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Physics vocab 1
Description of motion
causes of motion
Has both magnitude and direction
The length of path traveled
Rate of change in position
location of an object with respect to a reference point
Change in position in a particular direction
early thinker, influenced people's thinking for nearly 2000 years
one of first to contradict Aristotle
- continued to take issue with Aristotle's ideas
- conducted thought experiments
Study of motion
The rate of change of distance
object has the same velocity for the entire trip
(Graph is a straight line)
object has many different speeds and directions during a trip
found by dividing total displacement by total time
the velocity at any moment in time
The rate of change of velocity
state of an object when the only force acting on it is gravity.
called "the acceleration due to gravity"
Acceleration is Absolute
can be measured without making a comparison to something else; acceleration can be felt
Velocity is Relative
In order to measure it, a comparison must be made to something else.