Lab 1 Worksheet

Lab/Demo 1--Understanding Motion PHYS 1800
Objectives: Understand what position, speed and acceleration are
Learn to graph them versus time
Develop some intuition for common situations
Describing Motion
Position—where you are in space (D-meter)
Speed—how fast position is changing with time (DT-1 or m/s)
Acceleration—how fast speed is changing with time (DT-2 or m/s2)
(we will talk about direction and vectors later)
Units of Motion
Need a distance unit:
Need a time unit:
m, cm, mm, km
ft, in, mi
light years, furlongs
sec, min, hr, day, year
ms, ns, fs
fortnights
Speed: A distance divided by time (DT -1 )
m/s, mi/hr, mm/yr, furlongs/fortnight
Acceleration: A distance divided by time squared (DT -2 )
A speed divided by time (DT -2 )
m/s 2 , mi/hr 2 , mm/yr 2 , furlongs/fortnight 2
Consider: Standing still
Constant speed (different magnitudes)
Constant acceleration (different magnitudes)
Constant deceleration (different magnitudes)
Arbitrary motion
Standing still
Distance
Speed
Acceleration
Time
Time
Time

Constant speed (different magnitudes
Distance
Speed
Acceleration
Time
Time
Time
Constant acceleration (different magnitudes)
Distance
Speed
Acceleration
Time
Time
Time
Constant deceleration (different magnitudes)
Distance
Speed
Acceleration
Time
Time
Time
Arbitrary motion
Distance
Speed
Acceleration
Time
Time
Walk slowly toward the wall at slow constant speed
Stop for 2 sec just before the wall
Run back to where you started, accelerating constantly
Move back half way to wall at fast constant speed
Jump up and down
Spin around
Time