Name:______
Intro to Motion Lab
Materials
1. Meter Stick
2. Tape
3. Stop Watch
4. Graph Paper
5. Constant Speed Buggy (red and blue)
Directions
1. Turn the Buggy on and let it run. Pretend you had to describe what is happening to the car to someone who is blind. What would you say? How would you describe its motion? Be specific.
2. Using the example of the Buggy, explain and define the following terms:
a. Motion:
b. Distance:
c. Time:
d. Speed:
3. Using the stop watch and meter stick fill out the following table. For both the Blue and Red Car determine the time it takes for your car to travel 50 cm, 100 cm, 150 cm and 200 cm.
Red Car
Time (s) / Position (cm)Blue Car
Time (s) / Position (cm)4. Graph each table on graph paper. Make sure to label the axes and give the graph a title.
5. For the Red Car determine how fast the car travel from (show all work):
a. 0 cm to 50 cm: ______
b. 50 cm to 100 cm: ______
c. 100 cm to 150 cm: ______
d. 150 cm to 200 cm: ______
6. For the Blue Car determine how fast the car travel from (show all work):
a. 0 cm to 50 cm: ______
b. 50 cm to 100 cm: ______
c. 100 cm to 150 cm: ______
d. 150 cm to 200 cm: ______
7. Use to graph to find the slope between any 2 points. Do so for each graph. Show all work.
8. Does the slope change in any way for each graph? Why or Why not?
9. How is the slope of your graphs related to one of the terms in question 2? Explain.
10. If the Blue car ran for 2 minutes, how far would it travel? Show all work.
a. If the Red car ran for 1.68 minutes, how far would it travel? Show all work.
b. Bonus: What might be an equation to determine speed with time and distance?
i. How about for distance?
11. Sketch a graph with distance over time, with the Blue Buggy beginning at 200 cm going to back to 0 cm. Record the data first with a table like the ones in question 3 and then graph.
a. Find the slope of the line.
b. Is the slope positive or negative and why?
c. What is the difference between speed and velocity? Use slope to help explain the difference.
12. Define/explain the following terms:
a. Speed
b. Constant Speed
c. Instantaneous Speed
d. Velocity
e. Distance
f. Equation for Speed
g. Equation for Distance