Analyzing Graphs of Motion Without Numbers 2.

Position-time graphs
The graph at right represents the story of “The Three Little Pigs.” The
parts of the story are listed below.
• The wolf started from his house. The graph starts at the origin.
• Traveled to the straw house. The line moves upward.
• Stayed to blow it down and eat dinner. The line is flat because position
is not changing.
• Traveled to the stick house. The line moves upward again.
• Again stayed, blew it down, and ate seconds. The line is flat.
• Traveled to the brick house. The line moves upward.
• Died in the stew pot at the brick house. The line is flat.
The graph illustrates that the pigs’ houses are generally in a line away from the wolf’s house and that the brick
house was the farthest away.
Speed-time graphs
A speed-time graph displays the speed of an object over time and is based on
position-time data. Speed is the relationship between distance (position) and
time, v = d/t. For the first part of the wolf’s trip in the position versus time
graph, the line rises steadily. This means the speed for this first leg is constant.
If the wolf traveled this first leg faster, the slope of the line would be steeper.
The wolf moved at the same speed toward his first two “visits.” His third trip
was slightly slower. Except for this slight difference, the wolf was either at one
speed or stopped (shown by a flat line in the speed versus time graph.

Read the steps for each story. Sketch a position-time graph and a speed-time graph for each story.

1. Graph Red Riding Hood's movements according the following events listed in the order they occurred:
• Little Red Riding Hood set out for
Grandmother’s cottage at a good walking
pace.
• She stopped briefly to talk to the wolf.
• She walked a bit slower because they were
talking as they walked to the wild flowers.
• She stopped to pick flowers for quite a
while.
• Realizing she was late, Red Riding Hood ran
the rest of the way to Grandmother’s
cottage.
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2. Graph the movements of the Tortoise and the Hare. Use two lines to show the movements of each 2.4
animal on each graph. The movements of each animals are listed in the order they occurred.
• The tortoise and the hare began their race
from the combined start-finish line. By
the end of the race, the two will be at the
same position at which they started.
• Quickly outdistancing the tortoise, the
hare ran off at a moderate speed.
• The tortoise took off at a slow but steady
speed.
• The hare, with an enormous lead, stopped
for a short nap.
• With a start, the hare awoke and realized that he had been sleeping for a long time.
• The hare raced off toward the finish at top speed.
• Before the hare could catch up, the tortoise’s steady pace won the race with an hour to spare.

3. Graph the altitude of the sky rocket on its flight according to the following sequence of events listed in order.
• The skyrocket was placed on the
launcher.
• As the rocket motor burned, the rocket
flew faster and faster into the sky.
• The motor burned out; although the
rocket began to slow, it continued to coast
ever higher.
• Eventually, the rocket stopped for a split
second before it began to fall back to
Earth.
• Gravity pulled the rocket faster and faster toward Earth until a parachute popped out, slowing its descent.
• The descent ended as the rocket landed gently on the ground.

4. A story told from a graph: Tim, a student at Cumberland Junior High, was determined to ask Caroline for a
movie date. Use these graphs of his movements from his house to Caroline’s to write the story.
Analyzing Graphs of Motion With Numbers 2.4

Speed can be calculated from position-time graphs and distance can be calculated from speed-time graphs. Both
calculations rely on the familiar speed equation: v = d/t.
This graph shows position and time for a sailboat starting from its
home port as it sailed to a distant island. By studying the line, you can
see that the sailboat traveled 10 miles in 2 hours.

• Calculating speed from a position-time graph

The speed equation allows us to calculate that the vessel speed during
this time was 5 miles per hour.
v = d/t
v = 10 miles 2 hours
v = 5 miles/hour, read as 5 miles per hour

This result can now be transferred to a speed-time graph. Remember

that this speed was measured during the first two hours.
The line showing vessel speed is horizontal because the speed was
constant during the two-hour period.
• Calculating distance from a speed-time graph
Here is the speed-time graph of the same sailboat later in the voyage.
Between the second and third hours, the wind freshened and the
sailboat increased its speed to 7 miles per hour. The speed remained 7
miles per hour to the end of the voyage.
How far did the sailboat go during this time? We will first calculate the
distance traveled between the third and sixth hours.
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On a speed-time graph, distance is equal to the area between the baseline and the plotted line. You know 2.4
that the area of a rectangle is found with the equation: A = L W. Similarly, multiplying the speed from the
y-axis by the time on the x-axis produces distance. Notice how the labels cancel to produce miles:
speed time = distance

7 miles/hour 6 hours – 3 hours = distance

7 miles/hour 3 hours = distance = 21 miles

Now that we have seen how distance is calculated, we can consider the distance
covered between hours 2 and 3.
The easiest way to visualize this problem is to think in geometric terms. Find the
area of the rectangle labeled “1st problem,” then find the area of the triangle above,
and add the two areas.

