Question

In this lab you will investigate how to accurately interpret and draw position, velocity and acceleration graphs for common situations and explain their reasoning.

Please go to the following website: http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/moving-man.
Click on the 4 button to start the simulation. You may need to install Java if your computer does not have it.

1. Go to the charts tab. Get yourself familiar with the simulation interface. Investigate Moving Man by having the man move using the sliders. Use the playback features to look at the graphs. While you make observations talk about the reasons the graphs look the way they do.

2. First, without using Moving Man, sketch what you think the graphs would look like for the following scenarios and explain your reasoning. Then, use the Moving man simulation to verify or correct your predicted graphs and reasoning with a different color font or line drawings.

Scenario 1: The man starts at the tree and moves toward the house with constant velocity of 1 m/s.
Position - time graph
Velocity - time graph	Explain your reasoning for the graph’s appearance
Acceleration - time graph	Explain your reasoning for the graph’s appearance

Scenario 2: The man initially starts from the house at time 0 with an initial velocity of 0. He accelerates towards the tree with an acceleration of -1 m/s2.
Position - time graph	Explain your reasoning for the graph’s appearance
Velocity - time graph	Explain your reasoning for the graph’s appearance
Acceleration - time graph	Explain your reasoning for the graph’s appearance

Scenario 3: The man stands still while he talks on his cell phone at the middle of the sidewalk, then walks toward the house at a constant velocity of 1 m/s trying to get better cell reception. He comes to a sudden stop when the coverage is good (about a meter before the house) and stands still to finish his conversation.
Position - time graph	Explain your reasoning for the graph’s appearance
Velocity - time graph	Explain your reasoning for the graph’s appearance
Acceleration - time graph	Explain your reasoning for the graph’s appearance

3. Look at your graphs, reasoning and the corrections. Were your predictions correct? Please talk about why some of your predictions were wrong and how your ideas about motion have changed.

Answer 1

2. First, without using Moving Man, sketch a graphs would look like for the following scenarios and explain with reasoning. Then, use the Moving man simulation to verify or correct our predicted graphs and reasoning with a different color font or line drawings.

Scenario 1 : The man starts at the tree and moves toward the house with constant velocity of 1 m/s.

Scenario 2: The man initially starts from the house at time 0 with an initial velocity of 0. He accelerates towards the tree with an acceleration of -1 m/s².

Scenario 3 : The man stands still while he talks on his cell phone at the middle of the sidewalk, then walks toward the house at a constant velocity of 1 m/s trying to get better cell reception. He comes to a sudden stop when the coverage is good (about a meter before the house) and stands still to finish his conversation.

Position time graph Explain your reasoning for the graph's appearance The man is moving in a positive direction and then stops. Velocity -time graph Explain your reasoning for the graph's appearance The velocity is 0 at first because he is not moving, then it increases & stays constant, until he stops moving again. Acceleration time graph Explain your reasoning for the graph's appearance The acceleration is 0 at first and then makes a hump because he accelerated for a few seconds & then remained at a constant velocity.