Acceleration

The straight horizontal lines on these graphs show Sunita running at a constant speed. If
she had been accelerating, the lines would have been sloping. Acceleration describes a
direction as well as a change in speed, so a positive number for acceleration shows that
someone is getting faster, and a negative number shows they are decelerating (slowing
down). You can calculate the acceleration from the gradient of a velocity-time graph.
Velocity (m/s)

80
60

40

20
Example 1 – look at the section of Example 2 – look at the section of graph
0
graph between 0 and 20 seconds. between 60 and 70 seconds.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Change in velocity = 40 m/s – 0 m/s TimeChange
(s) in velocity = 60 m/s – 80 m/s
= 40 m/s = –20 m/s
Change in time = 20 s – 0 s = 20 s Change in time = 70 s – 60 s = 10 s
Gradient = 40 m/s ÷ 20 s Gradient = –20 m/s ÷ 10 s
Acceleration = 2 m/s2 Acceleration = –2 m/s2 (slowing down)

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© Pearson Education Limited 2004 Longman Foundation Science for GCSE
 1 What is the acceleration between 20 and 30 seconds on the graph on page 1? Explain
your answer.
(Hint: you do not need to do any calculations!)

2 Calculate the acceleration between 30 and 60 seconds.

3 Calculate the acceleration between 70 and 80 seconds.

Distance travelled

You can also use speed-time graphs to work out the distance travelled. Remember that
distance = speed  time.

Look again at the velocity-time graph (below). Between 20 and 30 seconds the object is
travelling at a steady speed of 40 m/s. In 10 seconds, it will travel 40  10 = 400 m. This is
the same as the area under that part of the graph (shown by the dotted rectangle).
Velocity (m/s)

80
60

40

20

Now look at the time0between 0 and 20 seconds. The average speed during this time is
0 10 during
20 m/s. The distance travelled 20 this
30time40is 2050 2060
= 40070m. This
80 is the same as the
Time
area of the triangle under that part of the graph (s)
(shown with stripes). Area of triangle = ½  base  height

The distance travelled on a speed-time graph is equal to the area under the graph. If the
graph does not break up nicely into triangles and rectangles, you may have to work out the
area by counting squares on the graph paper!

4 Calculate the distance travelled between 70 and 80 seconds on the graph.

5 Calculate the distance travelled between 30 and 60 seconds. (Hint: you need to work
out the areas of a triangle and a rectangle, and add them together.)

6 Calculate the total distance travelled during the time shown on the graph. (Hint: you
need to do another calculation, and also use some earlier answers.)

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© Pearson Education Limited 2004 Longman Foundation Science for GCSE