Motion In One Dimension

What’s Up??     Your goal is to start the dot moving to the right by dialing in some acceleration and hitting "GO". The dot will begin to move and its acceleration, velocity and position are shown in the dials. You can change the acceleration any time you want and can pause the motion to meditate on what to do next if you feel the need.

Your mission is to bring the dot to rest in the box on the far right, about 700 meters from the start. The max acceleration is 10m/sec².

1.      Play the game until you succeed. Each one of you should do it and do not use the same strategy. Try to get the shortest time and tell what it was in your report. 

2.      Also, on purpose,  stop the dot too soon and head back towards the left (the - direction).  Carefully note the + and - signs of the velocity and the sign you have to give the acceleration to make the dot go back to the right and eventually stop.    In your report sketch a rough picture of this particular motion so you can tell when the dot is speeding up and slowing down and show the + - signs of the velocity and the acceleration in each phase of the motion.

3.      For a given acceleration note how V changes from second to second. Tell how one could deduce the acceleration from watching these velocity changes.

4.      Tell the difference between a positive and a negative acceleration. Refer to your picture of part 2.