Moving Man

1. Making Observations about Distance:
A. What number and unit are written directly under the moving man? Number 0 Unit meters
B. The position under the walking man which is labeled “0 meters” is called the “Reference Point”.
D. In the table below record the distances requested in meters:

DISTANCE FROM Walking Man (reference point) to….	The House	The Wall	The tree
	8 meters	+ and -10 meters	-8 meters

D. In the table below record the displacements requested in meters. Use “-“ and “+” to indicate direction from the reference point (Be sure to also include an amount and a unit.)

DISPLACEMENT FROM Walking Man (reference point) to….	The House	The Wall	The tree
	+8 meters	+ and -10 meters	-8 meters

What is the difference between an object’s DISTANCE and its DISPLACEMENT? Distance is how far it has gone. Displacement is how far away the object has gone.

1. Making observations.
A) The unit of distance in the moving man is meters
B) The unit of time used in the moving man is seconds
C) Set the moving man’s velocity (≈ speed) at 1meters/sec and hit go. Watch the moving man.
D) Set the moving man’s velocity (≈ speed) at 4 meters/sec and hit go. Watch the moving man.
E) At which of the two velocities did he move faster? 4 meters/sec
F) Set the moving man’s velocity (≈ speed) at 1meters/sec. Before hitting go, locate the clock again. Let the moving man go for 2 seconds and then hit pause. Now hit go. Record the distance covered in the table below.
G) Repeat Step (F) above but set the velocity (≈ speed) at 4 meters/sec. Again let him go for 2 seconds only.

	SPEED	TIME	DISTANCE COVERED
TRIAL #1	1 meter/sec (slower)	2 seconds	2 meters
TRIAL #2	4 meter/sec (faster)	2 seconds	8 meters

1. At what velocity did he cover more distance? At 4 meters/sec

2. Speed is calculated by comparing the distance with the time. Divide the distance by the time for each trial above. Write the speeds below
TRIAL #1 2 meters divided by 2 sec = 1 m/sec
TRIAL#2 4 meters divided by 2 sec = 2 m/sec

1) EXPLAIN the difference in motion represented by a straight line and a curving line on a “distance vs. time” in terms of constant or changing speed.
A straight line shows velocity and a curved one shows acceleration
2) Changing speed is called “acceleration” (speeding up) or deceleration (slowing down). Describe the shape of an acceleration line on a Distance vs. Time graph of acceleration.
It is a curved line
3) EXPLAIN the difference between the motion represented by a flat line and a sloping straight line in a “distance vs. time” graph.
Constant velocity is a flat line.
4) If the slope of a line on a “distance vs. time” graph is steep. What is different about the motion then when it is not steep?
The steeper it is the faster it is accelerating.