Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2.2 Acceleration
MAIN Idea Acceleration
describes how the speed of an
object is changing.
Science Journal
Write a paragraph describing how three different
rides in an amusement park
cause you to move.
36
Lester Lefkowitz/CORBIS
Start-Up Activities
Compare Speeds
A cheetah can run at a speed of almost
120 km/h and is the fastest runner in the
world. A horse can reach a speed of 64 km/h;
an elephants top speed is about 40 km/h;
and the fastest snake slithers at a speed
of about 3 km/h. The speed of an object is
calculated by dividing the distance the object
travels by the time it takes it to move that
distance. How does your speed compare to
the speeds of these animals?
How
far?
How
fast?
In what
direction?
Identify Questions Before you read the chapter, select a motion you can observe and write it
under the left tab. As you read the chapter, write
answers to the other questions under the appropriate tabs.
37
Lester Lefkowitz/CORBIS
Describing Motion
Reading Guide
New Vocabulary
Review Vocabulary
instantaneous: occurring at a particular instant of time
distance
displacement
speed
average speed
speed
instantaneous
velocity
Motion
Are distance and time important in describing running
events at the track-and-field meets in the Olympics? Would the
winners of the 5-km race and the 10-km race complete the run
in the same length of time?
Distance and time are important. In order to win a race, you
must cover the distance in the shortest amount of time. The
time required to run the 10-km race should be longer than the
time needed to complete the 5-km race because the first distance
is longer. How would you describe the motion of the runners in
the two races?
38
CHAPTER 2 Motion
Icon Images
thing move to know that motion has taken place. For example,
suppose you look out a window and see a mail truck stopped
next to a mailbox. One minute later, you look out again and see
the same truck stopped farther down the street. Although you
didnt see the truck move, you know it moved because its position relative to the mailbox changed.
A reference point is needed to determine the position of an
object. In Figure 1, the reference point might be a tree or a mailbox. Motion occurs when an object changes its position relative
to a reference point. The motion of an object depends on the
reference point that is chosen. For example, the motion of the
mail truck in Figure 1 would be different if the reference point
were a car moving along the street, instead of a mailbox.
Speed
Think back to the example of the mail trucks
motion in Figure 1. You could describe the
movement by the distance traveled and by the
displacement from the starting point. You also
might want to describe how fast it is moving. To
do this, you need to know how far it travels in a
given amount of time. Speed is the distance an
object travels per unit of time.
Figure 2 Distance and displacement are not the same. The runners
displacement is 20 m north of the
starting line. However, the total
distance traveled is 80 m.
30 m
30 m
50 m
20 m
Distance from starting
line is 20 m.
10 m
39
In SI units, distance is measured in meters and time is measured in seconds, so the SI unit for speed is meters per second
(m/s). Sometimes it is more convenient to express speed in other
units, such as kilometers per hour (km/h). Table 1 shows some
convenient units for certain types of motion.
distance: d = 750m
time: t = 25 s
= m/s
units of s = (units of d) = m
(units of t) s
For more practice problems,
go to page 834, and visit
gpscience.com/extra_problems.
Practice Problems
1. A passenger elevator travels from the first floor to the 60th floor, a distance of 210 m, in
35 s. What is the elevators speed?
2. A motorcycle is moving at a constant speed of 40 km/h. How long does it take the motorcycle to travel a
distance of 10 km?
3. How far does a car travel in 0.75 h if it is moving at a constant speed of 88 km/h?
4. Challenge A long-distance runner is running at a constant speed of 5 m/s. How far does the runner travel
in 10 minutes?
40
CHAPTER 2 Motion
Unit of
Speed
Approximate
Speed
Examples of Uses
km/s
11.2 km/s
km/h
100 km/h
cm/yr
2cm/yr17 cm/yr
Motion with Constant Speed Suppose you are in a car traveling on a nearly empty freeway. You look at the speedometer and
see that the cars speed hardly changes. If the car neither slows down
nor speeds up, the car is traveling at a constant speed. If you are
traveling at a constant speed, you can measure your speed over any
distance interval.
Speed (km/h)
25
Going downhill
Climbing
steep hill
20
Stopping for
red light
15
Constant speed
10
5
0
Gaining
speed
Distance
41
5 km
0.25 h
s 20 km/h
Instantaneous Speed Suppose you watch a cars speedometer, like the one in Figure 4, go from 0 km/h to 60 km/h. A
speedometer shows how fast a car is going at one point in time
or at one instant. The speed shown on a speedometer is the
instantaneous speed. Instantaneous speed is the speed at a
given point in time.
42
CHAPTER 2 Motion
speeding up or slowing down, its instantaneous speed is changing. The speed is different at every point in time. If an object is
moving with constant speed, the instantaneous speed doesnt
change. The speed is the same at every point in time.
What are two examples of motion in which the
instantaneous speed changes?
Graphing Motion
The motion of an object over a period of time can be shown
on a distance-time graph. Time is plotted along the horizontal
axis of the graph and the distance traveled is plotted along the vertical axis of the graph. If the object moves with constant speed, the
increase in distance over equal time intervals is the same. As a
result, the line representing the objects motion is a straight line.
For example, the graph shown in Figure 5 represents the
motion of three swimmers during a 30-min workout. The
straight red line represents the motion of Mary, who swam with
a constant speed of 80 m/min over the 30-min workout. The
straight blue line represents the motion of Kathy, who swam
with a constant speed of 60 m/min during the workout.
The graph shows that the line representing the motion of the
faster swimmer is steeper. The steepness of a line on a graph is the
slope of the line. The slope of a line on a distance-time graph equals
the speed. A horizontal line on a distance-time graph has zero slope,
and represents an object at rest. Because Mary has a larger speed
than Kathy, the line representing her motion has a larger slope.
2,400
Mary swam at a constant speed of
80 m/min. Her speed was the fastest,
so this line has the steepest slope.
2,000
Graphing Motion
2,200
1,800
At rst Julie
swam with
a speed of
40 m/min.
The slope of
this line is
less than
Kathy's line.
Distance (m)
1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
10
20
30
Time (min)
43
M626_04C_MSS02
44
Velocity
Present day
45
Continental
crust
Oceanic
crust
Upper mantle
Asthenosphere
(soft rock)
Lithosphere
(rigid rock)
Mantle
Summary
Self Check
46
CHAPTER 2 Motion
gpscience.com/self_check_quiz
Acceleration
Reading Guide
Review Vocabulary
New Vocabulary
acceleration
Figure 10 These cars are both
accelerating because their speed
is changing.
Acceleration
Velocity
SECTION 2 Acceleration
47
48
CHAPTER 2 Motion
Calculating Acceleration
Acceleration is the rate of change in velocity. To calculate the
acceleration of an object, the change in velocity is divided by the
length of the time interval over which the change occurred.
To calculate the change in velocity, subtract the initial velocitythe velocity at the beginning of the time intervalfrom
the final velocitythe velocity at the end of the time interval.
Let vi stand for the initial velocity and vf stand for the final
velocity. Then the change in velocity is:
change in velocity final velocity initial velocity
vf vi
Using this expression for the change in velocity, the acceleration
can be calculated from the following equation:
Acceleration Equation
change in velocity (in meters/second)
time (in seconds)
vf vi
t
NGS TITLE
VISUALIZING
ACCELERATION
Figure 12
Speed
Time
Speed
Speed
Time
Time
49
(t)RDF/Visuals Unlimited, (c)Ron Kimball, (b)Richard Megna/Fundamental Photographs
Calculating Positive Acceleration How is the acceleration for an object that is speeding up different from that of an
object that is slowing down? Suppose the jet airliner in Figure 13
starts at rest at the end of a runway and reaches a speed of
80 m/s in 20 s. The airliner is traveling in a single direction down
the runway, so its change in velocity can be calculated from its
change in speed. Because it started from rest, its initial speed was
zero. Its acceleration can be calculated as follows:
(vf vi )
(80 m/s 0 m/s)
a 4 m/s2
t
20 s
The airliner is speeding up, so the final speed is greater than the
initial speed and the acceleration is positive.
Speed
Positive
acceleration
Speed
Negative
acceleration
Time
50
CHAPTER 2 Motion
Summary
Self Check
Calculating Acceleration
Acceleration can be calculated by dividing the
change in velocity by the time according to
the following equation:
vf vi
a
t
The SI unit for acceleration is m/s2.
If an object is moving in a straight line, the
change in velocity equals the final speed
minus the initial speed.
gpscience.com/self_check_quiz
SECTION 2 Acceleration
51
Review Vocabulary
force
net force
force
balanced
inertia
What is force?
52
CHAPTER 2 Motion
Net Force
Net Force
0
0
Net Force
These students are pushing on
the box in the same direction. The
combined forces will cause the box
to move.
Unbalanced Forces Another example of how forces combine is shown in Figure 16B. When two students are pushing
with unequal forces in opposite directions, a net force occurs in
the direction of the larger force. In other words, the student who
pushes with a greater force will cause the box to move in the
direction of the force. The net force that moves the box will be
the difference between the two forces because they are in opposite directions. They are considered to be unbalanced forces.
In Figure 16C, the students are pushing on the box in the same
direction. These forces are combined, or added together, because
they are exerted on the box in the same direction. The net force
that acts on this box is found by adding the two forces together.
53
54
CHAPTER 2 Motion
55
(t)Paul Kennedy/Liaison Agency/Getty Images, (b)Courtesy Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
Summary
What is Force?
A force is a push or a pull on an object.
The net force on an object is the combination
of all the forces acting on the object.
