Question

You time an ant’s movement as it walks along a meter stick. You record the following data: {(0 s, 0.20 m), (1 s, 0.26 m), (2 s, 0.32 m), (3 s, 0.38 m), (4 s, 0.44 m)}. Determine the ant’s velocity.

Answer 1

Let's plot the Position versus Time graph:

As we can see, the Position vs. Time graph is a straight line. The slope of the Position vs. Time graph represents the velocity of the ant. Let's find the slope of the graph:

$$v_{ant}=Slope=\dfrac{\Delta y}{\Delta x}=\dfrac{0.44\ m-0.2\ m}{4\ s-0\ s}=0.06\ \dfrac{m}{s}.$$

Answer:

$v_{ant}=0.06\ \dfrac{m}{s}.$