Car on an Incline
Activity 1
Download the answer log for this activity.
Investigation 1
Scenario 1
Carolyn has a remote control car. With the controls, she can decide how much power she gives the car. On a flat surface, if she keeps the power at the same level, the car gets faster and faster.
After playing with the car on the flat street, Carolyn decided to send the car up the part of the street that goes up a hill as shown in the picture below. The first time, she cut the power completely as soon as the car started up the hill. The car was already moving, so it continued up the hill.
To better understand what happened to Carolyn's car, conduct the investigation
described below.
If you have a toy car available, make a "hill" using a book or some other flat surface. Give the car a shove up the hill, but not hard enough so the car goes off the other end. Be sure not to continue pushing the car. Repeat multiple times as needed.
This animation shows what the car should be doing:
1. Describe what happens to the car after you give it an initial shove. Include information about the car's direction and height off the table as the car moves.
2.
The interactive graph shows how the car's height above the
flat part of the street changed over time, starting when the car first touched
the hill. The horizontal axis shows time in seconds, and the vertical axis shows the height in feet. (For example, Point A shows
that 0.5 seconds after the car starts up the hill, the car is 1.24 feet up.)
Notice the Control Panel on the top left (in green). The
sliders in the Control Panel allow you to investigate the graph at different times, and
to change the additional power that Carolyn can give the car as it goes up the
hill. (Remember that the car was already moving when it reached the hill.)
a.
Leave the additional power setting at 0. Click on the dot on
the time
slider. Use the arrow keys to move the time slider from 0 to 0.5 second.
Continue to move the slider from 0.5 second to 1 second. Observe the car's
height and the time on the graph as the red point moves from Point A to Point
B.
Describe how the
car's height changes from Point A to Point B.
b.
Use the arrow keys to move the time slider from 1 second to 1.5
seconds. Again observe the car's height and the time on the graph as the red
point moves from Point B to Point C.
Describe how the
height changes from Point B to Point C.
c.
Eric didn't think the graph showed how his toy car's height
changed over time. He created a graph of his own. View this animation to see
what he showed his teacher:
Use what you noticed as you
answered parts a and b to help you explain why Eric's graph is incorrect.
d.
Did Carolyn's car act differently than your toy car, or the
animated car, did?
Continue to Investigation 2.
EDC, Created with GeoGebra