Motion Simulation The Moving Man

Name ___________________________________________ Period _____ Date ____________________ Motion Simulation: The Moving Man Object of the simulation To explore position and velocity graphs of an object moving in different ways. Familiarization There are two tabs for this simulation, called "Introduction" and "Charts." For today's activity, you will need only the "Introduction" tab. Play with the controls of the simulation to get used to the controls. Can 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? Constant Velocity 1. Reset all of the man's values to zero. 2. 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). 3. Click  to start the man in motion until he hits the wall, then hit to stop recording. 4. Use the playback feature to answer these questions. a. What happened to the blue position slider as the man moved across the screen? It moved right across the screen as the values increased. b. What happened to the red velocity slider as the man moved across the screen? It stayed the same Name ___________________________________________ Period _____ Date ____________________ 5. Use the playback feature to record the man's position and velocity data. Time (s) 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0 Position (m) -8 -6.8 -5.6 -4.4 -3.2 -1 0.2 1.4 2.6 3.8 5 Velocity (m/s) 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 6. Plot your data in the graphs below: 7. According to your graphs... a. What shape is your position graph? Linear b. What is the slope of your position graph? 1.2 c. Why does or doesn't your answer to b. make sense? 1.2 Meters / 1 Second (X2-X2/Y2-Y1) d. What shape is your velocity graph? Is it horizontal, vertical, or diagonal? Horizontal line e. Why does or doesn't your answer to d. make sense? Velocity stays the same the entire time Name ___________________________________________ Period _____ Date ____________________ Constant Acceleration 1. Reset all of the man's values to zero. 2. Using the position slider, set the man to stand near the tree. Give him a velocity of 0 m/s and an acceleration of 0.5 m/s2. 3. Click  to start the man in motion until he hits the wall, then hit to stop recording. 4. Use the playback feature to answer these questions. a. What happened to the blue position slider as the man moved across the screen? it kept moving faster each second b. What happened to the red velocity slider as the man moved across the screen? It also started to move faster before going back to 0 5. Use the playback feature to record the man's position and velocity data. Time (s) 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0 Position (m) -8 -7.75 -6.958 -5.812 -4 -1.854 1 4.105 8 10 10 6. Plot your data in the graphs below: Velocity (m/s) 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 0 0 Name ___________________________________________ Period _____ Date ____________________ 7. According to your graphs... a. What shape is your position graph? exponential curve b. Why does or doesn't your answer to a. make sense? The velocity is increasing at a constant rate due to acceleration causing the displacement to increase at an exponential rate c. What shape is your velocity graph? Linear with a drop at the end d. Why does or doesn't your answer to c. make sense? Acceleration is causing the velocity to increase at a constant rate e. What is the slope of your velocity graph? f. 0.5 or 1/2 What does the slope of the velocity graph represent? The slope of the velocity graph represents the velocity change per second due to acceleration Making Connections 1. What happens to the man when he is accelerating? the velocity increases every seccond 2. What is the difference between an object with constant acceleration and an object with constant speed? Constant speed- speed never changes Constant acceleration- Speed changes at a set rate every seccond 3. Complete the following sentences: a. "The slope of a linear position graph tells us the Velocity of the object." b. "The slope of a linear velocity graph tells us the Acceleration of the object." c. "For an object moving at a constant speed, we would expect to see a position graph with a Linear shape and a velocity graph with a Flat (horizontal) shape." d. "For an object moving at a constant acceleration, we would expect to see a position graph with a Parabolic shape and a velocity graph with a Linear shape."