Sections
Key Terms
Key Terms
- acceleration
- the rate at which velocity changes
- average speed
- distance traveled divided by time during which motion occurs
- average velocity
- displacement divided by time over which displacement occurs
- dependent variable
- the variable that changes as the independent variable changes
- displacement
- the change in position of an object against a fixed axis
- distance
- the length of the path actually traveled between an initial and a final position
- independent variable
- the variable, usually along the horizontal axis of a graph, that does not change based on human or experimental action; in physics this is usually time
- instantaneous speed
- speed at a specific instant in time
- instantaneous velocity
- velocity at a specific instant in time
- kinematics
- the study of motion without considering its causes
- magnitude
- size or amount
- position
- the location of an object at any particular time
- reference frame
- a coordinate system from which the positions of objects are described
- scalar
- a quantity that has magnitude but no direction
- speed
- rate at which an object changes its location
- tangent
- a line that touches another at exactly one point
- vector
- a quantity that has both magnitude and direction
- velocity
- the speed and direction of an object