Average Acceleration of the object

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around determining the average acceleration of an object based on its displacement graph as a function of time. Participants are exploring the implications of the graph's characteristics on the object's motion.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Conceptual clarification

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to relate average velocity and average acceleration to the graph, suggesting that a round trip results in zero average velocity and thus zero average acceleration. Other participants question this assumption and explore the effects of the direction of displacement on acceleration.

Discussion Status

Participants are actively engaging with the problem, offering hints and exploring different interpretations of the graph. Some guidance has been provided regarding the relationship between displacement direction and acceleration, but no consensus has been reached on the average acceleration itself.

Contextual Notes

There is a mention of potential constraints regarding the direction of displacement and its impact on acceleration, as well as the need for a functional form of the graph to further analyze the motion.

icanletyougo
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Homework Statement



The graph of displacement as a function of time of the object is shown below
[PLAIN]http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/8962/displaceemt.jpg
What is the average acceleration of the object ?

Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution


From the graph, I think the object is moving a round trip, so it will have the average velocity = 0, so the object will have average acceleration equal 0 too. But I'm not sure...
 
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welcome to pf!

hi icanletyougo! welcome to pf! :smile:

hint: suppose the direction of displacement is vertical …

then what is the object doing? :wink:​
 


tiny-tim said:
hi icanletyougo! welcome to pf! :smile:

hint: suppose the direction of displacement is vertical …

then what is the object doing? :wink:​

Yea...I know if the direction of displacement is vertical, the acceleration will be equal to the gravity...But if the direction of displacement is horizontal, I'm not sure about its acceleration...Thanks
 
hi icanletyougo! :smile:

(just got up :zzz: …)
icanletyougo said:
Yea...I know if the direction of displacement is vertical, the acceleration will be equal to the gravity...But if the direction of displacement is horizontal, I'm not sure about its acceleration...Thanks

the direction makes no difference …

the same graph represents the same speed and acceleration no matter which way up the direction is! :smile:

so what is the average acceleration? :wink:​
 
tiny-tim said:
hi icanletyougo! :smile:

(just got up :zzz: …)


the direction makes no difference …

the same graph represents the same speed and acceleration no matter which way up the direction is! :smile:

so what is the average acceleration? :wink:​


oK...Thank you so much...I got that...:)
 
an approach:

do you know the function of the graph? if not try to synthesize it from given data, probably of the form: x=a(t-b)^2+c.
after you have the function, you know that x''(t) = a(t).

what do you think?
 

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