Area of triangle A The area of a triangle is one-half the area of a rectangle.

Geometry formula time
speed ---------- = distance
2
3 hours – 2 hours
7 miles/hour – 5 miles/hour ----------------------------------------------- = distance = 1 mile
2

Area of rectangle B
Geometry formula speed time = distance

5 miles/hour 3 hours – 2 hours = distance = 5 miles

Add the two areas Area A + Area B = distance

1 miles + 5 mile = distance = 6 miles

We can now take the distances found for both sections of the speed graph to
complete our position-time graph:
Page 3 of 4

2.4

1. For each position-time graph, calculate and plot speed on the speed-time graph to the right.
a. The bicycle trip through hilly country

b. A walk in the park

c. Strolling up and down the supermarket aisles

Page 4 of 4

2. For each speed-time graph, calculate and plot the distance on the position-time graph to the right. For 2.4
this practice, assume that movement is always away from the starting position.
a. The honey bee among the flowers

b. Rover runs the street

c. The amoeba
Acceleration and Speed-Time Graphs 2.4

Acceleration is the rate of change in the speed of an object. The graph below shows that object A accelerated
from rest to 10 miles per hour in two hours. The graph also shows that object B took four hours to accelerate
from rest to the same speed. Therefore, object A accelerated twice as fast as object B.

Calculating acceleration from a speed-time graph

The steepness of the line in a speed-time graph is related to
acceleration. This angle is the slope of the line and is found by
dividing the change in the y-axis value by the change in the x-
axis value.

Acceleration = -----y-
x
In everyday terms, we can say that the speed of object A
“increased 10 miles per hour in two hours.” Using the slope
formula:

Acceleration = -----y- = 10 mph – 0 mph- = 5--------------

-------------------------------------- mph-
x 2 hours – 0 hour hour
• Acceleration = y/ x (the symbol means “change in”)
• Acceleration = (10 mph – 0 mph)/(2 hours – 0 hours)
• Acceleration = 5 mph/hour (read as 5 miles per hour per hour)
Beginning physics students are often thrown by the double per time label attached to all accelerations. It is not so
alien a concept if you break it down into its parts:

The speed changes. . . . . . during this amount of time:

5 miles per hour per hour

Accelerations can be negative. If the line slopes downward, y will be a negative number because a larger value
of y will be subtracted from a smaller value of y.
Calculating distance from a speed-time graph
The area between the line on a speed-time graph and the baseline is equal to the distance that an object travels.
This follows from the rate formula:
Distance
Rate or Speed = ---------------------
Time
d
v = ---
t
Or, rewritten:
vt = d
miles/hour 3 hours = 3 miles
Page 2 of 3

Notice how the labels cancel to produce a new label that fits the result. 2.4
Here is a speed-time graph of a boat starting from one place
and sailing to another:
The graph shows that the sailboat accelerated between the
second and third hour. We can find the total distance by finding
the area between the line and the baseline. The easiest way to
do that is to break the area into sections that are easy to solve
and then add them together.

A + B + C + D = distance

• Use the formula for the area of a rectangle, A = L W, to

find areas A, B, and D.
• Use the formula for finding the area of a triangle, A = l w/2, to find area C.
A + B + C + D = distance
10 miles + 5 miles + 1 mile + 21 miles = 37 miles

Calculate acceleration from each of these graphs.

1. Graph 1:

2. Graph 2:
Page 3 of 3

3. Graph 3: 2.4

4. Find acceleration for segment 1 and segment 2 in this graph:

5. Calculate total distance for this graph:

6. Calculate total distance for this graph:

7. Calculate total distance for this graph: