One-Dimensional Motion and Velocity

Animation 1: Describing motion and getting average velocity.

Run Animation 1 which shows three objects. View the animation and answer the following questions.

1. Describe the motion of each of the three objects. How are the three motions alike? How are they different?
2. What is the displacement of each object between the start and end of the animation?
3. What is the average velocity of each ball? You can find coordinates of a ball by centering the cursor over the ball and depressing the mouse key.

Motion diagrams and details of the motion

To get the details of the motion, run Animation 2 which leaves a ghost image at the end of each second of motion of the balls.

1. During what one-second time interval is the average velocity of the red ball approximately equal to the average velocity of the blue ball?
2. During what one-second time interval is the average velocity of the black ball approximately equal to the average velocity of the blue ball?

Average speed is not always equal to average velocity!

View the motion of the black ball shown in Animation 2 and answer the following questions.

1. What is the average velocity of the object between t=0 and t=4.5 s?
2. What is the average velocity of the object between t=4.5 s and t=9 s?
3. What is the average velocity of the object between t=0 and t=9 s?
4. What is the average speed of the object between t=0 and t=9 s?

Problem © 2003 by Vern Lindberg (RIT) using Wolfgang Christian's Physlets. Adapted from Aaron Titus.