Question 2
The table shows how the distance moved by a second object changed with time.
| Time t (s) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distance d (m) | 0 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 16 | 18 |
Which statement about these data is correct?
The right answer is the one marked above.
The object moved with a speed that was not uniform. The distance covered in each second is not the same.
In the first second it covers 3 m, in the second 5 − 3 = 2 m, in the third 9 − 5 = 4 m, and so on. Since the distance covered in equal intervals of time keeps changing, the speed is not uniform.
The distance never decreases, so the object neither stopped nor turned back. For motion like this, what is useful is to work out the average speed.