Physics Displacement and Velocity Notes

Dot Diagrams ● Motion

________ is a change in position.

motion diagram

○ A(n) ________ shows an objects position at several equally spaced moments in time.

○

________ When representing a component, use x to represent horizontal motion and y to represent vertical motion.

● Displacement

________ is an example of a vector quantity, a quantity having both magnitude and direction.

● Distance

________ traveled is the total length of the path traveled between two positions.

○

________ Since velocity is defined by the displacement, a vector quantity, then velocity is also a vector quantity.

○ There are two methods for determining resultants

graphical (the head-to-tail method) and analytical

position

a measure of where the object is at a particular time with respect to some reference point.

Displacement

the change in position of an object

Distance traveled

the total length of the path traveled between two positions. In any given scenario, the distance traveled is greater than or equal to the displacement

scalar quantity

a quantity with magnitude or size, but no defined direction

vector quantity

a quantity having both magnitude and direction

vector component

the projection of a vector quantity along an axis in a coordinate system

resultant

a vector that is the sum of two or more vectors

motion diagram

shows an object’s position at several equally spaced moments in time

dot diagram

a motion diagram in which each position of the moving object of interest is represented as a single point

uniform motion

Straight-line motion in which the position changes the same amount in each time interval

nonuniform motion

Motion in which the position does not change the same amount in each time interval

position graph

a position vs. time graph

Velocity

a measure of how much an object’s position changes in a specified amount of time

Speed

a measure of how much distance an object travels in a specified amount of time