Yash Kedia - Moving Man Phet Simulation TJT
Yash Kedia - Moving Man Phet Simulation TJT
Yash Kedia - Moving Man Phet Simulation TJT
Familiarization
There are two tabs for this simulation, called "Introduction" and "Charts." For today's activity, you will
need only the "Introduction" tab.
Play with the controls of the simulation to get used to the controls. Can you find...
Constant Velocity
1. Reset all of the man's values to zero.
2. Using the position slider, set the man to stand near the tree. Give him a velocity of 1.2 m/s (and
an acceleration of 0).
3. Click to start the man in motion until he hits the wall, then hit to stop recording.
b. What happened to the red velocity slider as the man moved across the screen?
The red velocity slider stayed the same
5. Use the playback feature to record the man's position and velocity data.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
-2
-2
-3.2
-4.4
-4
-5.6
-6 -6.8
-8
-8
-10
Time (seconds)
Velocity (m/s)
1.4
1.2
1
Velocity (m/s)
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Time (seconds)
Constant Acceleration
1. Reset all of the man's values to zero.
2. Using the position slider, set the man to stand near the tree. Give him a velocity of 0 m/s and an
acceleration of 0.5 m/s2.
3. Click to start the man in motion until he hits the wall, then hit to stop recording.
4. Use the playback feature to answer these questions.
a. What happened to the blue position slider as the man moved across the screen?
b. What happened to the red velocity slider as the man moved across the screen?
5. Use the playback feature to record the man's position and velocity data.
6
4.25
4
Position (meters)
2 1
0
-1.75
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
-2
-4
-4
-5.75
-6 -7
-8 -7.75
-8
-10
Time (seconds)
The average velocity of the man over time
4.5 4.25
4
4
3.5
3.5
3
3
2.5
Velocity (m/s)
2.5
2
2
1.5
1.5
1
1
0.5
0.5
0 0 0 0
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Time (seconds)
Making Connections
1. What happens to the man when he is accelerating?
The man starts running faster every single second and this means that when the man is
accelerating, he is increasing his speed by exerting more and more energy.
2. What is the difference between an object with constant acceleration and an object with
constant speed?
An object with a constant speed, has the same speed throughout his whole run, but an object
with constant acceleration increases its speed at a constant rate throughout his whole run.
b. "The slope of a linear velocity graph tells us the acceleration of the object."
c. "For an object moving at a constant speed, we would expect to see a position graph with a
diagonal shape and a velocity graph with a horizontal shape."
d. "For an object moving at a constant acceleration, we would expect to see a position graph
with a concave or convex (depending on whether its accelerating or decelerating) shape
and a velocity graph with a diagonal shape."