CHAPTER

2 Representing Motion
Section Review 4. Critical Thinking Use the particle model
to draw motion diagrams for two runners
2.1 Picturing Motion in a race, when the first runner crosses the
pages 31–33 finish line as the other runner is three-
fourths of the way to the finish line.
page 33
1. Motion Diagram of a Runner Use the Runner 2 t0 t1 t2 t3 t4
particle model to draw a motion diagram
for a bike rider riding at a constant pace. Runner 1 t0 t1 t2 t3 t4
Start Finish

2. Motion Diagram of a Bird Use the parti-

cle model to draw a simplified motion dia-
gram corresponding to the motion diagram Section Review
in Figure 2-4 for a flying bird. What point 2.2 Where and When?
on the bird did you choose to represent it? pages 34–37
page 37
5. Displacement The particle model for a car
traveling on an interstate highway is shown
below. The starting point is shown.
Here There

Make a copy of the particle model, and

■ Figure 2-4 draw a vector to represent the displacement
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

of the car from the starting time to the end

3. Motion Diagram of a Car Use the particle of the third time interval.
model to draw a simplified motion diagram Here There
corresponding to the motion diagram in
Figure 2-5 for a car coming to a stop at a
6. Displacement The particle model for a boy
stop sign. What point on the car did you
walking to school is shown below.
use to represent it?
Home School

Make a copy of the particle model, and

draw vectors to represent the displacement
between each pair of dots.
Home School

■ Figure 2-5

Physics: Principles and Problems Solutions Manual 15

Chapter 2 continued
7. Position Two students compared the
position vectors they each had drawn on Practice Problems
a motion diagram to show the position of a 2.3 Position-Time Graphs
moving object at the same time. They found pages 38–42
that their vectors did not point in the same
page 39
direction. Explain.
For problems 9–11, refer to Figure 2-13.
A position vector goes from the origin
to the object. When the origins are dif- 150.0
ferent, the position vectors are different.
On the other hand, a displacement vec- 100.0

Position (m)
tor has nothing to do with the origin.
50.0
8. Critical Thinking A car travels straight
along the street from the grocery store to 0.0
1.0 3.0 5.0 7.0
the post office. To represent its motion you
"50.0 Time (s)
use a coordinate system with its origin at
the grocery store and the direction the car is ■ Figure 2-13
moving in as the positive direction. Your 9. Describe the motion of the car shown by
friend uses a coordinate system with its ori- the graph.
gin at the post office and the opposite
The car begins at a position of 125.0 m
direction as the positive direction. Would
and moves toward the origin, arriving at
the two of you agree on the car’s position?
the origin 5.0 s after it begins moving.
Displacement? Distance? The time interval
The car continues beyond the origin.
the trip took? Explain.
The two students should agree on the 10. Draw a motion diagram that corresponds to
displacement, distance, and time interval the graph.
for the trip, because these three quanti-
t0 ! 0.0 s t5 ! 5.0 s
ties are independent of where the origin
of the coordinate system is placed. The

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

two students would not agree on the 125.0 m 0.0 m
car’s position, because the position is d
measured from the origin of the coordi-
nate system to the location of the car. 11. Answer the following questions about
the car’s motion. Assume that the positive
d-direction is east and the negative
d-direction is west.
a. When was the car 25.0 m east of the
origin?
at 4.0 s
b. Where was the car at 1.0 s?
100.0 m

12. Describe, in words, the motion of the

two pedestrians shown by the lines in
Figure 2-14. Assume that the positive direc-
tion is east on Broad Street and the origin is
the intersection of Broad and High Streets.

16 Solutions Manual Physics: Principles and Problems

 Chapter 2 continued
Broad St. page 41
For problems 14–17, refer to the figure in
East Example Problem 2.

Position (m)
200.0
A

Position (m)
150.0
100.0
High St.
50.0
B

0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0

West Time (s)
Time (s)
■ Figure 2-14 ■ Example Problem 2 Figure
Pedestrian A starts west of High Street 14. What event occurred at t ! 0.0 s?
and walks east (the positive direction). Runner A passed the origin.
Pedestrian B begins east of High Street
and walks west (the negative direction). 15. Which runner was ahead at t ! 48.0 s?
Sometime after B crosses High Street, runner B
A and B pass each other. Sometime
after they pass, Pedestrian A crosses 16. When runner A was at 0.0 m, where was
High Street. runner B?
at "50.0 m
13. Odina walked down the hall at school
from the cafeteria to the band room, a 17. How far apart were runners A and B at
distance of 100.0 m. A class of physics t ! 20.0 s?
students recorded and graphed her
approximately 30 m
position every 2.0 s, noting that she moved
2.6 m every 2.0 s. When was Odina in the
18. Juanita goes for a walk. Sometime later, her
following positions?
friend Heather starts to walk after her. Their
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

a. 25.0 m from the cafeteria motions are represented by the position-

19 s time graphs in Figure 2-16.
b. 25.0 m from the band room 6.0
58 s 5.0
c. Create a graph showing Odina’s
Position (km)

ta

4.0
a ni

motion.
Ju

er
3.0 a th
100.0 He
2.0
Distance from

80.0
cafeteria (m)

1.0
60.0
40.0 0.0
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
20.0
Time (h)
0.00
10.0 30.0 50.0 70.0 ■ Figure 2-16
Time (s) a. How long had Juanita been walking
when Heather started her walk?
6.0 min

Physics: Principles and Problems Solutions Manual 17

Chapter 2 continued
b. Will Heather catch up to Juanita? How t0 ! 0.0 s t7 ! 7.0 s
can you tell?
No. The lines representing Juanita’s
and Heather’s motions get farther
0m 140 m
apart as time increases. The lines
will not intersect.
For problems 21–23, refer to Figure 2-18.
21. Time Use the position-time graph of the
Section Review hockey puck to determine when it was
10.0 m beyond the origin.
2.3 Position-Time Graphs
pages 38–42 0.5 s

page 42 22. Distance Use the position-time graph of

19. Position-Time Graph From the particle the hockey puck to determine how far it
model in Figure 2-17 of a baby crawling moved between 0.0 s and 5.0 s.
across a kitchen floor, plot a position-time
100 m
graph to represent his motion. The time
interval between successive dots is 1 s.
23. Time Interval Use the position-time graph
for the hockey puck to determine how much
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
time it took for the puck to go from 40 m
beyond the origin to 80 m beyond the origin.
Position (cm)
2.0 s
■ Figure 2-17

160 24. Critical Thinking Look at the particle

140
Position (m)

120 model and position-time graph shown in

100 Figure 2-19. Do they describe the same
80
60 motion? How do you know? Do not
40 confuse the position coordinate system in
20

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

0 the particle model with the horizontal axis
12 345 6 78
in the position-time graph. The time inter-
Time (s)
vals in the particle model are 2 s.

20. Motion Diagram Create a particle model

from the position-time graph of a hockey 0 10
puck gliding across a frozen pond in Position (m)
Figure 2-18.
12
140
120
Position (m)

100 8
Position (m)

80
60
4
40
20
0 1 2 3 4 5
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0
Time (s) Time (s)

■ Figure 2-18 ■ Figure 2-19

18 Solutions Manual Physics: Principles and Problems

 Chapter 2 continued
No, they don’t describe the same 26. Describe, in words, the motion of the cruise
motion. Although both objects are trav- ship in the previous problem.
eling in the positive direction, one is The ship is moving to the north at a
moving more quickly than the other. speed of 0.33 m/s.
Students can cite a number of different
specific examples from the graph and 27. The graph in Figure 2-23 represents the
particle model to back this up. motion of a bicycle. Determine the bicycle’s
average speed and average velocity, and
describe its motion in words.
Practice Problems 20
2.4 How Fast?

Position (km)
15
pages 43–47
10
page 45
25. The graph in Figure 2-22 describes the 5
motion of a cruise ship during its voyage
through calm waters. The positive 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
d-direction is defined to be south. Time (min)
■ Figure 2-23
Time (s)
1 2 3 4
Because the bicycle is moving in the
0 positive direction, the average speed
Position (m)

and average velocity are the same.

