Speed and Velocity and More! 1/21/18
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Summary:
Speed is so called, a distance over time, but what actually is speed and what does it have to dow ith velocity? Speed is a scalar quantity, whereas velocity is a vector quantity meaning speed just measures "How fast?" whereas velocity measures "How fast?" with direction. An example of speed is 60 mph, while an example of velocity would be 60 mph north. It is important to know the velocity, as well as speed because if not, it could create a conflict. For instance, if a missile is flying at 7,500 mph and you do not know which way it is going it could possibly hit you. Although this is a far-fetched example not knowing velocity could create conflict in the simplest environments like a street corner. All in all, speed and velocity aren't that different, but the difference is key because it is what makes one a scalar quantity and the other a vector.
Fun Fact: You can use graphs to determine speed using rise over run, meaning you calculate the change in distance over the change in time to find how fast something is moving.
S&EP - Conducting Investigations:
Before beginning our matchbox experiment identified my controlled variables, which were the height of the ramp, the length of the track and the materials used to build these. The manipulated variable was the car because they were switched out after three test runs each. The responding variable was the speed at which each car was going at. My group and I then set up the experiment to test my hypotheses. I thought that that the green matchbox car would have the highest average speed because when I looked at the three cars we were comparing the green car looked the heaviest meaning gravity would pull it down the tack the fastest. The experiment proved my hypothesis to be true, the green car had the fastest average speed. The data was collected in a graph and demonstrated the three cars different average times and made it clear to see that the green car was the fastest because it had the highest slope. This experiment was a great means of seeing how speed worked, as well as practicing my graphing skills and finding the speed of an object.
XCC - Structure and Function:
The function of a speed graph is pretty self-explanatory, it shows the speed of an object, but how does the structure of speed graphs affect its function? Well, the x-axis is time and the y-axis is speed and if this wasn't true the whole graph would be thrown off. This is because speed is distance over time, rise over run, really the y-axis over the x-axis meaning if time and distance switched places on a speed graph it would be incorrect or at the very least hard to interpret. Along with this, the structure of a graph sets it up so that the steeper a slope the faster the object is going. Although this does make sense, it can be confusing. Take the following example;
Over half of the people who look at this would assume the correct answer is B, but this is not the case. The graph shows the movements tom completed, not the speed which makes answer B incorrect. To explain further, the first piece of information we get from answer B is that Tom is riding steep uphill and the graph may show a steep line, but that only means that Tom is traveling at a fast pace. If you continue to look at the graph like that, you can see that the correct answer choice is C. This demonstration shows how the structure of a speed graph may be confusing at first, but the key is to remember that the graph is showing speed, not the journey. Overall, the structure of a speed graph makes it possible for people to understand and interpret the speed of an object well.
Multiplier:
This week I was a mutant, to be more specific a learner because we were conducting multiple labs and mini-projects which are meant to the information we learned in different ways.
Summary:
Speed is so called, a distance over time, but what actually is speed and what does it have to dow ith velocity? Speed is a scalar quantity, whereas velocity is a vector quantity meaning speed just measures "How fast?" whereas velocity measures "How fast?" with direction. An example of speed is 60 mph, while an example of velocity would be 60 mph north. It is important to know the velocity, as well as speed because if not, it could create a conflict. For instance, if a missile is flying at 7,500 mph and you do not know which way it is going it could possibly hit you. Although this is a far-fetched example not knowing velocity could create conflict in the simplest environments like a street corner. All in all, speed and velocity aren't that different, but the difference is key because it is what makes one a scalar quantity and the other a vector.
Fun Fact: You can use graphs to determine speed using rise over run, meaning you calculate the change in distance over the change in time to find how fast something is moving.
S&EP - Conducting Investigations:
Before beginning our matchbox experiment identified my controlled variables, which were the height of the ramp, the length of the track and the materials used to build these. The manipulated variable was the car because they were switched out after three test runs each. The responding variable was the speed at which each car was going at. My group and I then set up the experiment to test my hypotheses. I thought that that the green matchbox car would have the highest average speed because when I looked at the three cars we were comparing the green car looked the heaviest meaning gravity would pull it down the tack the fastest. The experiment proved my hypothesis to be true, the green car had the fastest average speed. The data was collected in a graph and demonstrated the three cars different average times and made it clear to see that the green car was the fastest because it had the highest slope. This experiment was a great means of seeing how speed worked, as well as practicing my graphing skills and finding the speed of an object.
XCC - Structure and Function:
The function of a speed graph is pretty self-explanatory, it shows the speed of an object, but how does the structure of speed graphs affect its function? Well, the x-axis is time and the y-axis is speed and if this wasn't true the whole graph would be thrown off. This is because speed is distance over time, rise over run, really the y-axis over the x-axis meaning if time and distance switched places on a speed graph it would be incorrect or at the very least hard to interpret. Along with this, the structure of a graph sets it up so that the steeper a slope the faster the object is going. Although this does make sense, it can be confusing. Take the following example;
Multiplier:
This week I was a mutant, to be more specific a learner because we were conducting multiple labs and mini-projects which are meant to the information we learned in different ways.
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