Velocity – Time Graph
- The gradient of the velocity-time gradient gives a value of the changing rate in velocity, which is the acceleration of the object.
- The area below the velocity-time graph gives a value of the object’s displacement.
Analysing Velocity-Time Graph
- When analysing the velocity-time graph, always keep in mind that the gradient of the graph is equal to the acceleration of the graph.
- If the gradient is constant, then the acceleration is constant. If the gradient increase, then the acceleration increase and etc.
- The table below shows a few cases of velocity-time graph for different types of motion.
Uniform velocity
Uniform acceleration
Increasing acceleration
Uniform deceleration
Decreasing acceleration
Converting a Velocity-Time graph to Acceleration-Time graph
- In order to convert a velocity-time graph to acceleration time graph, we need to find the gradient of the velocity-time graph and plot it in the acceleration-time graph.
- The 5th and 6th videos below explain how to sketch an acceleration-time graph form a given velocity-time graph.