6th Grade Unit 5 Lesson 3 Motion and Speed

Position

An object's location at a given time

Reference Point

A place or object used for comparison to determine if an object is in motion or has moved; also useful when giving directions to a location

Motion

An object's change in position

Speed

How quickly or slowly an object moves; Distance an object travels in a unit of time, for example, 2 meters per second

Average Speed

the total distance traveled divided by the total time it takes to travel that distance

vector

A quantity that has both size and direction; like velocity

Velocity

The speed AND direction of a moving object; for example, 65 mi/hr heading North

Slope

The steepness of a line on a graph (Rise over Run)

(distance)/(speed)=

how to calculate travel TIME

(speed)(time) =

how to calculate DISTANCE

(distance)/(time) =

how to calculate SPEED

Instantaneous speed

Speed at a specific moment in time

Displacement

your overall change in position; includes how far and the direction you are FROM your starting point

Distance

How far an object moves

Direction

Which way motion is going; Examples: North, Southwest, Left

Constant speed

Moving at a steady rate over time

Distance vs. Time Graph

a graph that shows how far an object moved over a certain amount of time; Also known as a Position vs. Time graph

x-axis

the horizontal axis on a coordinate graph

y-axis

the vertical axis on a coordinate graph

independent variable

The factor that is changed on purpose to test its effect on something else

dependent variable

The variable that may change in response to changes in the independent variable