Choose the graph that best describes the following:
The acceleration of a ball (Y) after throwing it from a building as a function of time (X).
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Choose the graph that best describes the following:
The acceleration of a ball (Y) after throwing it from a building as a function of time (X).
Since acceleration is dependent on time, it will be constant.
The force of gravity on Earth is constant, meaning the velocity of Earth's gravity is constant and therefore the graph will be straight.
The graph that appears in answer B satisfies this.
Is the function in the graph decreasing?
Great question! The ball's velocity increases (it falls faster), but the acceleration stays the same. Think of acceleration as how much the velocity changes each second - gravity adds the same amount of speed every second!
The acceleration is still constant! Whether the ball goes up or down, gravity always pulls it downward with the same force. The acceleration graph remains a horizontal line.
In real life, yes - but for physics problems, we usually ignore air resistance. This lets us focus on gravity alone, which gives us that nice constant acceleration.
A velocity vs time graph for a falling ball would be a diagonal line going down (increasing downward velocity). An acceleration vs time graph is horizontal because acceleration doesn't change.
The height of the horizontal line shows the magnitude of acceleration - about 9.8 m/s² for Earth's gravity. Higher on the graph means stronger acceleration.
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