When the forces on an object are balanced,
the net force on the object is zero.
Unbalanced forces cause the motion of objects
to change.
Inertia and Newtons First Law of Motion
The inertia of an object is the tendency of an
object to resist a change in motion.
The larger the mass of an object, the greater
its inertia.
Newtons first law of motion states that the
motion of an object at rest or moving with
constant velocity will not change unless an
unbalanced net force acts on the object.
In a car crash, inertia causes an unrestrained
passenger to continue moving at the speed of
the car before the crash.
56
CHAPTER 2 Motion
Self Check
1. Infer whether the inertia of an object changes as the
objects velocity changes.
2. Explain whether or not there must be an unbalanced
net force acting on any moving object.
3. Explain Can there be forces acting on an object if the
object is at rest?
4. Infer the net force on a refrigerator if you push on the
refrigerator and it doesnt move.
5. Think Critically Describe three situations in which a
force changes the velocity of an object.
gpscience.com/self_check_quiz
Real-World Question
How does an unbalanced force on a book affect
its motion?
Goals
Observe the effect of force on the accelera-
tion of an object.
Interpret the data collected for each trial.
Materials
tape
paper clip
10-N spring scale
large book
Safety Precautions
Procedure
1. With a piece of tape, attach the paper clip
LAB
57
Mark Burnett
Possible Materials
small toy car
ramps or boards
of different lengths
springs or rubber bands
string
stopwatch
meterstick or tape measure
graph paper
Safety Precautions
58
CHAPTER 2 Motion
Icon Images
Real-World Question
Think about a small ball. How many ways could you exert a force on
the ball to make it move? You could throw it, kick it, roll it down a
ramp, blow it with a large fan, etc. Do you think the distance and
speed of the balls motion will be the same for all of these forces? Do
you think the acceleration of the ball would be the same for all of
these types of forces?
Form a Hypothesis
Based on your reading and observations, state a hypothesis about
how a force can be applied that will cause the toy car to go fastest.
LAB
59
Icon Images
Understanding
Literature
Descriptive Writing The poet names
some special places on Earth. These places,
although marvelous, fall short of being
really wonderful. How does Angelou contrast Earths position within the universe to
emphasize the importance of people?
Sometimes a person
doesnt need to see
movement to know that something has
moved. Even though we dont necessarily see
Earths movement, we know Earth moves relative to a reference point such as the Sun. If
the Sun is the reference point, Earth moves
because the Sun appears to change its position in the sky. The poem describes Earths
movement from a reference point outside of
Earth, somewhere in space.
1 to be without friends or neighbors
2 small particle
3 wanting ones own way in spite of the advice or
wishes of another
4 a self-important show of being religious
60
CHAPTER 2 Motion
Describing Motion
1. Motion is a
change of position
of a body. Distance is the measure of how far an
object moved.
Displacement is
the distance and
direction of an objects change in position
from the starting point.
f
i
a
d
t
s
Acceleration
1. Acceleration occurs when an object changes
speed or changes direction.
2. An object speeds up if its acceleration is in
the direction of its motion.
Use the Foldable that you made at the beginning of this chapter to help you review motion.
gpscience.com/interactive_tutor
61
acceleration p. 47
average speed p. 42
balanced force p. 53
displacement p. 39
distance p. 39
force p. 52
inertia p. 54
instantaneous speed p. 42
net force p. 53
speed p. 39
velocity p. 44
1. speedvelocity
2. distancedisplacement
3. average speedinstantaneous speed
4. balanced forcenet force
5. forceinertia
6. accelerationvelocity
7. velocityinstantaneous speed
8. forcenet force
9. forceacceleration
62
CHAPTER REVIEW
Interpreting Graphics
Use the table below to answer question 17.
Changes position
described by
described by
described by
Speed
Velocity
which is
which is
which is
Distance and
direction of
objects change
in position
Forces act
can be
can be
Net forces
and cause
Motion
can change when
and cause
a change in an
objects motion
Distance (m)
Runners Motion
Runner #1
Runner #2
Time (min)
28. Interpret a Graph Use the graph to determine which runner had the greatest
speed.
CHAPTER REVIEW
63
Speed (km/h)
25
20
Going downhill
Climbing
steep hill
Stopping for
red light
Constant speed
15
10
5
0
Gaining
speed
Runner
Distance
64
Daisy
Jane
Bill
Joe
Distance
covered (km)
12.5
7.8
10.5
8.9
Time
(min)
42
38
32
30
Graphing
Motion
Graphing Motion
2,200
2,000
Distance (m)
1,600
1,400
1,200
Swimmer C
Swimmer B
1,000
800
600
Swimmer A
400
200
0
2,400
1,800
10
20
Time (min)
30
Car
A
B
C
D
Mass
(kg)
1000
1250
1500
2000
Stopping
distance(m)
80
100
120
160
65