Lesson 3 - Displacement-Time Graph
Lesson 3 - Displacement-Time Graph
• If an object is moving, the position of that object should vary with time, relative
to a fixed point on Earth.
• If the person is NOT moving, the distance from the fixed point on Earth remains
the same with time.
• A displacement-time graph shows us how the distance changes with time. In a
displacement time graph, y-axis represents the displacement and x axis
represents time.
• Say that the boy shown in the figure,
stayed at the same place without
moving.
• The reference point is the wall of his
house. 4m
• If you measure the distance between
the house and the boy, it will be same all the time. So below data table can be
obtained.
Time (s) 0 1 2 3 4 5
Distance (m) 4 4 4 4 4 4
4m
5m
6m
7m
8m
9m
• If you measure the distance between boy’s house and the boy with time,
below data table can be obtained.
Time (s) 0 1 2 3 4 5
Distance (m) 4 5 6 7 8 9
• When you plot the displacement-time graph for the boy’s motion, below graph
can be obtained.
• The intercept of the graph represents the position where we start to measure
the time.
Displacement (m)
10
0 1 2 3 4 5
Time (s)
• The slope of the graph represents the speed of the boy. If the boy moves faster
the slope of the graph will be steeper.
9m
8m
7m
6m
5m
4m
10
0 1 2 3 4 5
Time (s)
• When the boy moves towards the reference point, the graph has a negative
gradient.
• The slope of the graph is steeper downwards when the speed of the boy is high.
Distance (m)
Distance (m)