CHAPTER 9 – MOTION
Science Newsletter – Week of 11/9
Introduction to Our Section by Jasmin Elphic
My group and I were assigned Chapter 9, which covers motion. Motion is the process of movement or being moved. This includes walking, running, swimming, driving, and much more. Everything on this planet is in motion. It might be a very small movement but it is, in fact motion. Changes in motion don’t just happen either, because forces need to act upon an object to get it moving. Not only does this chapter go over motion, but it also teaches you about describing and measuring motion, speed and velocity, and acceleration, which we will get into later. Here are a few key terms that will be helpful while you read our chapter.
Section 1 – Describing and Measuring Motion by Faith Reed and Catie Clack
There are multiple ways to determine if an object is in motion or not. One way is a reference point. A reference point is a place or object used for comparison to determine if something is in motion.An object is in motion if it changes position relative to a reference point or if its distance from another object is changing. For example, walking across a room. Your distance from one wall is changing as you walk.Also, you can use units of measurement to describe motion precisely. Scientists all over the world use the same system of measurement called the International System of Units.Scientists use SI units to describe the distance an object moves.When you measure distance, you measure length. So for example, meter is the SI unit for length.
Section 2 - Speed and Velocity by Camryn Shelley
Speed is the distance object travels per unit of time. If you know the distance of traveling and the time, you can calculate the speed by dividing distance by time. For instance, if you were riding on a scooter and wanted to calculate your speed from point A to point B you would determine your distance and divide it by the time it took you to get to point B. If you are doing multiple trials of various distances and wanted to find out the average speed for all of them, you would divide the total distance by total time. Average speed is used to calculate how fast a person can run a certain distance on average. This is different from instantaneous speed, which is the rate at which an object is moving at a given instant in time. Velocity is the speed in a given direction. Knowing velocity can help you with things such as weather. You use velocity to determine how much time you have until a storm hits your area. Slope is the steepness of a line on a line graph. You can calculate the slope by dividing the rise by the run. The rise is the vertical distance between any two points on a line graph. The run is the horizontal difference between the same two points.
Section 3 – Acceleration by Katie Abercrombie
In science, acceleration refers to increasing speed, decreasing speed, or changing direction.To determine the acceleration of an object moving in a straight line, you must calculate the change in speed per unit of time.
● Acceleration= Final Speed – Initial Speed
Time
You can use both a speed-versus-time graph and a distance-versus-time graph to analyze the motion of an accelerating object.
JOKES
1. ☼ Q: Where did French grams and German kilograms meet?
A: The International System of Units
2. ☼Police knocked at my door last night and said, "Sorry for troubling you sir, but can we have a quick word?"
I said, "Velocity?"
3. May the Mass x Acceleration Be with You