Workout: Kinematic variables

Read

Read the web page: Kinematic Variables.

Launch

To give you some practice on working with velocity, go to the PhET simulation Moving Man to perform a few tasks.

Set up

Play with the controls of the simulation to get used to the controls. See if you find...

• two ways to move the man around
• how to make the man move automatically
• how to record and playback the man's motion
• how to playback the man's motion in slow motion
• how to quickly reset the man to starting conditions

Reset all of the man's values to zero. Using the position slider, set the man to stand near the tree. Give him a velocity of 1.2 m/s (and an acceleration of 0). Your screens should look like the image below.

Answer these questions

Start the man in motion until he hits the wall, then hit pause to stop recording. Use the playback feature to answer these questions.

1. What happened to the blue position slider as the man moved across the screen? 
2. What happened to the red velocity slider as the man moved across the screen? 

Now, click on the Charts tab and perform the same task. 

3. What shape is your position graph? 
4. Why does or doesn't your answer to the previous question make sense? 
5. What shape is your velocity graph? Is it horizontal, vertical, or diagonal? 
6. Why does or doesn't your answer to the previous question make sense? 

Dave Buehrle, Fall 2016