Motion Maps

**This is a very important post for our physics class. I wrote it in an attempt to make my classmates lives a little easier if they don't get motion maps yet. But make sure to see the BOTTOM of this post when you're done so that you can read my new awesome features! (Also known as WIDGETS :)**

It's here. It's scary. It's confusing. But the code has been cracked! The secret discovered! The confusion unraveled!

MOTION MAPS (cue scary thunder music and a flashing picture of a spooky house with lightning striking through- you know what I'm talking about)

Now, many people have expressed concerns in class about their trouble grasping motion maps. But my table is evidently a group of secret geniuses (shoutout to Lisette, Akshil, Jakob, and Zuzanna!) because they explained it to me and all of a sudden I GOT it! So hopefully I can bestow the same calm understanding they have gifted to me over the worldwide web.

You have a set of data points. And a random line that strongly resembles a number line. You have no clue how to transfer those points onto the line in a way that conveys any logical sense. But do not panic! There is an easy way to fix this dilemma!

First- you have to think of the circles you see on motion maps as the TIME, and each dash on the line as a certain POSITION. My table figured out that it is muy facil (very easy, for my snooty French friends ;) to see it if you write the "t value," also known as writing t=1 under the point that is one second, t=2 under the point that is two seconds, and so on. PLOT THE POINTS FIRST. Do NOT even CONCERN yourself with the arrows yet. When you're done plotting the points, you should have each second (or whatever time interval you're using) at the position shown in the data table (or if you're looking at a graph, the coordinates). At this point in time, (see what I did there?) there should be no arrows.

Second- All you have to do know is connect the end of the arrow to the corresponding dot, so that it looks like the dot, a line connected to it, and the tip of the arrow close to the next dot. This totally covers the whole short arrow for slow movement and long arrow for fast movement thing! You wanna know why? I know you're dying to find out! It's BECAUSE, when you plotted the time, you already have how the time corresponds to the position. Therefore, if you only moved one meter per second, you'll have one dot at one meter, another dot at two meters, etc. But if you reached ten meters and started moving at THREE meters per second, all of a sudden the dots are much farther apart right?? Because you'd have one dot at ten meters, another at thirteen meters, and a third at sixteen meters! So when you draw the arrows, you'll get short arrows until ten meters, then they'll be longer! It just makes sense! Right?? (I seriously hope this is making sense right now.)

Try it! See if it makes sense! If you have any questions (I know sometimes I explain things and they totally work in my brain, but to everyone else it looks like crazy talk), ANY questions at all, I BEHOOVE you to leave them in the comments. I want to help!!

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