Using the points (0.0 min, 0.0 km) and
"1
(15.0 min, 10.0 km),

 
!d
"2 v! ! ""
!t
d "d
Figure 2-22
 t "t 
■ 2 1
! ""
a. What is the ship’s average speed? 2 1
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

 15.0 min " 0.0 min 

10.0 km " 0.0 km
Using the points (0.0 s, 0.0 m) and ! """
(3.0 s, "1.0 m)
! 0.67 km/min

 
!d
v! ! "" v! ! 0.67 km/min in the positive
!t
direction
d "d
 t "t 
2 1
! "" The bicycle is moving in the positive
2 1
direction at a speed of 0.67 km/min.
 3.0 s " 0.0 s 
"1.0 m " 0.0 m
! ""

! "0.33 m/s
! 0.33 m/s
b. What is its average velocity?
The average velocity is the slope of
the line, including the sign, so it is
"0.33 m/s or 0.33 m/s north.

Physics: Principles and Problems Solutions Manual 19

Chapter 2 continued
28. When Marilyn takes her pet dog for a walk, SlopeA ! "2
the dog walks at a very consistent pace of SlopeB ! ""
3
0.55 m/s. Draw a motion diagram and posi- 2
SlopeC ! "1
tion-time graph to represent Marilyn’s dog
walking the 19.8-m distance from in front SlopeD ! 1
of her house to the nearest fire hydrant.
30. Average Velocity Rank the graphs accord-
Motion Diagram ing to average velocity, from greatest average
t0 ! 0 s t6 ! 36 s velocity to least average velocity. Specifically
indicate any ties.
B, D, C, A
0.0 m 19.8 m
House Hydrant SlopeA ! "2
3
SlopeB ! ""
Position-Time Graph 2
20.0 SlopeC ! "1
Position from

15.0 SlopeD ! 1
house (m)

10.0
31. Initial Position Rank the graphs according
5.0 to the object’s initial position, from most
0 positive position to most negative position.
6 12 18 24 30 36 Specifically indicate any ties. Would your
Time (s) ranking be different if you had been asked
to do the ranking according to initial
distance from the origin?
Section Review A, C, B, D. Yes, the ranking from greatest
to least distance would be A, C, D, B.
2.4 How Fast?
pages 43–47 32. Average Speed and Average Velocity
page 47 Explain how average speed and average

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

For problems 29–31, refer to Figure 2-25. velocity are related to each other.
29. Average Speed Rank the position-time Average speed is the absolute value of
graphs according to the average speed of the the average velocity. Speed is only a
object, from greatest average speed to least magnitude, while velocity is a magni-
average speed. Specifically indicate any ties. tude and a direction.

B D

A
Position (m)

Time (s)
■ Figure 2-25
For speed use the absolute value, there-
fore A, B, C ! D

20 Solutions Manual Physics: Principles and Problems

 Chapter 2 continued
33. Critical Thinking In solving a physics 37. The following quantities describe location
problem, why is it important to create or its change: position, distance, and dis-
pictorial and physical models before trying placement. Briefly describe the differences
to solve an equation? among them. (2.2)
Answers will vary, but here are some of Position and displacement are different
the important points. Drawing the mod- from distance because position and dis-
els before writing down the equation placement both contain information
helps you to get the problem situation about the direction in which an object
organized in your head. It’s difficult to has moved, while distance does not.
write down the proper equation if you Distance and displacement are different
don’t have a clear picture of how things from position because they describe
are situated and/or moving. Also, you how an object’s location has changed
choose the coordinate system in this during a time interval, where position
step, and this is essential in making tells exactly where an object is located
sure you use the proper signs on the at a precise time.
quantities you will substitute into the
equation later. 38. How can you use a clock to find a time
interval? (2.2)
Read the clock at the beginning and
Chapter Assessment end of the interval and subtract the
beginning time from the ending time.
Concept Mapping
page 52 39. In-line Skating How can you use the
34. Complete the concept map below using the position-time graphs for two in-line skaters
following terms: words, equivalent representa- to determine if and when one in-line skater
tions, position-time graph. will pass the other one? (2.3)
Draw the two graphs on the same set
words
of axes. One inline skater will pass the
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

other if the lines representing each of

their motions intersect. The position
coordinate of the point where the lines
equivalent data position-time motion intersect is the position where the
representations table graph diagram passing occurs.

