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VELOCITY-TIME
GRAPHS: UNIFORM AND
NON-UNIFORM MOTION
KINEMATICS:
The shape of the velocity-time graph reveals
whether the object is at rest, moving at constant
speed, speeding up, or slowing down.
Suppose an airplane has a cruising altitude of
10 600 m and travels at a constant velocity of
900 km/h [E] for 5.0 h.
DATA TABLE
TABLE & GRAPH
1. SLOPE OF A VELOCITY-TIME
GRAPH
Just as the slope of a position-time graph reveals the
rate at which position changes (velocity), the slope of a
velocity-time graph reveals the rate at which velocity
changes (acceleration).
SLOPES OF VELOCITY-TIME GRAPHS
A: Negative
Final velocity is more negative than the initial velocity, as the bird is
speeding up in the south direction. So the slope of this line is negative.
The bird’s acceleration is negative.
B: Zero
Acceleration is zero because the slope is zero (the graph is a horizontal
line.)
C: Negative
Acceleration is negative because the slope of the line is negative (as in
section A).
D: Zero
Acceleration is zero because the slope of the line is zero (as in section B).
E: Positive
Final velocity is positive because the bird is now flying north. So the slope
of this line is positive. The bird’s acceleration is positive.
F: Zero
Acceleration is zero because the slope of the line is zero.
3. AVERAGE VELOCITY ON A
VELOCITY – TIME GRAPH
To calculate average velocity, determine the
area under the velocity-time graph and divide it
by the total time.