Graph Matching Results
In this lab I used a motion detector to gather data so I could plot graphs of position, velocity, and acceleration vs. time. With these graphs, one is able to look at it and determine in what direction the object is going, how fast it is moving, how far it traveled, and whether it is speeding up or slowing down.
The motion detector measures the time it takes for a high frequency sound pulse to travel from the detector to an object and back. Using this round-trip time and the speed of sound, the interface can determine the distance to the object. It can then use the change in position to calculate the object's velocity and acceleration. Graphs can display all of this information. Studying and analyzing these graphs of motion can help you understand the concepts of kinematics.
The purpose of this lab is to analyze the motion of a student walking across the room. It is to help enhance your skills with predicting, sketching, and testing velocity vs. time and position vs. time kinematics graphs.
The motion detector measures the time it takes for a high frequency sound pulse to travel from the detector to an object and back. Using this round-trip time and the speed of sound, the interface can determine the distance to the object. It can then use the change in position to calculate the object's velocity and acceleration. Graphs can display all of this information. Studying and analyzing these graphs of motion can help you understand the concepts of kinematics.
The purpose of this lab is to analyze the motion of a student walking across the room. It is to help enhance your skills with predicting, sketching, and testing velocity vs. time and position vs. time kinematics graphs.
Conclusion
Through this lab I learned how to analyze the motion of a student walking across the room. I not only learned how to graph the position alone, but how to graph the velocity as well. Also, I learned how to analyze the data that I collected. distinguish between velocity vs. time and position vs. time graphs and am able to explain each and what they mean.
The first graph is titled "An Object at Rest." this is what a graph looks like when the object in question in not moving. The position does not change, but the time continues forward. The second graph deals with an object moving in a positive direction. If you look at the position, it is continuously moving away from the motion detector at a constant speed, shown by the straight line. Looking at the graph depicting an object moving in a negative direction, you can clearly see the object steadily moving toward the motion detector because as the time moves forward, the position goes from three meters away down to about 1.25 meters away in about 3 seconds. If you move your attention to the "Object Accelerating in a Positive Direction" graph, the line is no longer straight. It is a curved line. The line slowly becomes steeper in between the second intervals going from half a meter in one second up to almost two meters in one second.
Now we move onto the velocity graphs. These graphs simply show what the velocity was throughout the different tests. You'll notice that the first three graphs are straight lines. This is because I made a point to walk at a constant speed, so it makes sense that the line would be straight and not all over the place. However, if you look at the "Velocity for an Object Accelerating in a Positive Direction" graph, you see a slanted line angled upward. This is because I was accelerating my pace constantly throughout that particular test, so it makes sense that the line would be going upwards as I increased my pace.
The first graph is titled "An Object at Rest." this is what a graph looks like when the object in question in not moving. The position does not change, but the time continues forward. The second graph deals with an object moving in a positive direction. If you look at the position, it is continuously moving away from the motion detector at a constant speed, shown by the straight line. Looking at the graph depicting an object moving in a negative direction, you can clearly see the object steadily moving toward the motion detector because as the time moves forward, the position goes from three meters away down to about 1.25 meters away in about 3 seconds. If you move your attention to the "Object Accelerating in a Positive Direction" graph, the line is no longer straight. It is a curved line. The line slowly becomes steeper in between the second intervals going from half a meter in one second up to almost two meters in one second.
Now we move onto the velocity graphs. These graphs simply show what the velocity was throughout the different tests. You'll notice that the first three graphs are straight lines. This is because I made a point to walk at a constant speed, so it makes sense that the line would be straight and not all over the place. However, if you look at the "Velocity for an Object Accelerating in a Positive Direction" graph, you see a slanted line angled upward. This is because I was accelerating my pace constantly throughout that particular test, so it makes sense that the line would be going upwards as I increased my pace.
Extension; Velocity vs. Time Graph Matching
For graph matching, a random position vs. time graph is shown on the motion detector, and you have to match it. So if you are given a straight line you would stand still. If the line was slanted upward, you would back away from the wall. If the line was slanted downward you would walk toward the wall. That sounds easy in theory, but the graphs generated were normally a combination of these graphs, so you might have a positive line and then a straight line, and then maybe a negative line. Or any combination of these lines. However, you also have to take into account the time that is passing. So if the graph shows five meters being covered in two seconds, you have to match that speed and cover five meters in two seconds. And if you see the speed slowly picking up speed, then you have to slowly pick up speed.