40. Walking Versus Running A walker and a

Mastering Concepts runner leave your front door at the same
page 52 time. They move in the same direction at
35. What is the purpose of drawing a motion different constant velocities. Describe the
diagram? (2.1) position-time graphs of each. (2.4)
A motion diagram gives you a picture Both are straight lines that start at the
of motion that helps you visualize same position, but the slope of the
displacement and velocity. runner’s line is steeper.

36. Under what circumstances is it legitimate to 41. What does the slope of a position-time
treat an object as a point particle? (2.1) graph measure? (2.4)
An object can be treated as a point velocity
particle if internal motions are not
important and if the object is small in
comparison to the distance it moves.

Physics: Principles and Problems Solutions Manual 21

Chapter 2 continued
42. If you know the positions of a moving 46. Figure 2-26 is a graph of two people running.
object at two points along its path, and you
also know the time it took for the object to B
n er
get from one point to the other, can you

Position (m)
R un A
determine the particle’s instantaneous ner
Run
velocity? Its average velocity? Explain. (2.4)
It is possible to calculate the average
velocity from the information given, but
it is not possible to find the instanta-
neous velocity. Time (s)
■ Figure 2-26
Applying Concepts a. Describe the position of runner A
page 52 relative to runner B at the y-intercept.
43. Test the following combinations and Runner A has a head start by
explain why each does not have the proper- four units.
ties needed to describe the concept of veloc-
b. Which runner is faster?
ity: #d $ #t, #d % #t, #d & #t, #t/#d.
Runner B is faster, as shown by
!d # !t increases when either term
the steeper slope.
increases. The sign of !d " !t depends
upon the relative sizes of !d and !t. c. What occurs at point P and beyond?
!d $ !t increases when either increas- Runner B passes runner A at point
es. !t /!d decreases with increasing P.
displacement and increases with
increasing time interval, which is back- 47. The position-time graph in Figure 2-27
wards from velocity. shows the motion of four cows walking
from the pasture back to the barn. Rank the
44. Football When can a football be consid- cows according to their average velocity,
ered a point particle? from slowest to fastest.

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

A football can be treated as a point
particle if its rotations are not important
ie
ie

ss

and if it is small in comparison to the

Be
E ls
Position (m)

distance it moves — for distances of da

olin
1 yard or more. Mo
lly
45. When can a football player be treated as a Do
point particle?
A football player can be treated as a
point particle if his or her internal Time (s)
motions are not important and if he or
■ Figure 2-27
she is small in comparison to the dis-
tance he or she moves — for distances Moolinda, Dolly, Bessie, Elsie
of several yards or more.

22 Solutions Manual Physics: Principles and Problems

 Chapter 2 continued
48. Figure 2-28 is a position-time graph for a
rabbit running away from a dog.
3

Position (m)
2

0 1 2 3
Time (s)
■ Figure 2-28
a. Describe how this graph would be
different if the rabbit ran twice as fast.
The only difference is that the slope
of the graph would be twice as steep.
b. Describe how this graph would be dif-
ferent if the rabbit ran in the opposite
direction.
The magnitude of the slope would be
the same, but it would be negative.

