10-17-08

Friday morning Mr. Manning's 1st period class had a lot to cover on the agenda. They started with a review on the Driving Mr. Physic's packet. Many questions were answered including how to write a word equation for a VT Graph. The answer is velocity (m/s) = acceleration(m/s2) x Time(s) + the number of the starting velocity. This equation is very helpful because through algebra we are then able to figure out how to solve for acceleration. This equation would be (velocity-starting velocity) / (time) = acceleration. By knowing these equations we can figure out many answers in the Driving Mr. Physic's packet. However, do not forger that if an object is moving at a constant velocity then its acceleration would be 0 m/s2. After everyone in the class understood the packet, the class moved on to a graded daily question. Afterwards, the class discussed tangent relationship and slope relationship of a XT or VT graph. To completely understand the relationships, a student must remember that an XT graph measures speed while a VT graph measures velocity. In a VT graph the zero line (or x-axis) is very important. As a line goes towards the x-axis from a positive direction it means the object is slowing down. This also means that the slope is negative. However, if the line is heading towards the x-axis from a negative position it means the object is speeding up and the slope is zero than there is no direction. After this long discussion on tangent/slope relationships of XT to VT graphs, the class finished the Ball Toss Activity and graphing it on Logger Pro 3. By graphing this out the students realized that acceleration is negative going up and positive going down on a VT graph because the ball slows on the way up and speeds up on the way down. When looking over the graphs on acceleration the students drew a line of best fit so the graph would look somewhat like this: