Introduction
Analyzing Position vs. Time Graphs: The most fundamental measurements of motion involve the determination of an object’s location at a series of times. A very effective way to represent these measurements is to plot graphs of an object’s position and velocity as a function of time. Learning to relate an x vs. t graph or a vx vs. t graph to what a motion looks like and being able to extract both qualitative and quantitative information from the graphs are vital tools for studying motion.
Objectives
In this activity, you will
- Examine a video clip of a remotely controlled toy car that changes its velocity as it moves away from an ultrasonic motion detector.
- Study motion graphed by Logger Pro from motion detector data to describe the car’s motion qualitatively.
- Learn to use the data, the graphs and Logger Pro Analysis tools to extract quantitative information about the motion.