Mastering Problems
2.4 How Fast?
page 53
Level 1
49. A bike travels at a constant speed of 4.0 m/s
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

for 5.0 s. How far does it go?

d ! vt
! (4.0 m/s)(5 s)
! 20 m

50. Astronomy Light from the Sun reaches

Earth in 8.3 min. The speed of light is
3.00&108 m/s. How far is Earth from
the Sun?
d ! vt
! (3.00$108 m/s)(8.3 min)!"""
60 s
1 min
! 1.5$1011 m

Physics: Principles and Problems Solutions Manual 23

Chapter 2 continued
Level 2 pages 53–54
51. A car is moving down a street at 55 km/h. A Level 1
child suddenly runs into the street. If it 54. Cycling A cyclist maintains a constant
takes the driver 0.75 s to react and apply velocity of $5.0 m/s. At time t ! 0.0 s, the
the brakes, how many meters will the car cyclist is $250 m from point A.
have moved before it begins to slow down? a. Plot a position-time graph of the
d ! vt cyclist’s location from point A at 10.0-s
! (55 km/h)(0.75 s)!"""!"""
1000 m 1h intervals for 60.0 s.
1 km 3600 s
! 11 m 550
500
52. Nora jogs several times a week and always
keeps track of how much time she runs 450

Position (m)
each time she goes out. One day she forgets 400
to take her stopwatch with her and wonders 350
if there’s a way she can still have some idea
300
of her time. As she passes a particular bank,
she remembers that it is 4.3 km from her 250
house. She knows from her previous 200
training that she has a consistent pace of 0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0
4.0 m/s. How long has Nora been jogging Time (s)
when she reaches the bank? b. What is the cyclist’s position from point
d ! vt A at 60.0 s?
550 m
(4.3 km)!"""
1000m
d 1 km
t ! "" ! %% c. What is the displacement from the
v 4.0 m/s
starting position at 60.0 s?
! 1075 s 550 m " 250 m ! 3.0$102 m
! (1075 s)!"""
1 min
60 s 55. Figure 2-29 is a particle model for a

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

! 18 min chicken casually walking across the road.
Time intervals are every 0.1 s. Draw the
corresponding position-time graph and
Level 3 equation to describe the chicken’s motion.
53. Driving You and a friend each drive
50.0 km. You travel at 90.0 km/h; your This side The other side
friend travels at 95.0 km/h. How long will
your friend have to wait for you at the end
Time intervals are 0.1 s.
of the trip?
■ Figure 2-29
d ! vt
d 50.0 km d
t1 ! "" ! ""
v 90.0 km/h
The other side
! 0.556 h
d 50.0 km
t2 ! "" ! ""
v 95.0 km/h
! 0.526 h
t1 " t2 ! (0.556 h " 0.526 h)!"""
60 min
1h
This side t
! 1.8 min 0 1.9 s

Mixed Review 56. Figure 2-30 shows position-time graphs for

24 Solutions Manual Physics: Principles and Problems
 Chapter 2 continued
Joszi and Heike paddling canoes in a local 250
river.
Car B
200
18
170

Position (km)
16 Car A
Joszi 150
14 120
Heike 100
Position (km)

12
10
50
8
6
0
4 1.0 1.6 3.0
1.4 2.0
2

0 Time (h)
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
Time (h) b. Both cars passed a gas station 120 km
■ Figure 2-30 from the school. When did each car
a. At what time(s) are Joszi and Heike in pass the gas station? Calculate the times
the same place? and show them on your graph.
1.0 h d 120 km
tA ! "" ! "" ! 1.6 h
!A 75 km/h
b. How much time does Joszi spend on
the river before he passes Heike? tB ! "" ! "" ! 1.4 h
d 120 km
!B 85 km/h
45 min
c. Where on the river does it appear that 58. Draw a position-time graph for two cars
there might be a swift current? traveling to the beach, which is 50 km from
from 6.0 to 9.0 km from the origin school. At noon, Car A leaves a store that is
10 km closer to the beach than the school is
and moves at 40 km/h. Car B starts from
Level 2 school at 12:30 P.M. and moves at 100 km/h.
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

