Name: ________________________________ Period: _____ Date: _________
Lab: Investigating Motion Sensor Graphs
Part I: Pre-lab Questions:
1. Roughly sketch what you think the distance versus time graphs would be for the following. Note that the
motion detector is at d = 0.
An object at rest at 1 m An object moving away from the detector, at a
constant speed, from the origin
An object moving toward the detector from 3 m An object that is accelerating away, from a position
away, at a constant speed of 1m, at a constant acceleration
To test your prediction, go to the appropriate starting point (can you tell where your starting point is for the
first graph? How many meters away is it?). When you are ready, have a partner begin collecting and move in
a way to match that graph. Make sure that everyone in your group tries this.
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Name: ________________________________ Period: _____ Date: _________
Part II: Matching Distance vs Time Graphs
In this portion of the lab you will see a motion graph and you are
going to try and match what you see.
1. Open the experiment file 01b Graph Matching. You should
see the following graph
Use words to describe how you would walk to produce such a graph:
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Name: ________________________________ Period: _____ Date: _________
2. Repeat this with experiment file 01c Graph Matching. You should see the following graph.
Use words to describe how you would walk to produce such a graph:
3
Name: ________________________________ Period: _____ Date: _________
Part III: Matching Velocity vs. Time Graphs
In this section our graphs have different axes. Velocity is now on the y-axis and time is on the x-axis.
3. Open experiment file 01d Graph Matching. You should see the following graph.
Use words to predict how you would walk to produce such a graph:
4
Name: ________________________________ Period: _____ Date: _________
4. Open experiment file 01e Graph Matching. You should see the following graph.
Use words to predict how you would walk to produce such a graph:
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Name: ________________________________ Period: _____ Date: _________
Analysis:
5. Sketch an object moving at high acceleration.
6. Sketch an object moving at a negative acceleration (decelerating).