T.T Physics IGCSE 0625 YEAR 11 S.

Speed-time graphs

A speed-time graph shows how the speed of a moving object varies with time.

• The red line represents an object with increasing speed.

• The green line represents an object with decreasing speed.

The distance travelled by an object can be found by determining the area under the graph.

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T.T Physics IGCSE 0625 YEAR 11 S.S

• If the area under the graph forms a triangle (the object is either accelerating or
decelerating), the area can be calculated using the following formula:
𝟏
𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒂 = 𝑿 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑿 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕
𝟐
• If the area under the graph is a rectangle (constant velocity/speed), the area can be
calculated using the following formula:
𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒂 = 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑿 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕

Example:

A car starts from rest on a straight road. The car accelerates at a constant rate for 30 seconds,
reaching a speed of 20 m/s.

The car travels at this constant speed of 20m/s for 20s.

The car then decelerates at a constant rate before coming to rest in a further 20s.

(a) Draw a speed-time graph based on the explanation given above.

(b) Using the speed-time graph, determine the total distance travelled by the car.
(c) Calculate the average speed of the car for the whole journey.

Solution:

a)

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T.T Physics IGCSE 0625 YEAR 11 S.S

b) To calculate the total distance travelled, we need to calculate the total area under graph.
METHOD 1:

We need to calculate the area of:

1. Triangle 1
2. Rectangle 2
3. Triangle 3
1
𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 1 = 𝑋 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑋 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
2
1
= 𝑋 30 𝑋 20
2

= 300m

𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 2 = 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑋 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡

= 20 𝑋 20
= 400𝑚

1
𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 3 = 𝑋 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑋 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
2
1
= 𝑋 20 𝑋 20
2

= 200m
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑
= 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑝ℎ
= 300 + 400 + 200
= 900𝑚

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T.T Physics IGCSE 0625 YEAR 11 S.S

METHOD 2:

1
𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑧𝑖𝑢𝑚 = 𝑋 (𝑠𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑙 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠) 𝑋 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
2
1
= 𝑋 (70 + 20) 𝑋 20
2
= 900𝑚
c)

900
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = = 12.857 = 12.9 𝑚/𝑠 (to 3 s.f)
70

(s.f – significant figures)

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T.T Physics IGCSE 0625 YEAR 11 S.S

Acceleration

Acceleration is defined as the change of velocity in unit time.

If an object accelerates from an initial velocity (u) up to a final velocity (v), then the acceleration
can be calculated using the equation:

Where,

a: acceleration in m/s2

v: final velocity in m/s

u: initial velocity in m/s

t: time taken in s.

If an object is slowing down, this means that the latter is decelerating, and its acceleration has a
negative value.

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T.T Physics IGCSE 0625 YEAR 11 S.S

Example:

A car takes 8.0s to accelerate from rest to 28m/s. Calculate the average acceleration of the car.

Speed-time graph and acceleration

The gradient of a speed-time graph for an object gives the acceleration of the object.

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T.T Physics IGCSE 0625 YEAR 11 S.S

Example:

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