Name ___________________________________________ Date ______________________ Class ________________________

To learn how different types of graphs describe the motion of objects in different ways.

Newspaper articles and other media reports use many different graphs and it is a common error to not
understand what is actually being represented in each graph. Careful examination can reveal at a glance
information that would fill many data tables. A picture really is worth a thousand words!

Displacement, velocity

Line graphs are used to describe the motion of an object such as a rolling ball, a moving automobile, or
an airplane in flight. However, there are different types of motion graphs that each express different
properties of motion. Displacement graphs, x vs. y graphs, and velocity graphs may all be used to graph the
exact same motion, but they each use different data and are used to communicate varying information.

1. Start Virtual Physics and select Graphing Constant Velocity Motion from the list of assignments. The lab
will open in the Mechanics laboratory.
2. The laboratory will be set up with a 10 kg ball on a table. Attached to the ball is a plunger that will be
used to hit the ball. You will hit the ball and observe it as it rolls across the table. You will record the
position and velocity of the ball over a period of time in your Lab Book and then use your data to make
several graphs of the motion.
3. Click on the red Recording button to start recording data. Start the ball rolling by clicking on the Force
button and wait until the ball hits the end wall. Click the Pause button to stop the experiment. A link will
appear in the Lab Book. This contains the position and velocity versus time data for the ball as it rolls
across the table.
4. Click the Reset button. Repeat the experiment with a smaller mass. Change the mass to 8 kg using the
Parameters Palette and under the Forces tab, change the angle to 90 degrees. This will move the
plunger to hit the ball straight up. Click in the Lab Book next to each link to label each with the
corresponding mass and direction.
5. Double click Reset to reset the experiment and in the Palette change the Elasticity to 1. This will allow
the ball to bounce off the wall. Repeat the experiment, this time stopping the experiment after the ball
bounces and returns to x=0. Label the link in the Lab Book Bounce.
6. Reset the experiment again and in the Palette change the Elasticity to 1 and under the Forces tab,
change the angle to 30 degrees. This will move the plunger to hit the ball at an angle. Repeat the
experiment, stopping after 2 bounces off the wall. Label the link in the Lab Book 2D Bounce.
Name ___________________________________________ Date ______________________ Class ________________________

1. Click on the first data link in your Lab Book to view the data from the first experiment. Use the x(m)
position data to graph the motion of the first ball over time. Your graph should show the distance the
ball traveled versus the time, with time shown on the x-axis and distance on the y-axis. Also graph the
position data of the second lighter ball on the same graph. Use the y(m) data to find the distance of the
ball from the origin over time. Label the axes with the variable and its units. Use a different color to
connect the points for each ball. You will need to scale the graph to fit your data. Just plot a few of the
points from each line, enough to be able to draw the whole graph accurately. Remember that you are
just plotting the distance not direction.

2. What does each point on the graph represent?

3. What is the difference between the two lines you graphed? What do the slopes of the lines tell you
about each ball?

4. Click on the third data link in your Lab Book to view the data from the first bouncing experiment. Use
the x(m) position data to graph the motion of the first ball over time on the left-hand grid on the next
page. Your graph should show the distance the ball traveled versus the time, with time shown on the x-
axis and distance on the y-axis. Label the axes with the variable and its units. You will need to scale the
graph to fit your data. Then graph the velocity versus time graph from the vx data in the link on the
right-hand grid. Remember to label your axes with the time on the x-axis and the velocity on the y-axis.
Name ___________________________________________ Date ______________________ Class ________________________

5. When the ball got back to x=0, what was the total displacement? How did the velocity of the ball change
when it bounced?

6. Use the 2D Bounce data to make another graph. Click on the fourth data link in your Lab Book to view
the data and use the x(m) and y(m) data to make a graph of the physical position of the ball on the
table. Your graph should show the x and y positions the ball traveled, with the x data shown on the x-
axis and the y data on the y-axis. Label the axes with the variable and its units. You will need to scale the
graph to fit your data. Remember that this is not a position versus time graph, it is just a graph of the
physical location. Have your first point in the bottom left hand corner of the graph be x=0, y=0.

7. You have drawn several different types of graphs. How did each graph communicate different
information?