfromthevelocityvs.timegraphforanytimeintervaltitotfyields
r
r r
v f vi a t .Thedevelopmentofthisexpressionisprovidedbelowtoclarifytheuseoftasopposedtot.

Lab Summary
Atthispoint,thestudentshavesixgraphsandmultipleequationsonmultiplesheetsofpaper.Alab
summarysheetisprovidedinthematerialssothatstudentscantransferalloftheircriticalconclusions
ontoasinglesheetofpaper.

Teacher background

Theslopeisdefinedtobeaveragevelocity.
r
r
x
v
t

Theslopeisdefinedtobeaverageacceleration.
r
r
v
a
t

Eq.1

Eq.6

Equationoftheline

Equationoftheline

Eq.2
Generalizetheequationfortheintervaltitotf.
Attf:
r
r
r
x f v t f x0
Eq.3
Atti:
r
r
r
xi v t i x 0
Eq.4
Subtractequation4from3:

Eq.7
Generalizetheequationfortheintervaltitotf.
Attf:
r
r
r
v f at f v 0
Eq.8
Atti:
r
r
r
vi a t i v 0
Eq.9
Subtractequation9from8:

r r
r
x v t x0

r r
r
v at v0

r
r
r
r
r
x f xi v (t f t i ) x0 x0
r
r
r
x f xi v t
Eq.5

Notre Dame Modeling Project 2012

r
r
r
r
r
v f vi a (t f t i ) v0 v0
r
r r
v f vi a t
Eq.10

ICP RAP Uniform Acceleration - Teacher Notes

Post-lab Extension (Development of Kinematic Expressions)

Developingtheremainingkinematicequationsinvolvesfindingtheareaunderavtgraphandalgebraic
combinationofequations.Dependingontheabilityofyourstudents,variouslevelsofguidancecanbe
providedtohelpthestudentsderivetheequationsthemselves.Dontgethunguponthealgebra.Focuson
thephysics.
Thedisplacementofauniformlyacceleratingobjectisequivalenttotheareaunderthevtgraph.Inthis
situation,weareinterestedinthedisplacementduringthetimeintervaltitotf.

AreaofregionA:
1/2heightxbase
r r

areaofatriangle

r
r v t
1 a t t
2

substitute v at

(vf vi ) (t f ti )

r
a(t)2

AreaofregionB
lengthxwidth
areaofarectangle
Thevelocityatthehorizontalaxisiszero;
r
r
(vi 0) (t f t i ) = v i t

ThetotaldisplacementisequaltoA+B.

r
r 2 r
x 12 at vit

Rearranging:

r
r r
r
xf xi vit 12 a t 2

Eq.11

Combiningequations6and11producesatimeindependentkinematicsexpression.
r
r v
a
t

Eq.6

r
r
r
v f vi
v
t r ; t
r
a
a

Eq.12

r
r r
r
x f xi vi t 12 at 2

Eq.11

Rearrange:

r r
r 2
x vit 12 at

Substituteequation12intoequation11:
r
r
r
r
r r v f vi
r v f vi
1
x vi
r 2 a
r
a
a

r
Multiplybothsidesby 2a

r r
r r
r
r
r
2a x 2vi (v f vi ) (v f vi ) 2

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ICP RAP Uniform Acceleration - Teacher Notes

Multiplyoutthetermsontheright.

r r
rr
r
r
rr
r
2a x 2vi v f 2vi2 v f2 2vi v f vi2

Simplifytherightsideofequation
r r
r
r
2ax vi2 v f2

Rearrange:

r
r
r r
v f2 vi2 2a x

Eq.13

Summaryofmathematicalmodels:
r
r v
a

t
r r
r
v v0 at

r
r r
v f vi a t

r r r
r2
x x0 v0 t 12 at

r
r r
r
xf xi vit 12 a t 2

r
r
r r
v f2 vi2 2ax

Eq.6 definitionofaverageacceleration
Eq.7 linearequationforavtgraph
Eq.10 generalizedequationforanytitotfinterval
parabolicequationforanxtgraph
Eq.11 generalizedequationforanytitotfinterval
Eq.13 algebraiccombinationofequations3and5

r
Optional Post Lab Extension: Linearizing the x vs. t Graph
BeforeembarkingonthealgebraicjourneytoderiveEq.11andEq.13above,youmaywanttodofurther
analysisofthecurvedpositionvs.timegraph.Intheuniformmotionexperiments,itbecameclearthatif
thestartingpositionoftheobjectwaszeroandtheobjectmovedataconstantvelocity,thenthepositionof
theobjectwasdirectlyproportionaltothetime.Iftwiceasmuchtimeelapsed,theobjectspositionwas
twiceasfarfromzero.
Uponcompletingthegraphofpositionvs.timeforthewheellab,studentsshouldseethattherelationship
betweenthetwovariablesisdifferent.Atsomeclockreadingoft,thewheelisatpositonx.Ataclock
readingof2t,willthewheelbeat2x?Howaboutataclockreadingof3t?
Somestudentscanrecognizethattheshapeofthextgraphisparabolic.Afewofthosestudentsmight
evenrememberthegeneralformofaquadraticequation(y=Ax2+Bx+C).Butprobablynoonewillbeable
tofindthevaluesofthecoefficientsofaquadraticequationgiventhewheellabxtgraph.

Student Activity
Havestudentsaddathirdcolumntotheirwheellabdatatablesacolumn
t2.Askstudentsinwhatunitst2shouldbemeasured.Fillinthecolumnfort2
squaringtheclockreadingsinthetcolumn.Studentscannowmakeagraph
positionvs.time2.Thegraphshouldlookliketheonetotheright.

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11

for
by
of
t2

ICP RAP Uniform Acceleration - Teacher Notes

Discussion
Fromthegraph,itisclearthatpositionisdirectlyproportionaltothesquareofthetime.Inother
words,ifatsomeclockreadingoft,thewheelisatpositionx,thanat2t,theobjectwillbeat4x.At
r
3t,theobjectwillbeat9x.Uponperformingamathematicalanalysisofthegraphof x vs. t 2
studentswillobtainthefollowingmathematicalmodel: xr kt 2 wherekistheslopeofthegraph.
Studentsshouldbeaskedabouttheunitsoftheslopeandwhatthoseunitsmean.Afewstudents
willnoticethattheunitsofthegrapharecm/b2.Askwhatphysicalquantityhasthoseunits.
Comparingtheslopeofthisgraphandtheslopeofthevtgraphfromthisunitshouldleadstudents
totheunderstandingthattheslopeofthext2graphisequalto1/2oftheaccelerationoftheobject.
r
r
Thus,thegeneralformoftheequationforthext2graphbecomes x 1 2 at 2 .Makeitclear,
however,thatthisrelationshipisonlytrueiftheobjectstartsfromrestatpositionzero.When
studentsaskwhathappensiftheobjectstartssomewhereelseandisalreadymovingattimezero,tell
themyouaregladthattheyaskedandthenembarkonyouralgebraicjourney.

2. Worksheet 1: Uniformly Accelerated Motion Worksheet

Studentswillseethatthecreatingvelocityvs.timegraphsbyfindingtheslopeofasequenceof
tangentstothextgraphisabittedious.However,theinstantaneousvelocitycanalsobefound
mathematicallyfromasequenceofpositiontimedata.Thedesiredgoaloftheactivityistoestablish
thatforuniformlyacceleratedmotion,theaveragevelocityforatimeintervalisequaltothe
instantaneousvelocityattheclockreadinginthemiddleofthetimeinterval.Thisideaisimportant
sinceitisthesamealgorithmusedbycomputermotionanalysisprogramssuchasMacMotion,
LoggerPro,andScienceWorkshop.Studentscanusethereasoningdevelopedheretoanalyzethe
motionofapicketfencefallingthroughaphotogate.
Useathoughtexperimentwithsmallnumbers(anaccelerationof2m/s2)tobuildthefirsttwo
columnsofsimulatedpositionvs.timedata,leavingaspacebetweeneachrow.Utilizethe
r
r r
expression v f vi at toleadthestudentstoidentifyingtheinstantaneousvelocityateachtime.
Sincetheinitialvelocityiszero,theaveragevelocityfromt=0tot=tfishalftheinstantaneous
velocityatt=tfandthedisplacementistheaveragevelocitytimest.Forexample,att=3sthe
instantaneousvelocityis2m/s2x3sor6m/s.Theaveragevelocityfromt=0tot=3sis3m/sand
thedisplacementis3m/sx3sor9m.
t
x
vaverage
tmiddleofinterval
t
x
(s)
(m)
(m/s)
(s)
(s)
(m)
0.0
0.0
1.0

1.0

2.0

4.0

3.0

9.0

4.0

16

5.0

25

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Unit III Teacher Notes v3.0

6.0
36
Aftercompletingthefirsttwocolumnsofdata,analyzetheresultingxtgraph.Thegoalistofind
thecorrelationbetweenaveragevelocityduringatimeintervalandinstantaneousvelocityataclock
reading.

