Velocity and Acceleration

Introduction

The definitions of velocity and acceleration for an object moving along a horizontal line are deceptively simple. Velocity is the time rate of change of the position and acceleration is the time rate of change of velocity. But it takes some skill to reconstruct an actual 1D motion from graphs of an object's velocity or acceleration components as a function of time. In this activity you'll practice relating various types of graphs to a specific motion.

Objectives

In this activity, you will

• Study the motion of a robotic toy car.
• Use Logger Pro video analysis tools to determine characteristics of the car's position and velocity.