IP2.4.4 Drawing distance-time graphs
Drawing distance-time graphs
© Oxford University Press 2011
IP2.4.4 Drawing distance-time graphs
 You can record the distances that an object
travels and the time taken to travel those
distances.
 The distance and time are measured from
where and when the object started.
 You can plot this data on a distance–time
graph. Time is usually plotted on the x-axis
and distance on the y-axis.
© Oxford University Press 2011
IP2.4.4 Drawing distance-time graphs
Bob goes for a walk from his house to a local shop to buy a paper.
You can plot his journey on a distance–time graph as follows.
Distance from
house (m)
It takes them
5 minutes to
buy the paper.
300
150
0
Bob walks
150 m from
his house
towards the
newsagents
for 2 minutes.
Bob remembers that
he left a light on so
runs back covering
the 300 m home in
2 minutes.
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Time
(minutes)
He meets a friend and stops on the
pavement talking for 1 minute.
Bob and his friend walk on
together talking. They travel the
remaining 150 m in 4 minutes.
© Oxford University Press 2011
IP2.4.4 Drawing distance-time graphs
 You can tell how fast something is moving by looking at the
slope of the line.
 If an object moves faster, it goes a greater distance for a
given time and the slope of the line is steeper. If an object
goes slower, it moves a smaller distance for a given time and
the slope is less steep.
 We call the slope the gradient of the graph.
 The gradient of a distance–time graph represents speed.
 If a distance–time graph has a straight slope, this tells you
that the object is moving at a constant speed.
 Where the line in a distance–time graph is horizontal, the
object has not moved any distance – it is stationary.
© Oxford University Press 2011
IP2.4.4 Drawing distance-time graphs
You can interpret what happened by looking at the slope of the graph.
Bob was stationary while he was talking with his
friend (part b) and while he was waiting to buy
his paper (part d).
d
Distance from
house (m)
300
Bob walked
quicker by
himself than
with his friend.
The gradient for
part a is greater
than for part c.
c
b
150
e
a
0
2
4
6
8
Time
(minutes)
10
12
14
Bob was travelling in
the opposite direction
in part e because the
gradient is negative.
© Oxford University Press 2011