Introduction

Think about where you have gone today.

  • Did you drive or ride to school this morning?
  • How far is it from your house to your school?
  • Did you stop at the gas station to gas up your car? Or did you stop to get coffee or breakfast? Did that add distance to your trip?

car driving down the road

→

What about distances on a smaller scale?

  • Have you traveled any distances by walking? Maybe you walked from the bathroom to your room or to the kitchen as you got ready this morning?
  • Or maybe you have changed classrooms, walked hallways, or traveled to the restroom while you have been at school?

All of these are examples of distances you may have covered today. Our days are often full of travel from one location to another, even if that simply means a trip to the restroom. This unit will examine the difference between distance and displacement as we begin our study of motion.



←

 

Lesson Objectives

Following successful completion of this lesson, students will be able to...

  • Apply basic concepts of distance and displacement
  • Identify and describe scalars and vectors
  • Analyze and interpret data for one-dimensional motion

Enduring Understandings

  • Physics principles are applicable to everyday life.
  • Newton's second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration.
  • Unbalanced forces lead to a change of motion.

The above objectives correspond with the Alabama Course of Study: Physical Science standards: 7.

This lesson incorporates the following Literacy Standards: R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R10, W1, W2, W3, W4, W9, and W10.

Next Page