Theaveragevelocityfromt=2stot=4s:
x 16m 4m
v

6 ms
t
4s 2s
Fromthegraph,itappearsthattheslopeofthechordconnectingt=2stot=4shasthesameslope
asthetangenttothecurveatt=3s.Theslopeofthetangentatt=3s:
x 21m 0m
v

6 ms
t
5s 1.5s
Letstrythecomparisonofaverageandinstantaneousvelocitiesonadifferentpartofthegraph.
x 36m 16m
v

10 ms
t
6s 4s
Fromthegraph,itappearsthattheslopeofthechordconnectingt=4stot=6shasthesameslope
asthetangenttothecurveatt=5s.Theslopeofthetangentatt=5s:
x 35m 0m
v

10 ms
t
6s 2.5s
Althoughtheexamplesabovedonotconstitutearigorousproof,theyprovideastrongargumentfor
thefollowingconclusion:foruniformlyacceleratedmotion,theaveragevelocityforatimeinterval
isequaltotheinstantaneousvelocityattheclockreadinginthemiddleofthetimeinterval.
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Unit III Teacher Notes v3.0

Calculationscannowbemadetofillintherestoftablebelow:
t
(s)
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0

x
(m)

vaverage
(m/s)

x
(m)

tmiddleofinterval
(s)

0.0
1.0

1.0

0.5

1.0

3.0

1.5

1.0

5.0

2.5

1.0

7.0

3.5

1.0

9.0

4.5

1.0

11.0

11

5.5

1.0
4.0
9.0

4.0

16

5.0

25

6.0

t
(s)

36

Usingtheideathattheaveragevelocityduringatimeintervalisequaltotheinstantaneousvelocity
attheclockreadinginthemiddleofthetimeinterval,aninstantaneousvelocityvstimegraphcan
produced.

Thestudentsnowhaveamathematicalwayofproducingavtgraphfromtheirmeasurementsof
positionandtime.Analyzingthevtgraphallowsdeterminationofaccelerationanddisplacement
withorwithoutaninitialvelocity.Withthisbackground,studentscanbegintheuniformly
acceleratedmotionworksheet.
Aftercompletingandwhiteboardingtheworksheet,studentsshouldrevisitthewheellab.Theynow
havethetoolstodoamuchbettergraphofvelocityvs.timethanwhentheyhadtofindslopesof
tangentlines.Theyshouldbeassignedtotaketheiroriginalpositionandtimedataforbothinclines
andmakeavelocityvs.timegraphandapositionvs.time2graph.Onthefollowingpagesareactual
dataobtainedfromawheelandaxlelabandgraphsofxt,xt2andvt.
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Unit III Teacher Notes v3.0

Modeling Instruction 2010

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Unit III Teacher Notes v3.0

3. Worksheet 2 Graphs and Tracks


4. Stacks of Kinematic Curves
5. Quiz 1: Stacks of x-t, v-t, and a-t graphs
6. Deployment Labs: Freefall
7. Worksheet 3: Quantitative Acceleration Problems
8. Uniformly Accelerated Particle Model Quiz 2:
Velocity vs. Time Graphs
9. Free fall on Planet Newtonia
10. Free fall on Newtonias Moon
11. Review Sheet
12. Model So Far
1. The slope of a position-time graph is the velocity. If
the position-time graph is curved, the slope of a line
tangent to the curve tells you the velocity at that
time. The velocity at a time is called instantaneous
velocity.
2. In general, acceleration is the rate of change in
velocity, which is the slope of a velocity-time graph.
Mathematically, a = v/t

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Unit III Teacher Notes v3.0

3. The velocity of a uniformly accelerating object


increases or decreases by equal amounts each
second. Therefore, the general linearized equation for
r r
r
a v vs. t graph is: v v0 at
4. The area under a velocity-time graph is the object's
change in position, or displacement.
Mathematically, x = at2 + vit
5. The motion map for uniformly accelerated motion features dots whose
successive spacing increases or decreases. Draw the dots for the location of the
object at equally spaced time intervals, then add the velocity and acceleration
vectors.

6. The acceleration due to gravity (g = 9.8 m/s2) near the surface of the earth is
constant for all objects, ignoring effects of air resistance.

13. Uniformly Accelerated Particle Model Test

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Unit III Teacher Notes v3.0

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