Name Date Period

-------------------------------- -------------- ----------

Distance-Time Graphs

Describing the motion of an object is occasionally hard to do with words. Sometimes

graphs help make motion easier to picture, and therefore understand.

Plotting distance against time can tell you a lot about motion. First, look at the axes:

Time is always plotted on the X-axis (bottom of the graph).

The further to the right on the axis, the longer the time from
the start.

Distance is plotted on the Y-axis (side of the graph). The

higher up the graph, the further from the start.
Time

Match each of the following: A. the car is stopped

B. the car is traveling at constant speed
C. the speed of the car is .decreasing
1. 2. 3.
dis1410U

time

1. Graph 1 matches description because _

2. Graph 2 matches description because _

3. Graph 3 matches description because _

Match the part of the graph to the

description:

4. Stationary:

5. Increasing speed:

6. Slow & constant speed:

7. Fast & constant speed:

8. Returning to start:
TIME

Summary:
The steeper the graph, the faster the motion.
A horizontal line means the object is not moving. It is stationary,
A curved line means the speed is changing by speeding up or slowing down.
Distance Time Graphs 20 marks

1. Jane drove 320 km from her home to the airport.

The travel graph shows Janes journey.

320

280

240
Distance from home in km

200

160

120

80

40

1 2 3 4 5

Time in hours

During the journey, Jane stopped for lunch.

(a) (i) For how long did Jane stop for lunch?

(ii) How far had Jane travelled in the first 90 minutes?

.. km
(2)

(b) Work out the steady speed that Jane travelled at after lunch.

. km/h
(2)
2. A man left home at 12 noon to go for a cycle ride.
The travel graph represents part of the mans journey.

At 12.45pm the man stopped for a rest.

(a) For how many minutes did he rest?

minutes
(1)

(b) Find his distance from home at 1.30pm.

.km
(1)

The man stopped for another rest at 2pm.

He rested for one hour.

Then he cycled home at a steady speed. It took him 2 hours.

(c) Complete the travel graph.

(2)
(Total 4 marks)

2
3. James left home at 10 00 am.
He walked to the swimming pool.
On the way to the swimming pool he stopped to talk to a friend.

Here is the distance-time graph for his complete journey.

Distance in km 5
from
James home

0
Time
10 00 11 00 12 00

(a) For how many minutes did James stop and talk to his friend?

minutes
(1)

(b) What is the distance from James home to the swimming pool?

km
(1)
(Total 2 marks)

3
4. The graph shows the rate of rainfall, in mm per hour, one afternoon last year.

1.5
Rate
of
rainfall
(mm per
hour) 1

0.5

0
1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800
Time

(a) At what time did it start to rain?

..
(1)

(b) What was the rate of rainfall at 1700?

.. mm per hour
(1)

(c) What happened to the rate of rainfall between 1600 and 1615?

..........
(1)
(Total 3 marks)

4
5. Robert left school at 3 30 pm.
He walked home.
On the way home, he stopped to talk to a friend.

His sister, Sarah, left the same school at 3 45 pm.

She cycled home using the same route as Robert.

Here are the distance-time graphs for Roberts and Sarahs complete journeys.

Distance
from 3
school
(km)

0
330 340 350 400
Time
(pm)

(a) Find the distance Robert walked during the first 10 minutes of his journey.

................................. km
(1)

(b) Find the total time that Robert stopped to talk to his friend.

................................. minutes
(1)

(c) Write down the distance that Robert had walked when Sarah cycled past him.

................................. km
(1)
(Total 3 marks)

5
 Distance-Time Graphs

Use the following paragraph and graph to answer questions 1through 6.

On Saturday, Erin rode her bicycle to visit 1600

Caroline. Caroline's house is directly east of
1400
Erin's. The graph shows how far Erin was
from her house after each minute of her trip. E 1200
~ 1000
v
1. Erin rode at a constant speed for the first 4 ~ 800
V\.
minutes of her trip. What was her constant (5 6:00
speed?
'400
200 -+--~- +--!~+-
o
2. What was Erin's average speed for the 012345678910
entire trip?
Time (rnin.)

3. What was her average velocity for the entire trip?

4. Erin stopped to talk to with another friend during her trip. How far was she from her house
when she stopped?

5. What is the slope of the line after Erin stopped to talk with her friend?

6. How is the slope ofthe line related to her speed?

Vocabulary Practice

7. An object is in when its distance from a(n)

______________ is changing.

8. Speed in a given direction is _

9. _____________ can be calculated if you know the distance an object travels

in one unit of time .

 Name __________________
Speed Problem Period _______

Worksheet
Directions: Solve the following speed problems. Use the triangle to help solve the
problems. Show all your work. Circle your answer.

