Speed and Distance

Physics fanatics time five cars as they pass on the highway. They use the times and a 20-yard distance to calculate velocity. They also graph distance vs. time. A page of student pre-lab questions is provided in addition to the activity...

It's story time! Show your class how to use a distance-time graph to tell a story. They learn to draw and analyze a graph using distance and time data. The story then continues to compare velocity and time. 

The narrator os this video explains how to create a velocity-time graph from the position-time graph. He works through several examples after explaining the shapes of the position-time graphs. 

In the following interactive module, students will begin to explain the relationships between instantaneous velocity, average velocity, instantaneous speed, average speed, displacement, and time. They will calculate velocity and speed...

Why does it take Pluto 90,000 days to orbit the sun, but it only takes Mercury 88 days? An interactive lesson helps pupils find a connection between the speed of orbit and distance a planet is from the sun. The simulation allows for...

Students calculate the speed of an object, by measuring the amount of time it takes to cover a given distance, and then divide: speed=distance/time. However, the object may not have been moving at a constant rate over the given distance....

Three sections review the key skills covered in a series on dimensional kinematics. The first covers the difference between distance and displacement. The second addresses the relationship between velocity and slope. The third includes...

On the first of two pages, physics aces graph velocity versus time on sets of axes. On the second page, they look at graphs of position versus time and then draw velocity versus time on graphs right next to them. This is good practice in...

Beginning physics scholars interpret two graphs depicting position versus time. For each graph, there is a series of questions to answer. The exercise is basic, but beneficial. Consider using it as an assessment of understanding after...

Future engineers analyze the motion of Robin, the roller skater, as he moves along a sidewalk. They graph the position versus time for three different occurrences. Questions are asked about the resulting graphs, reinforcing the concepts...