← Back to the activity

Year 10 Science — Distance, displacement, speed and velocity

Separate distance from displacement and speed from velocity, work out average speed, average velocity and average acceleration, and say what stays fixed in uniform circular motion.

Name: ________________________

Before you start

Slide along the track. The starting line sits at 0 and the far end at 100.

020406080100

Positions to the right of the starting line count as positive. A runner who goes out to 100 and comes back to 40 has covered a long path but ended up 40 from where she started.

  1. 1.A lorry is doing 72 km/h. What is that in m/s? Answer with a number.

  2. 2.A cyclist covers 300 m of path in 60 s. What is her average speed, in m/s? Answer with a number.

  3. 3.A bus covers 15 m in the first second, 15 m in the second and 15 m in the third. What does the chapter call this motion?

    • a) Non-uniform motion in a straight line
    • b) Uniform circular motion
    • c) Uniform motion in a straight line
    • d) Motion with constant acceleration

  4. 4.A child on a merry-go-round rides exactly once round the circle and stops where she got on. What is the magnitude of her displacement, in metres? Answer with a number.

  5. 5.A cyclist rides round a circular track at a steady 8 m/s. What is happening to her velocity?

    • a) Both its direction and its magnitude stay fixed
    • b) Its direction keeps changing while its magnitude stays fixed
    • c) It falls to zero each time she completes a lap
    • d) Its magnitude keeps changing while its direction stays fixed

  6. 6.An athlete runs along the track from O out to A, then turns and comes back as far as B. Tap the bar whose length is the magnitude of her displacement.

    Write the number of the part.

    123

  7. 7.A stone is dropped from a height. Put its speeds in order, starting from 0 m/s, at the instant it is released.

    • 29.4 m/s, after three seconds
    • 9.8 m/s, one second later
    • 0 m/s, at the instant it is released
    • 19.6 m/s, after two seconds

  8. 8.How does the magnitude of an object's displacement compare with the total distance it travelled over the same interval?

    • a) It is greater than the distance travelled
    • b) It is zero as soon as the object has moved
    • c) It is less than or equal to the distance travelled
    • d) The two are the same in each case

Answer key — Year 10 Science — Distance, displacement, speed and velocity

  1. 1. 20
  2. 2. 5
  3. 3. c) Uniform motion in a straight line
  4. 4. 0
  5. 5. b) Its direction keeps changing while its magnitude stays fixed
  6. 6. 3 — The stretch from O to B
  7. 7. 1. 0 m/s, at the instant it is released 2. 9.8 m/s, one second later 3. 19.6 m/s, after two seconds 4. 29.4 m/s, after three seconds
  8. 8. c) It is less than or equal to the distance travelled