YEAR 11 HSC PHYSICS
8.4 MOVING ABOUT 8.4.1.C
Worksheet Velocity Time Graphs
Set 1 Drawing velocity-time graphs
1. The table below is a table of data from an experiment measuring the! variation of speed with time for a car.
Time (s) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
Speed (ms-1) 15 20 25 30 35 39 32 20 8 0 0 10
a) Graph the data on a speed-time graph.!
b) Find the speed of the car at 35.0 s.!
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c) Find how long the car took to decelerate from 30.0 to 10.0 m s-1.
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d) Determine the acceleration at 70.0 s.!
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e) How far did the car travel during the time 110.0 s?
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Set 2 Definitions and meanings
2. Contrast the terms uniform motion and non-uniform motion.
3. What is the gradient of a graph? Identify the information the gradient !gives us in displacement-time and velocity-
time graphs.
4. Outline why we normally place time along the horizontal axis of a! motion graph.
5. Describe how displacement is determined from a graph.
6. Explain why we use a 'line of best fit' with a graph.
Set 3 - Interpreting velocity-time graphs
7. The diagram shows the velocity-time graph for a car travelling in a!straight line
along a road.
a) Calculate the acceleration between t = 0 s and t = 2.0 s.
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b) Calculate the acceleration between t = 2.0 s and t = 5.0 s.
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c) Calculate the displacement between t = 0 s and t = 5.0 s.
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8. The graph shows a velocity-time graph for a student moving in a
straight line. From the graph:!
a) calculate the acceleration between:!
(i) t = 0 s and t = 3.0 s.
(ii) t = 3.0 s and t = 6.0 s!
(iii) t = 6.0 s and t = 9.0 s!
(iv) t = 9.0 s and t = 12.0 s
b) calculate the displacement during the !following time intervals:!
(i) t = 0 s and t = 6.0 s
(ii) t = 0 s and t = 9.0 s
(iii) t = 0 s and t = 12.0 s
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c) calculate the distance travelled between t = 0 s and t = 12.0 s
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d) sketch the displacement-time graph for! the motion.
9. The graph shows a velocity-time graph for a soccer player moving !in a straight line during part of a match.!
a) Calculate the acceleration between t = 0 s!and t = 2.0 s.!
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b) Calculate the instantaneous acceleration! at t = 8.0 s.!
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c) Calculate the acceleration between t = 4.0 s! and t = 7.0 s.!
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d) Calculate the instantaneous acceleration!at t = 9.0 s.
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e) Determine the distance the player travels !between t = 0 s and t = 6.0 s.!
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f) What is the total distance covered by the !player between t = 0 s and t = 14.0 s?!
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g) What is the displacement between t = 0 s and t = 14.0 s?
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10. A motor bike moves in a straight line, accelerating uniformly at! 3.0 ms-2 for 10.0 s, moving at a constant speed of
30.0 m s-1 for a!further 20.0 s, and finally decelerating at a constant rate of 2.0 ms-2 !until coming to rest. Draw a
velocity-time graph for this motion and !hence determine the total distance travelled during the entire journey.
11. The graph shows at speed-time graph of the motion of a cyclist.!
a) Determine the speed at 5.0 s.
b) At what time is the speed 4.0 m s-1?
c) Determine between which times the speed is constant.!
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d) Calculate the acceleration at 4.0 s.!
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e) What distance has the cyclist travelled between 3.0 s and 5.0 s?
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Answers
Set 1 Drawing velocity-time graphs
1 a) See graph below.
b) Approximately 32 ms-1
c) 16 s
d) -1.3 ms-1
e) 2350 m
Set 2 Definitions and meanings
2 Uniform motion occurs when the magnitude of the acceleration is constant. Non-uniform motion occurs
when the magnitude of the acceleration is not constant.
3 The gradient of the graph is the gradient of a tangent drawn at any given point along the line or curve. The
gradient of a displacement-time graphs is the velocity of an object at a given time while the gradient of a
velocity-time graph is the acceleration of the object at any given time.
4 Time is the independent variable and it is usual to graph the independent variable on the x-axis.
5 In the case of a displacement-time graph, displacement is read as the value on the vertical axis. In the case of
a velocity-time graph, displacement is the area under the graph.
6 A line of best fit may reduce measurement errors and allow us to find an algebraic equation to describe the
motion.
Set 3 - Interpreting velocity-time graphs
7 a) 0
b) 6.67 ms-2
c) 70 m
8 a) i) 2 ms-2
ii) 0
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iii) -2 ms-2
iv) 2 ms-2
b) i) 27 m
ii) 36 m
iii) 27 m
c) 45 m
d)
9 a) 1 ms-2
b) -3 ms-2
c) 0
d) -3 ms-2
e) 24 m
f) 46.5 m
g) 25.5 m
10 See graph below. The total distance travelled was 975 m.
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11 a) 6 ms-1
b) 2.8 s
c) Best estimation between 2.2 < t < 2.6 s
d) 1.1 ms-2
e) Best estimation is about 10.75 m
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