1. Calculate the speed for a car that went a distance of 125

kilometers in 2 hours time. D

S T

2. A baseball is thrown a distance of 20 meters. What is its speed if it takes 0.5

seconds to cover the distance?

3. How much time does it take for a bird flying at a speed of 45 kilometers per hour
to travel a distance of 1,800 kilometers?

4. A comet is cruising through the solar system at a speed of 50,000 kilometers per
hour for 4 hours time. What is the total distance traveled by the comet during
this time?
5. If Steve throws the football 50 meters in 3 seconds, what is the average speed
(velocity) of the football?

6. If it takes Ashley 3 seconds to run from the batters box to first base at an average
speed (velocity) of 6.5 meters per second, what is the distance she covers in that
time?

7. Bart ran 5000 meters from the cops and an average speed (velocity) of 6 meters/
second before he got caught. How long did he run?

8. If Justin races his Chevy S-10 down Highway 37 for 2560 meters in 60 seconds,
what is his average speed (velocity)?

9. Mike rides his motorcycle at an average speed (velocity) of 20 meters/second for

500 seconds, how far did he ride?
10. Sarah backstrokes at an average speed of 8 meters per second, how long will it
take her to complete the race of 200 meters length?

11. Laurens SUV was detected exceeding the posted speed limit of 60 kilometers per
hour, how many kilometers per hour would she have been traveling over the
limit if she had covered the a distance of 10 kilometers in 5 minutes?

12. Tinas calculations of the tarantula found that the spider was able to cover 20
centimeters in 5 seconds, what was the average speed of the spider?

13. A coach wants to find out the speed of the runners on a track team. Tell what
simple equipment the coach needs in order to do this and explain how it should
be done.
Equipment needed:

What should be done:

 NAME___________________________________BLOCK____________
Velocity/Acceleration Worksheets

Calculating Average Speed

Graph the following data on the grid below and answer the questions at the bottom of the page. SHOW
WORK!

Time (sec) Distance (m)

0 0
1 50
2 75
3 90
4 110
5 125

1. What is the average speed after two seconds?

2. After three seconds?

3. After 5 seconds?

4. What is the average speed between two and four minutes?

5. What is the average speed between four and five minutes?

Acceleration Calculations

Acceleration means a change in speed or direction. It can also be defined as a change in velocity per unit time.

Calculate the acceleration for the following data. SHOW WORK!

Initial Velocity Final Velocity Time Acceleration

1. 0m/s 24 m/s 3s _______________________________

2. 0 m/s 35 m/s 5s _______________________________

3. 20 m/s 60 m/s 10 s _______________________________

4. 50 m/s 150 m/s 5s _______________________________

5. 25 m/s 1200 m/s 3600 s _______________________________

6. A car accelerates from a standstill to 60 m/s in 10 seconds. What is the acceleration?

7. A car accelerates from 25 km/hr to 55 km/hr in 30 seconds. What is its acceleration?

8. A train is accelerating at a rate of 2 m/s. If its initial velocity is 20 m/s, what is its velocity after 30
seconds?

9. A runner achieves a velocity of 11.1 m/s, 9 sec after he begins. What is his acceleration? What distance
did he cover?
Graphing Velocity vs Time

Plot the following data on the graph and answer the questions below. SHOW WORK IF APPLIES!

Speed (m/s) Time (sec)

0 0
10 2
20 4
30 6
40 8
50 10

1. As time increases, what happens to the speed? ________________________________

2. What is the speed at 5 seconds? ______________________________

3. Assuming constant acceleration, what would be the speed at 14 seconds? __________

4. At what time would the object reach a speed of 45 m/s? ____________________

5. What is the objects acceleration? ____________________

6. What would the shape of the graph be if a speed of 50 m/s is maintained from 10s to 20 s?
7. Based on the information in Problem 6, calculate the acceleration from 10 s to 20 s.

8. What would the shape of the graph b if the speed of the object decreased from 50 m/s at 20 s to 30 m/s
at 40 s?
Graphing Distance vs. Time

Plot the following data on the graph and answer the following questions below. SHOW WORK IF APPLIES!

Distance (m/s) Time (s)

0 0
5 10
12 20
20 30
30 40
42 50
56 60

1. What is the average speed at 20 s? ______________________________

2. What is the average speed at 30 s? ________________________________

3. What is the acceleration between 20 and 30 s? ________________________

4. What is the average speed at 40 s? ______________________________

5. What is the average speed at 60 s? ______________________________

6. What is the acceleration between 40 and 60 s? _______________________

7. Is the object accelerating at a constant rate? __________