4-1 graphing uniformly accelerated motion
equipment
position-time graph
pencil
objective
during this investigation you will
• study the behavior of an object under the influence of gravity using
data from a position-time graph.
procedure
1. study graph i, the position-time graph for an arrow shot vertically
into the air. recall that the slope of the curve at any point is equal
to the instantaneous velocity at that time.
2. determine the instantaneous velocity of the arrow att = 1, 2, 3, and
4 seconds. to do this, construct the tangents to the curve at these
times and determine the slopes of the tangents. record your data in
the second column of table 4-1.
3. plat a velocity-time graph on graph ii using data from table 4-1.
4. the slope of a velocity-time graph is equal to the acceleration. using
the same method that you used in step 2, determine the accelerations
at t = 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 seconds. enter the values in the third column
of table 4-1.
5. plot an acceleration-time graph on graph iii.
interpretation
1. describe the magnitude and direction of the change in velocity with
time.
2. what is the significance of a negative velocity?
3. what does the shape of the curve in graph iii tell you about the
acceleration of gravity?
4. what is the acceleration when v = 0 m/s? explain.
chapter 4
minilab
merrill publishing company 1990. 1986
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