Name: ____________________________________________ Date: _________________ Period: ________
Speed and Velocity Investigation
Set Up
1. Go to phet.colorado.edu. Click on “Play with Sims…”
2. Open the “The Moving Man” simulation by navigating to: Physics  Motion  The Moving Man
To Do and Notice
1. Set the moving man’s velocity at 1 m/s and hit the play button.
a. Let the moving man go until he hits the wall and then hit pause.
b. Click on “Playback.” If you click on the blue bar at the bottom of the page, you can set the
playback to a specific time.
c. Complete the table below.
Motion Data for a Velocity of 1 m/s
Time (s)
Distance (m)
0
0
1.0
2.0
3.0
d. How many meters does he travel each second? ___________________
e. How many meters would the man travel in 10 seconds (assuming the wall did not stop him)?
Explain how you arrived at this answer.
2. Click “Reset All.” Repeat steps in part 1, but set the velocity at 3 m/s.
Motion Data for a Velocity of 3 m/s
Time (s)
Distance (m)
0.0
0
1.0
2.0
3.0
a. How many meters does he travel each second? ___________________
b. How many meters would the man travel in 10 seconds (assuming the wall did not stop him)?
Explain how you arrived at this answer.
3. Set the moving man’s velocity at -1 m/s (note that this is a negative number!) and hit the play button.
a. How is this motion different from +1 m/s?
b. How is the motion the same as +1 m/s?
What’s Going On?
Answer the following questions using complete sentences.
 At which of the two velocities did the man move faster? At which velocity does the moving man
cover more distance in 3 seconds?

Based on your observations, what does it mean when you say the speed of an object is 7 m/s?
Going Further
Click on the “Charts” tab. Minimize the “Acceleration” and “Position” graphs by clicking on the red “-“
sign on the top right corner of the graph. Grab the man and move him all over the place. What relationship
do you notice between the velocity graph and the man’s movement (or lack of movement)?