Graphing Kinematics

During class on Thursday, everyone had to examine graphs and find how they apply to the relationships involved in kinematics. Although these two graphs appear different, they both demonstrate what happens when a ball is thrown in the air and then caught at the original position. The top graph measures the relationship between time and velocity. The line with the negative slope represents the ball's movement in the air. As the ball reaches the top of its path, its velocity slows down to 0 meters per second, which is why the line crosses the axis of time in the graph. Also, the velocity of the ball's downward path is negative because the ball changes direction but the speed going up is the same as the one going down. The bottom graph represents time's relationship with acceleration. Interestingly, the acceleration of the ball is constant while it is in the air. Although the velocity of an object may increase or decrease, acceleration will be the same because gravity will always force the object to accelerate a certain way. Only an outside influence, such as catching the object in one's hands, will affect the acceleration.