Conceptual Physics Name: __Quincy Douglas____

Constant Linear Motion

THE MOVING MAN:
DISTANCE, DISPLACEMENT, SPEED & VELOCITY

1. Getting started. Go to “The Moving Man” and spend 5 minutes playing with the simulation on the
Introduction tab. Once you are ready to begin the activity, make sure you are on the CHARTS
tab. Leave the position graph (distance vs. time graph) open. But close the velocity graph and the
acceleration graphs by clicking on the arrow buttons in the right upper corner of that graph. When
finished, your screen should look like screen 1 below.

PART A: DISTANCE and DISPLACEMENT

2. Making Observations about Distance:
a. What number & unit are written directly under the moving man? Number ____ Unit____
b. The position under the walking man which is labeled “0 meters” is called the “Reference
Point”. It is the point from which all motion will be referenced. You can use any point as
a reference point but in this case we have chosen this point to be our starting
“reference point”
c. The amount of a certain unit between the reference point and an object is called the
DISTANCE. Distance does not tell you anything about the direction from the reference
point. It only has an amount and a unit.
d. In the table below record the distances requested in meters:
DISTANCE The Wall Near The Tree The House The Wall Near
FROM Walking the Tree the House
Man 10.5 meters 8 meters 8 meters 10.5 meters
(reference point)
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 to….
3. Making Observations about Displacement:
a. What did you notice about the distance to the tree? Did you notice that in the simulation
it was given a negative value while the distance to the house has been given a positive
value. Stop and think for a moment. Why do you suppose this has been done?

b. When we add a “-” or a “+” to the number we are indicating a direction. A “-” sign
means “backward or behind” and a “+” sign means “forward or in front”. The signs
indicate the direction of an object from the chosen reference point. Adding the “+” or “-”
sign indicates DISPLACEMENT (not distance). Distance has an amount (magnitude)
and a unit but it does not have a direction. Displacement, like distance, also has an
amount (magnitude) and a unit, but displacement also includes a direction. When we
want to indicate direction in more than two directions (e.g. forward and backward), we
use words like north, south, east, west, northwest etc. We can also use degrees of a
circle with the reference point being the center of a circle.

c. In the table below record the displacements requested in meters. Use “-“ and “+” to
indicate direction from the reference point (Be sure to also include an amount and a
unit.)

DISPLACEMENT The Wall Near The Tree The House The Wall Near
FROM Walking the Tree the House
Man -10.5 meters -8 meters 8 meters 10.5 meters
(reference point)
to….

Use your own words to describe the difference between an object’s DISTANCE and
DISPLACEMENT.

Distance does not indicate direction, while Displacement does so using a positive or
negative indication.

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PART B: SPEED AND VELOCITY
Introduction: When an object changes position over a period of time we say that it is in MOTION.
When an object moves (changes position), there are several things we can measure about the
motion. We can measure:
1. how much DISTANCE the object traveled as it changed position. (the length of its path)

2. how much TIME it took for it to change position.

3. the DIRECTION it went as it changed position.

4. the SPEED as it changes position. Speed compares the DISTANCE it traveled to the
TIME it took to travel that distance. If an object covers a lot of distance in very little time,
we say its speed is fast. If it covers very little distance in an amount of time, we say that its
speed is slow. Note: “fast” and “slow” are words we can only use when comparing speeds
to each other. For example, a car moves fast compared to a bike but a car moves slow
compared to an airplane.

5. We can describe its VELOCITY as it changes position. Velocity compares the amount that
the object’s DISPLACEMENT in terms of both direction and distance have changed
during a certain amount of TIME. If the object has covered a lot of distance OR changed its
direction a lot, then we say it has a fast velocity.

Use your own words to describe the difference between an object’s SPEED and VELOCITY. Need
extra support?

Speed only involves distance over time, while velocity measures direction and distance.

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Making Observations about Velocity
A. The unit of time used in the moving man is seconds
B. Considering the unit for time and the unit for displacement, write down the unit for velocity
m/s
C. Bring back the Velocity graph by clicking on the arrow sign then set the moving man’s position
to 0m and his velocity at 1 ms-1.
D. Before hitting the play button, locate the clock again. You are going to let the moving man go
for 2 seconds and then hit pause. Now hit play. Record the displacement covered in the table
below.
Note: If he goes more than 2 seconds, select the “playback” option, grab the blue bar
and back it up until the clock says 2 seconds. Repeat Step (E) above but set the
velocity at 4 ms-1. Again let him go for 2 seconds only.
E. Repeat Step (D) above but set the velocity at -1 ms-1. Again let him go for 2 seconds only.
F. Repeat Step (D) above but set the velocity at -4 ms-1. Again let him go for 2 seconds only.

Velocity TIME DISPLACEMENT

TRIAL #1 1 ms-1 2 seconds 2

TRIAL #2 4 ms-1 2 seconds 8

TRIAL #3 -1 ms-1 2 seconds -2

TRIAL #4 -4 ms-1 2 seconds -8

In all the above trials you gave the man 2 seconds to run. Explain which component of velocity
determines how far the man travels, and which component determines whether he moves left or right.

Distance determines how far the man travels, while direction determines whether
he moves left or right.

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PART C: GRAPHING MOTION
1. Making observations.
a. Explore: By either clicking on the man or the slider, cause the man to move back and
forth and observe what shows up on the graphs.
b. Record: Using the axes provided below, make sketches of “Displacement vs. Time”
and “Velocity vs. Time” graphs for the actions described on the left side of each axis.

Note: you can choose to use the pencil or the line annotation tools in kami to sketch your graphs OR
you can sketch them on paper and insert photos.

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Apply what you learned.
Instructions: Look at the graphs above and answer the following questions.
1. EXPLAIN the difference in motion represented by a straight line and a curving line on a
“displacement vs. time” in terms of constant or changing velocity.

A straight line indicates constant velocity, while a curving line indicates acceleration.

2. Changing speed is called “acceleration” (speeding up) or deceleration (slowing down).

Describe the shape of the line on a displacement vs. time graph when an object accelerates.

The line curves upwards, gradually increasing over time.

3. EXPLAIN the difference between the motion represented by a flat line and a sloping straight
line in a “displacement vs. time” graph.

A flat line indicates that there is no movement, while a sloped line indicates movement.

4. EXPLAIN what the steepness of a straight line on a displacement vs. time graph tells you.

The steeper the line, the higher the rate of positive/negative displacement over time.

Instructions: Look at the graph below and answer the following questions.
5. CALCULATE the average velocity between two points by finding the slope of the line between
the 6th and 15th seconds (show work below)

10 m → 0 m = -10 meters

15 s - 6 s = 9 seconds

-10m/9s = -1.111 m/s

6. Why is the line sloping upward to the right between the 2nd & 3rd second, but downward to the
right between 6th and the 15th seconds?

Between the 2nd and 3rd second, the object moves further away from the reference point, and
between the 6th and 15th seconds, it comes closer to the reference point. The line moves to
the right because time is progressing normally.

7. During what two times did he stop moving? Time 1 _3 to 6 seconds_ 2 _16 to 20 seconds_
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