Distance, Speed,
Acceleration, and Graphs
Lucas Thornton, Annwhitney McCombs, Daniel Armao, Alana
Eastling
Period 1
Quarter 3


Scalar- A quantity consisting of a
magnitude (numerical value) only.
Vector- A quantity described by a
magnitude and a direction.
Also, the bad guy from Despicable Me.
Scalars and Vectors
Distance- If you don’t know what distance is, you’re in
need of more help than we can provide. It’s a scalar
quantity that refers to how much ground an object has
covered during its motion.
 Displacement- How far out of place an object is (Vector)

This roller
coaster covers
distance.
Has no
displacement,
because it
ends in the
same place it
starts.
Distance and Displacement


Speed- How fast and object moves.
(Scalar)
Velocity-The rate at which an object
changes its position. (Vector)
You have a cool
car, but it’s not
this cool.
Velocity =
distance/time
Average
velocity =
Displacement/ti
me
Speed and Velocity


Instantaneous speed-The speed at any
given instance.
Average speed-The average of all
instantaneous speed (distance/time ratio).
What? You can’t
expect a cool picture
on every slide.
Instantaneous vs. Average Speed


Acceleration-The rate at which an object
changes its velocity. (Vector)
Acceleration = Δvelocity
Time
Dr. Nefario’s
scooter gives
him very little
acceleration.
Acceleration
(What’s that? Yes, every slide
has to do with Despicable Me.)
Graphing? More like
Gruphing, amirite?
Graphing Distance
Yeah, they don’t get
it either.
Graphing Velocity
Minions are easily excited.
Graphing Acceleration
1) A quantity with both direction and magnitude is a ________.
a. Scalar
b. Vector
c. Magnitude
d. Distance
2) Scalar or Vector?
a. 6 cm
b. 300 m/sec
e. 30 degrees Celsius
f. 10 m
c. 25 mi North
d. 50 mi/h West
3) Which vector quantity is the measure of how far an object has moved from its original position?
a. Distance
b. Displacement
4) What is the equation for calculating the average velocity of an object?
a. distance / time
c. displacement / time
b. distance / speed
d. displacement / speed
5) How far can a bus travel in 6 hours at an average speed of 50 miles per hour?
6) What is the acceleration of a car going from rest to 80 miles per hour in 6 seconds?
7) What does the graph of constant velocity look like?
a. an increasing diagonal line
c. a straight line
b. decreasing diagonal line
d. a curved parabola
8) What does the graph of constant acceleration look like?
a. an increasing diagonal line
c. a straight line
b. a decreasing diagonal line
d. a curved parabola
9) If a cheetah runs at 40 m/s, how long will it take the cheetah to run a 100-m dash?
10) What is the equation for the acceleration of an object?
a. velocity / time
c. change in speed / time
b. speed / time
d. change in velocity / time
11. If a runner can average 4 mph, can he complete a 100-mile ultramarathon in less than 22 hours?
12. A dog running in the park ran 40 meter to his owner in 8 seconds. What was the dogs velocity?
Review Questions
1) B
2) a. scalar, b. scalar, c. vector, d. vector, e. scalar, f. scalar
3) B
4) C
5) 300 miles
6) 13.3 miles / sec2
7) C
8) A
9) 2.5 seconds
10) D
11) no, he needs at least 25 hours
12) 5 m/s
Answers