Analyzing Motion

Physics of the Mundane

Adam Johnston

Motion is a difficult property to measure, because it deals with something that is always changing its position.  That is, due to the very nature of a moving object, it is difficult to pin it down.  All that we can measure is when (the time) and where (the position) an object exists.  If we accumulate a bunch of when’s and where’s, we can re-create a history of all of the places that an object has been and how quickly it went from one place to another.

In this activity you will work together as a class to gather the information that describes the motion of a bowling ball and an air powered car under various circumstances.  You should each be assigned a position, marked with a measuring tape, to which you will assign a time B the time at which the bowling ball passes your assigned spot.

With all of the members of the class, you should have an entire data set comprised of each position represented by a classmate and the times that they each measured.  You will create several data tables with all of this information.  Each data table will represent a different motion of the bowling ball (e.g.: rolling northbound down the hallway, rolling southbound down the hallway, rolling down a hill, rolling up a hill, etc.).

In class, we will show an example of how to use this information to construct a description of an object=s motion.  For your lab problem, you are assigned to construct such meaning on your own:

Lab problem(s):

With the help of your research colleagues, you should have created an entire data set which describes various motions of a bowling ball and super powered car.  From these tables of information, construct graphs of position versus time, and from these graphs, describe the motion that is evident.  (So, for example, you could label on the graph where the object is speeding up, slowing down, stopped, etc.; and you could give a general description of the overall motion described in the graph as a whole.)

Also, in this activity your instructor will be running down hallways and hills, trying to maintain control of a bowling ball.  Laugh; but, please do not trip him.