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 1
area of triangle 1= X base X height¿ X 30 X 20
2 2
= 300m

area of rectangle 2=base X height ¿ 20 X 20

¿ 400 m

1 1
area of triangle 3= X base X height¿ X 20 X 20
2 2
= 200m
Total distance travelled=total area under graph=300+ 400+200=900 m

METHOD 2:

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T.T Physics IGCSE 0625 YEAR 11 S.S

1 1
area of trapezium= X ( ∑ of∥sides ) X height¿ X ( 70+20 ) X 20¿ 900 m
2 2
c)

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

(s.f – significant figures)

Acceleration

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

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T.T Physics IGCSE 0625 YEAR 11 S.S

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.

Example:

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

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T.T Physics IGCSE 0625 YEAR 11 S.S

Speed-time graph and acceleration

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

Example:

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T.T Physics IGCSE 0625 YEAR 11 S.S

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