57. Driving Both car A and car B leave school When does each car get to the beach?
when a stopwatch reads zero. Car A travels
at a constant 75 km/h, and car B travels at a 50
constant 85 km/h. 40
Car A
Position (m)

a. Draw a position-time graph showing 30

the motion of both cars. How far are
20 Car B
the two cars from school when the stop-
watch reads 2.0 h? Calculate the dis- 10
tances and show them on your graph. 0
dA ! vAt Noon 1210 1220 1230 1240 1250 100PM
Time
! (75 km/h)(2.0 h)
! 150 km Both cars arrive at the beach at 1:00 P.M.
dB ! vBt
! (85 km/h)(2.0 h) Level 3
! 170 km 59. Two cars travel along a straight road. When
a stopwatch reads t ! 0.00 h, car A is at
dA ! 48.0 km moving at a constant
36.0 km/h. Later, when the watch reads
t ! 0.50 h, car B is at dB ! 0.00 km moving

Physics: Principles and Problems Solutions Manual 25

Chapter 2 continued
at 48.0 km/h. Answer the following ques- 60. Figure 2-31 shows the position-time graph
tions, first, graphically by creating a posi- depicting Jim’s movement up and down the
tion-time graph, and second, algebraically aisle at a store. The origin is at one end of
by writing equations for the positions the aisle.
dA and dB as a function of the stopwatch
14.0
time, t.
a. What will the watch read when car B 12.0
passes car A? 10.0

Position (m)
300.0 8.0

200.0 6.0

4.0
Position (km)

150.0
Car A 2.0
150.0
Car B 0.00 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0
100.0
Time (s)
50.0
■ Figure 2-31
a. Write a story describing Jim’s movements
%1.00 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00
at the store that would correspond to the
Time (h)
motion represented by the graph.
Answers will vary.
Cars pass when the distances are
equal, dA ! dB b. When does Jim have a position of 6.0 m?
dA ! 48.0 km # (36.0 km/h)t from 8.0 to 18.0 s, 53.0 to 56.0 s, and
at 43.0 s
and dB ! 0 # (48.0 km/h)(t " 0.50 h)
c. How much time passes between when
so 48.0 km # (36.0 km/h)t
Jim enters the aisle and when he gets to
! (48.0 km/h)(t " 0.50 h)

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

a position of 12.0 m? What is Jim’s aver-
(48.0 km) # (36.0 km/h)t age velocity between 37.0 s and 46.0 s?
! (48.0 km/h)t " 24 km
t ! 33.0 s
72 km ! (12.0 km/h)t
Using the points (37.0 s, 12.0 m) and
t ! 6.0 h (46.0 s, 3.00 m)
b. At what position will car B pass car A?
df " di 3.00 m " 12.0 m
dA ! 48.0 km # (36.0 km/h)(6.0 h) v! ! " ! ""
tf " ti 46.0 s " 37.0 s
! 2.6$102 km
! "1.00 m/s
c. When the cars pass, how long will it
have been since car A was at the
reference point?
d ! vt
d "48.0 km
so t ! "" ! "" ! "1.33 h
v 36.0 km/h
Car A has started 1.33 h before the
clock started.
t ! 6.0 h # 1.33 h ! 7.3 h

26 Solutions Manual Physics: Principles and Problems

 Chapter 2 continued

Thinking Critically Explanation:

Assume you want to travel 90 km in 1 h.
page 54
If you cover the first half of the distance
61. Apply Calculators Members of a physics
at 48 km/h, then you’ve gone 45 km in
class stood 25 m apart and used stopwatch- d
es to measure the time which a car traveling 0.9375 h (because t ! ""). This means
v
on the highway passed each person. Their you have used 93.75% of your time for
data are shown in Table 2-3. the first half of the distance leaving
6.25% of the time to go the remaining
Table 2-3 45 km.
Position v. Time 45 km
v ! ""
Time (s) Position (m) 0.0625 h

