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Speed and Velocity
IB Physics Summer Lesson 2
Exploring Speed and Velocity
This Lesson corresponds to pp. 16-21 and 31-34 in Coletta College Physics. Please READ these pages before going on.
After doing the reading, please answer the following:
- What is the difference between speed and velocity?
- What is the difference between average speed and instantaneous speed?
- Hiroko Takeda walks 0.8 km across Hibiya Park on a spring day. Because she stops several times to admire the cherry blossoms, the walk takes her half an hour. Find Hiroko's average speed in
- Bianca gets off the subway at 96th Street and Broadway at 2:05 pm. She walks 5 blocks due north along Broadway up to 101st St, arriving there at 2:15 pm. She then walks 1 block due east to Amsterdam Avenue, arriving at 2:!7. She stops to get an ice cream cone and is back on her way at 2:20, walking due south along Amsterdam Avenue for 5 blocks until she gets to the corner of Amsterdam and 96th at 2:28 pm. Bianca turns smartly west and walks along 96th Street until she arrives back at the subway station at 96th and Broadway at 2:30 pm.
- What is Bianca's average speed in block/min during this trip?
- What is Bianca's average velocity in block/min during this trip?
Data Analysis Activities:
- The data table below is for the motion of an object which starts at distance d=0 m and time t=0 sec.
|
Time (sec)
|
Distance (m)
|
|
0
|
0
|
|
1
|
3 |
|
2
|
6
|
|
3
|
9
|
|
4
|
10
|
|
5
|
15
|
|
6
|
18
|
- Graph the data from the table, using Time (sec) as the horizontal axis and Distance (m) as the vertical axis.
- One point on the graph is different from the others. Which one? Why? What should we do about it?
- What is the average velocity of the object from 0 to 6 sec?
- Is the graph a straight line or nearly so? (It should be!) What is the slope of the line?
- You should now say, "Aha!" Why?
- Here is another time-distance graph.
|
Time (sec)
|
Distance (m)
|
|
0
|
2
|
|
1
|
3 |
|
2
|
5
|
|
3
|
11
|
|
4
|
18
|
|
5
|
27
|
|
6
|
38
|
- Graph the data from the table, using Time (sec) as the horizontal axis and Distance (m) as the vertical axis.
- How is this graph different from the first graph?
- Calculate the average speeds from 0 to 1 sec, 2 to 3 sec, and 4 to 5 sec.
- What happens to the speed over time?
- What can we say about the difference between a graph of uniform speed and a graph of uniformly changing speed?
Please e-mail all answers to Mr. Cecire at cecirek@yahoo.com.
Due Date: July 17, 2000
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