Name _____________________________________ period_________
Total points
Motion Practice Test (Formative Assessment)
_______/28
Distance (m)
Motion of an Imaginary
Continent
400
300
200
100
0
0
2000
4000
Time (yr)
6000
8000
Earth’s continents move at very slow speeds. The graph above shows the
movement of an imaginary continent. Use the graph to answer the next three
questions.
Answer correct
___/1
1. Interpreting the graph above, how far does the continent move in the first
1000 years?
100 meters
Answer correct
___/1
Work shown
_____/1
Answer correct
___/1
Explanation given
correct _____/1
2. Calculate the average speed of the continent over the entire 6,000 year period.
Remember the three steps when showing work!
Write the equation in words Substitute #s for word Solve
Speed = Distance / Time
Speed = 300m / 6000yr
Speed = .05 m/yr
3. Does the motion of the continent accelerate over time? Explain.
Yes, the continent accelerates because over the 6,000 years it slows down.
(Technically it is decelerating.) For the first 2,000 years it travels 100m per
1000 years. Over the next 2,000 years it slows down to 50m per 1,000 years,
and in the last 2,000 years it stops moving.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Name _____________________________________ period_________
The graph below plots the speed of a baseball thrown straight up on the air.
Answer the following questions using the graph.
Speed of a Baseball
Thrown into the Air
Speed (m/s)
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
Time (s)
Answer correct
___/1
Answer correct
___/1
Answer correct
___/1
Conversion correct
____/1
1st way
___/1
2nd way
___/1
3rd way
___/1
4. What happens to the baseball at 2 seconds?
At 2 seconds it stops because it is at the peak of the throw and it about to
start falling back to earth.
5. What happens to the baseball at 4 seconds?
At 4 seconds it is caught or hits the ground.
6. What is the velocity of the baseball at 3 seconds?
_10 m/s DOWN Convert your answer to km/s ___.01 m/s DOWN
You have to include the direction for this answer to be a velocity instead of a
speed.
7. List the three different ways that the baseball accelerates when it is thrown
into the air.
1. Speeds up
2. Slows down
3. Changes direction
Name _____________________________________ period_________
Work shown
_____/4
Units correct
______/2
Answers correct
______/2
Calculate the speed or acceleration for each of these problems. You do not need to
write the equation in words for these problems.
Speed = Distance
Time
8. The cheetah, the fastest of land animals, can run a distance of 274 m in 8.65
seconds at its top speed. What is the cheetah’s top speed?
Speed = Distance / Time
Speed = 274 m / 8.65 s
Speed = 31.68 m/s
9. Alex rode his bicycle 60 kilometers in 4 hours. Matt says he is faster than
Alex. He rode 90 meters in 6 minutes. What is Matt's speed, and is he faster
than Alex?
Alex
Speed = Distance / Time
Speed = 60km / 4hr
Speed = 15 km/hr
Matt
Speed = Distance / Time
Speed = 90 m / 6 min
Speed = 15 m/min
.09km / (6min/60min) = .09km/.1 hr
Speed = .9km/hr
You had to change one of the answers into the units of the other answer so
they had the same units and could be compared. I changed Matt’s speed to
km/hr, and did that change in green.
Since Alex was going 15 km/hr and Matt was going .9km/hr, Alex was
traveling faster.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Name _____________________________________ period_________
Acceleration = final velocity – starting velocity
time it takes to change velocity
Work shown
_____/4
Units correct
________/2
Answers correct
______/2
10. A roller coaster’s velocity at the top of the hill is 10 m/s. Two seconds later
it reaches the bottom of the hill with a velocity of 26m/s. What is the
acceleration of the coaster?
Accel = (Final vel. – Starting vel. ) / time to change velocity
Accel. = (26 m/s - 10 m/s) / 2 seconds
Accel.= 8 m/s/s
11. A satellite’s original velocity is 10,000 m/s. After 60 seconds it s going 5,000
m/s. What is the acceleration?
Accel =( Final vel. – Starting vel.) / time to change velocity
Accel = (5,000 m/s - 10,000 m/s) / 60 seconds
Accel = -83.3 m/s/s
OR
if you changed 60 seconds into 1 minute
Accel = -5000 m/s/min.