How To Find Displacement From Position Time Graph

2.8: Position vs. Time Graphs

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Drawing line graphs can help you empathise motion. In this article, you'll learn how to draw position-time graphs and how they bear witness velocity.

Q: What's missing from the graph existence fatigued in the picture higher up?

A: The x- and y-axes are missing.

Graphing Position and Fourth dimension

The move of an object tin can be represented by a position-fourth dimension graph similar Graph one in the Figure below. In this blazon of graph, the y-axis represents position relative to the starting point, and the x-centrality represents time. A position-time graph shows how far an object has traveled from its starting position at any given time since it started moving.

Q: In the Figure above, what distance has the object traveled from the starting point past the time 5 seconds take elapsed?

A: The object has traveled a distance of 50 meters.

Slope Equals Velocity

In a position-time graph, the velocity of the moving object is represented by the slope, or steepness, of the graph line. If the graph line is horizontal, similar the line later on time = v seconds in Graph 2 in the Figure below, and then the slope is zip and so is the velocity. The position of the object is not changing. The steeper the line is, the greater the slope of the line is and the faster the object's motion is changing.

Computing Boilerplate Velocity from a Position-Time Graph

It'due south easy to summate the boilerplate velocity of a moving object from a position-time graph. Boilerplate velocity equals the modify in position (represented past Δd) divided by the corresponding change in fourth dimension (represented past Δt):

velocity=Δd/Δt

For example, in Graph 2 in the Figure to a higher place, the average velocity between 0 seconds and 5 seconds is:

velocity=Δd/Δt=(25 g−0 m)/(5 due south−0 s)=25m/5s=5 chiliad/south

Lookout man this two-function video series for more position vs. time graph examples.

Use the post-obit PLIX Interactive to make a position-time graph for a runner who changes speed during their run:

Summary

Motion can be represented by a position-time graph, which plots position relative to the starting point on the y-axis and time on the x-centrality.
The slope of a position-time graph represents velocity. The steeper the slope is, the faster the movement is changing.
Average velocity can be calculated from a position-fourth dimension graph as the change in position divided by the corresponding change in time.

Review

Describe how to make a position-time graph.
What is the slope of a line graph? What does the slope of a position-fourth dimension graph stand for?
Tin can a line on a position-time graph accept a negative slope, that is, can it gradient downward from left to right? Why or why not?
In Graph 1 in the Figure above, what is the object's boilerplate velocity?