AP Physics 1 : Fundamentals of Displacement, Velocity, and Acceleration
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Physics 1
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Example Questions
Example Question #591 : Ap Physics 1
An object travels with a velocity 
What is the correct expression for the object's average velocity during the entire two-part motion?
Average velocity can be found by taking the total distance traveled in the two part motion and dividing by the total time of the two part motion as shown by the equation for velocity:
Where 
Our average velocity then would be:
While we were not given the displacements for either part, we can solve for them by rearranging the velocity equation:
Substituting for the unknown displacements with equivalent terms comprised of the known velocities and times we find that the average velocity is:
Example Question #51 : Fundamentals Of Displacement, Velocity, And Acceleration
In the traditional coordinate system, an object is moving downwards and slowing down.
What is the sign of the object's velocity?
Positive
Negative
It depends.
Neutral
It's impossible to tell.
Negative
In a traditional coordinate system: left and down are considered negative directions while up and right are considered positive directions. The question states that the object is moving down, so regardless of its acceleration, its velocity is negative at the time described.
Example Question #52 : Fundamentals Of Displacement, Velocity, And Acceleration
In the traditional coordinate system, an object is moving downwards and slowing down.
What is the sign of the object's acceleration?
Positive
Negative
Neutral
It's impossible to tell.
It depends.
Positive
In a traditional coordinate system: left and down are considered negative directions while up and right are considered positive directions. Though the object is moving down (a negative direction) it is stated that it is slowing down, which means it is accelerating upwards in a positive direction.
Example Question #53 : Fundamentals Of Displacement, Velocity, And Acceleration
In the traditional coordinate system, a car is speeding up while moving to the left.
What is the sign of the car's acceleration?
It depends
It's impossible to tell.
Negative
Positive
Neutral
Negative
In a traditional coordinate system: left and down are considered negative directions while up and right are considered positive directions. Though the car is said to be speeding up, it is speeding up while moving in a negative direction. Therefor, the car's velocity is becoming more and more negative, meaning it has a negative acceleration.
Example Question #324 : Linear Motion And Momentum
For a school exercise, students are tasked with determining an experimental value for Earth's gravitational acceleration. They decide to drop a ball and measure the time it takes until it hits the ground.
Which further measurements do the students need to take to determine an experimental value for Earth's gravitational acceleration without taking extraneous measurements?
No further measurements are necessary.
Only the mass of the ball.
The velocity of the ball just before it hits the ground.
Only the height above the ground from which the ball is dropped.
The mass of the ball and the height from which the ball is dropped.
Only the height above the ground from which the ball is dropped.
With only the drop height and the time we can use the kinematic equation:
We assume the initial velocity is 
Example Question #325 : Linear Motion And Momentum
A feather is released from rest on a moon with no atmosphere. The object drops 
What is the magnitude of the acceleration due to gravity on this moon?
We use the kinematic equation:
Plugging in 
Example Question #326 : Linear Motion And Momentum
A penny is dropped from the top of the Eiffel Tower. After falling uninterrupted for 
Assuming a constant gravitational acceleration, how far below the top of the Eiffel Tower is the penny after falling for a total of 
In the kinematic equation:
When the first term right of the equals sign goes to zero because the penny was dropped from rest, we see that the distance in a constant acceleration 
because the fraction and acceleration are constant.
So when 
Example Question #54 : Fundamentals Of Displacement, Velocity, And Acceleration
A bullet is fired horizontally simultaneously with a ball being dropped from the same height.
Assuming uninterrupted paths for both objects, how do the times it takes them to hit the ground compare?
The bullet hits the ground first.
The ball hits the ground first.
The ball hits the ground in half the time it takes the bullet to hit the ground.
The times for both objects to hit the ground are equal.
There is not enough information to tell.
The times for both objects to hit the ground are equal.
Horizontal velocity does not affect gravity's force on an object so both the bullet and the ball are accelerated downward at the same gravitational acceleration and they will hit the ground at the same time.
Example Question #55 : Fundamentals Of Displacement, Velocity, And Acceleration
In the traditional coordinate system, a car is speeding up while moving to the left.
What is the sign of the car's velocity?
Neutral
Positive
It's impossible to tell.
Negative
It depends.
Negative
In a traditional coordinate system: left and down are considered negative directions while up and right are considered positive directions. The question states that the object is moving to the left, so regardless of its acceleration, its velocity is negative at the time described.
Example Question #56 : Fundamentals Of Displacement, Velocity, And Acceleration
John and Dave would like to meet at a coffee shop at the same time, John drives at 
So for this first we have to set up a relation between John (1) and Dave's (2) position. Keeping in mind that Dave is traveling the opposite distance of John.
Where x is the total distance between the two points. Then we solve it for time and plug it in to John's speed to find his distance after the elapsed time.
where 
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