
What is “position-time plot” in physics?
Toward bright spark; Position-time plot is a plot of position versus time, and it shows the position of a moving body at any given moment, but the shape of the position-time graph does not show the motion path. For example, look at the following plots:
In the above plot, although position-time graph is linear, the motion path is not necessarily along a straight line. In fact, the motion path of the above plot can be any shape depending on the instantaneous velocity profile. For example, the motion path can be a straight line as shown in plot B, or along a curved path as shown in plot C.
Now, for determining displacement and average velocity from the position-time plot, you can download the Toward bright spark application via the link below and learn it: