Motion Diagrams

Motion Diagrams and The Particle Model

• For most of the problems, details of the object are irrelevant and we can treat the object as a point. This simplification is called "Particle Model"
• The Motion of an object can be shown using Motion Diagrams
• Motion Diagram is a diagram which shows the position of the object at equally spaced time intervals (snapshots!)

• If the space between snapshots remains constant, the object moves with constant velocity.

• If the space between snapshots is getting bigger, the object is accelerating.

• If the space between snapshots is getting smaller, the object is decelerating.

• Displacement vector is a vector connecting two consecutive points.

• The direction of the average velocity is the same as the direction of displacement vector and is called direction of motion! So, it motion diagrams it is a vector parallel to displacement vector!

• The acceleration vector in a motion diagram could be found by subtracting two consecutive velocities and is usually shown as a vector next to the points.