Position, Velocity, Acceleration

What is Position?

position (s): the location of an object/subject at a given moment in time

s: think of this as your location on a number line (shown as the red circle below)

displacement: the difference in location from one time to another

Δs: think of this as the difference between your first and second location on a number line

What is Velocity?

velocity: the change in position with respect to time; gives an object’s speed and direction of its motion

What is Acceleration?

acceleration: the change in velocity with respect to time

What are Vectors?

vectors: a quantity having direction and magnitude; aids in determining the position of one point in relative space

For more information check out the Scalar vs. Vector page

How are these related and where did these equations come from?

If you want to see the derivation for how these equations came to be click here for the Physics HyperTextbook

1D Kinematics: Position, Velocity, Acceleration (~4 minutes)

Position/Velocity/Acceleration vs. Time Graphs (~4 minutes)