Physics Lesson Plan
Teacher
Howard
Unit Title 1D motion
Length
75
Goal(s)/PLO(s):
Course
Grade Level
Block/Period
define distance, displacement, speed, and velocity
construct displacement (and distance)-versus-time
graphs
Phys 11
11
C
Date
Class Size
Lesson #, of
Fri Feb 5
28
02-01
use displacement-versus-time graphs to determine
the displacement, average velocity, or instantaneous
velocity of objects
solve problems involving: displacement, time,
average velocity
Materials:
Kinematics worksheet 1.1, meter stick, toy car, modelling clay, overhead graph
paper
Timeline
Class Activities
Introduction
Go over/check ws 5-6 and review 29-34
Body
Notes 2.1
Demonstration 1 page 42
Closure
Worksheet 1.1 and section 2-1 1-6 review if needed
Notes 2-1 Displacement and Velocity
Motion or movement is one of the principle areas investigated by
physicists
• Start with 1 dimensional motion (straight line)
o Forward and backward movement only
o Same concepts in 2 or 3 D, just repeat the calculations
• You need to pick a frame of reference
 Train goes along a track
 Earth is spinning
 Earth is moving around the sun
 The solar system is moving through the galaxy
o Pick a frame of reference which we assume is
motionless
 Any frame can be used as long as the same one is
used for the whole problem
 An imaginary metre stick under a moving object
works well
Displacement
• Length of a straight line from the starting position to ending
position of an object
• ∆x = x f - x i
• Do demonstration 1
• ../Physics 12/moving-man_en.jar
• Displacement is not always equal to the distance traveled
o Only initial and final positions matter
• Displacement can be positive or negative
o Add them up to get total displacement
o Up, or right are usually positive
o Down or left are usually negative
Average Velocity
• Displacement divided by the time required for the
displacement
o Not average of the starting and ending velocities
•
• Can be positive or negative depending on the direction
o Go 370km west, leave at 10am and arrive at 3pm
o Calculate average velocity (page 43)
Velocity is not speed
• Average speed = distance travelled/ time of travel
o Distance can be different from displacement
o Indy 500 travelled 500 miles in 4 hours
• speed= 500/4=125 mi/h
o Start and finish points are the same
• (displacement is 0)…v avg =0
Velocity can be calculated graphically
• Plot (0, 0) and (4, 4) from example on page 45
•
• looking at the graph
o ∆x = rise
o ∆t = run
• What is each object doing?
• The slope of a position
vs time graph is the
velocity
Instantaneous velocity is the velocity at a particular time
• Take the slope at the straight line tangent of that point
o The average velocity between 2 infinitely close times
o Allows you to calculate the velocity at any time
o Look at table 2-2 and figure 2-7 and explain
Assign worksheet and
review 3