Sunday, December 14, 2014

FRESHMAN YEAR: Cart on a ramp

All the graphs we've encountered so far have had a constant velocity. 


constant velocity graph

When we set a car on a ramp we have seen that the velocity was no longer constant. The graph looked linear. So it is a constant increase in velocity.

 

So as you see, the two graphs are very different. This graph shows that in every single second the velocity is changing. I really wasn't expecting the graph to look linear because I thought it wasn't possible. Though the two graphs look different, I'm sure you can still calculate the velocity the same way. I think we have to go more in depth with this topic. I remember that Mr. Battaglia said something about acceleration at the end, but i'm not entirely sure what it was. So my question: is the second graph a model for acceleration or is it just simply velocity constantly increasing?