Chapter 2: Representing Motion

Instantaneous velocity

The speed and direction of an object at a particular instant

Magnitude

A term given for the size of a quantity

Position

The location of an object relative to an origin

Time interval

the formula tf - ti

Vector

A quantity with both magnitude and direction

Average velocity

Ratio of the change in position to the time interval during which the change occured

Coordinate system

A system that defines the zero point of the variable you are studying

Origin

The zero point

Position-time graph

A graph with time data on the horizontal axis and position data on the vertical axis

Motion diagram

Shows a series of images showing the position of a moving object over equal time intervals

Particle model

A simplified motion diagram that shows the object in motion as a series of points

Distance

A scalar quantity that is the length, or size, of the displacement vector

Scalar

A quantity that only has magnitude

Instantaneous position

The location of an object at a particular instant

Displacement

The vector quantity that defines the distance and direction between two positions

Average speed

The absolute value of the slope on a position-time graph