0.0 0.0 ! 720 km/h

1.3 25.0 63. Design an Experiment Every time a par-
2.7 50.0 ticular red motorcycle is driven past your
3.6 75.0 friend’s home, his father becomes angry
because he thinks the motorcycle is going
5.1 100.0
too fast for the posted 25 mph (40 km/h)
5.9 125.0 speed limit. Describe a simple experiment
7.0 150.0 you could do to determine whether or not
the motorcycle is speeding the next time it
8.6 175.0
is driven past your friend’s house.
10.3 200.0
There are actually several good possibil-
Use a graphing calculator to fit a line to a ities for answers on this one. Two that
position-time graph of the data and to plot should be among the most popular are
this line. Be sure to set the display range of briefly described here. 1) Get several
the graph so that all the data fit on it. Find people together and give everyone a
the slope of the line. What was the speed of watch. Synchronize the watches and
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

the car? stand along the street separated by a

consistent distance, maybe 10 m or so.
200.0
When the motorcycle passes, have each
Position (m)

150.0 person record the time (at least to an

100.0 accuracy of seconds) that the motorcy-
cle crossed in front of them. Plot a posi-
50.0
tion time graph, and compute the slope
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 of the best-fit line. If the slope is greater
Time (s) than 25 mph, the motorcycle is speed-
ing. 2) Get someone with a driver’s
The slope of the line and the speed of license to drive a car along the street at
the car are 19.7 m/s. 25 mph in the same direction as you
expect the motorcycle to go. If the
62. Apply Concepts You plan a car trip for motorcycle gets closer to the car (if the
which you want to average 90 km/h. You distance between them decreases), the
cover the first half of the distance at an motorcycle is speeding. If the distance
average speed of only 48 km/h. What must between them stays the same, the
your average speed be in the second half of motorcycle is driving at the speed limit.
the trip to meet your goal? Is this reason- If the distance increases, the motorcycle
able? Note that the velocities are based on is driving less than the speed limit.
half the distance, not half the time.
720 km/h; No 64. Interpret Graphs Is it possible for an
Physics: Principles and Problems Solutions Manual 27
Chapter 2 continued
object’s position-time graph to be a hori- Cumulative Review
zontal line? A vertical line? If you answer
page 54
yes to either situation, describe the associat-
67. Convert each of the following time mea-
ed motion in words.
surements to its equivalent in seconds.
It is possible to have a horizontal line (Chapter 1)
as a position-time graph; this would
a. 58 ns
indicate that the object’s position is not
changing, or in other words, that it is 5.8$10"8 s
not moving. It is not possible to have a b. 0.046 Gs
position-time graph that is a vertical 4.6$107 s
line, because this would mean the c. 9270 ms
object is moving at an infinite speed.
9.27 s
Writing in Physics d. 12.3 ks
page 54 1.23$104 s
65. Physicists have determined that the speed of
light is 3.00&108 m/s. How did they arrive 68. State the number of significant digits in the
at this number? Read about some of the following measurements. (Chapter 1)
series of experiments that were done to a. 3218 kg
determine light’s speed. Describe how the 4
experimental techniques improved to make b. 60.080 kg
the results of the experiments more accurate.
5
Answers will vary. Galileo attempted to
c. 801 kg
determine the speed of light but was
unsuccessful. Danish astronomer Olaus 3
Roemer successfully measured the d. 0.000534 kg
speed of light in 1676 by observing the 3
eclipses of the moons of Jupiter. His

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

estimate was 140,000 miles/s (225,308 69. Using a calculator, Chris obtained the fol-
km/s). Many others since have tried to lowing results. Rewrite the answer to each
measure it more accurately using rotat- operation using the correct number of sig-
ing toothed wheels, rotating mirrors and nificant digits. (Chapter 1)
the Kerr cell shutter. a. 5.32 mm $ 2.1 mm ! 7.4200000 mm
66. Some species of animals have good 7.4 mm
endurance, while others have the ability to b. 13.597 m & 3.65 m ! 49.62905 m2
move very quickly, but for only a short 49.6 m2
amount of time. Use reference sources to c. 83.2 kg % 12.804 kg ! 70.3960000 kg
find two examples of each quality and
70.4 kg
describe how it is helpful to that animal.
Answers will vary. Examples of animals
with high endurance to outlast preda-
tors or prey include mules, bears, and
coyotes. Animals with the speed to
quickly escape predators or capture
prey include cheetahs, antelopes and
deer.

28 Solutions Manual Physics: Principles and Problems