Velocity-Time-Graphs

CAIE IGCSE Revision notes

Velocity-Time graphs 

These are some additional last minute revision sheets designed to summarise the velocity-time graphs. An ideal preparation for  the day-before boards.

VELOCITY-TIME GRAPH

  • Velocity-time graphs , sometimes also called  as the speed-time graphs. have the vertical axis  labelled as  the velocity of the object. The horizontal axis is the time from the start.
  • This graph shows how the velocity of the object changes  with time
  • Kinematics is the science of describing the motion of objects

SLOPE OF A VELOCITY-TIME GRAPH

What does the slope of a velociyty-time graph represent?

The slope of a velocity-time graph represents the acceleration of the object.

ACCELERATION:

  • Acceleration is a vector quantity. It has magnitude as  well as direction.
  • Units of acceleration are: m/s2

TYPES OF ACCELERATION SHOWN BY A VELOCITY-TIME GRAPH

  • Uniform acceleration
  • Non-Uniform acceleration

UNIFORM ACCELERATION:

What is uniform acceleration?

When a body moves along a straight line and its velocity increases by equal amounts in equal interval of time then the motion is called uniformly accelerated motion.E.g.:- Motion of a freely falling body.

What is non-Uniform acceleration?

Non Uniform acceleration is  a change of non-equal velocity in equal intervals of time.

Can the acceleration be positive , negative or zero?

  • Zero acceleration:A horizontal line (a slope of zero) indicates that the object has zero acceleration and is moving at constant velocity.
  • Positive acceleration:On a graph, if a line has positive slope, we say that the object has positive acceleration;
  • Negative acceleration:if the line has a  negative slope, we say that the line has negative acceleration.Negative acceleration is also called as deceleration

STRAIGHT AND CURVED VELOCITY-TIME GRAPHS:

  • If the velocity-time graph is curved, the acceleration can be found by calculating the gradient of a tangent to the curve.
  • If the velocity-time graph is curved, the acceleration can be found by calculating the gradient of a tangent to the curve.

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Hope this helps:

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