POGIL: Acceleration in One Dimension Average and Instantaneous Acceleration In answering the question How do things move?

, we have already investigated the use of position, displacement, and velocity to describe where, how far, how fast, and in which direction an object moves. However, we also need to describe how quickly velocity changes. For one dimensional motion, we define the following quantities for such a description, listed with their algebraic symbols: instantaneous acceleration a the rate at which velocity changes at one instant in time, measured by a distance per time unit divided by a time unit. v a average acceleration = , where v is the change in an object's velocity during its motion t and t is the time elapsed during the motion. It is the average of all the instantaneous accelerations during an objects motion.

Always remember that to find the change in a quantity such as velocity, always take the final value of the quantity minus the initial value of the quantity. For example, if a car begins with a velocity of 5 m/s and after 10 s has a velocity of 2 m/s, its change in velocity during the 10 s interval is: v=vv o =2 m/ s5 m/ s=3 m/ s 1. The velocity vs. time graph below describes the motion of a horse.
15 10 5

velocity (m /s)

0 -5 -10 -15 -20 -25 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

tim e (s)

(a) What is the horse's velocity at: i. 5 s? ii. 10 s? iii. 17.5 s? iv. 20 s? v. 25 s? (b) What is the horse's average acceleration from: i. 0 to 10 s? ii. 10 to 15 s? iii. 15 to 25 s?

(c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h)

iv. 25 to 35 s? When is the horse at rest? When does the horse move in the positive direction? When does the horse move in the negative direction? When is the horse speeding up? When is the horse slowing down? When is the horse's velocity constant?

2. What is the difference between average acceleration and instantaneous acceleration?

3. Does a negative acceleration necessarily mean that an object is slowing down? Justify your answer using question 1.

4. What quantity does the slope of a velocity vs. time graph tell you?

5. Is acceleration a scalar quantity or a vector quantity? Justify your answer.