Below is a digram of a ball and track setup. The ball is started
in the position shown by a small nudge directed to the right.
Students are asked to construct a velocity versus time graph for the
ball from the time it starts until the time it returns to its
original position.
The ball initially speeds up down the
incline. Along the flat section it will travel at a constant speed
(frictionless surface). It will decrease speed up the ramp, change
direction, and speed up down the incline (now headed in the opposite
direction). If the original direction (to the right) is chosen to be
the positive direction, when the ball travels is traveling to the
left it must be travelling in the negative direction. This is shown
on a velocity versus time graph by plotting the velocity below the
v=0 axis (similar to plot below).
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Brown and Jeff
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