unit 2: linear motion vocabulary

motion diagram

series of images showing the positions of a moving object at equal time intervals

particle model

simplified version of a motion diagram in which the object in motion is replaced by a series of single points

coordinate system

tells you the location of the zero point of the variable you are studying and the direction in which the values of the variable increase

origin

point at which both variables have the value of zero

distance

scalar quantity that describes how far an object goes from the origin and is measured along the actual path

displacement

change in position having both magnitude and direction
final position minus initial position

position

separation between an object and the origin; can be given a positive or negative

scalar

quantities that are just numbers without a direction
temperature, time, speed, distance

vector

quantities that have both a magnitude and direction
- velocity = speed
- displacement = distance

magnitude

a measure of size

resultant vector

vector that results from the sum of two other vectors

position vs time graph

graph that can be used to determine an object’s velocity and position, as well as where and when two objects meet, by plotting the time data on the x-axis and the position data on the y-axis

average speed

how fast an object is moving
absolute value of the slope of an objects position vs time graph

average velocity

change in position divided by time in which that change occurred
slope of the objects position vs time graph