Investigating the Factors Affecting the Speed of a Car After Freewheeling Down a Slope

Investigating the Factors Affecting the Speed of a Car After Freewheeling Down a Slope

Background Knowledge

Sir Isaac Newton formulated three Laws relating to the motion of

objects.

A moving object covers a particular distance in a particular time.

This is called the Speed of the object and is expressed as

meters/second i.e. the distance covered in meters in one second. It is

a Scalar quantity as it only has magnitude. If however the same speed

is expressed with the object moving in a particular direction e.g. due

north, it will be called the Velocity of the object. It again is

expressed as meters/second but having both magnitude and direction it

is a Vector quantity.

Newton described that an object that is stationary will stay

stationary until a force is applied to it and an object that is in

motion will stay in motion in a straight line until it is acted upon

by a force. This is NewtonÂ’s First Law of Motion.

Average Velocity = Displacement taken place (m)

(m/s) Time taken (s)

Force is a push or a pull, which can make an object start moving when

it is stationary, or change its shape or its direction of motion. It

is measured in Newton (N).

When an external force acts upon a moving object it changes its

velocity. The rate at which this velocity is changed is called

acceleration (if the velocity is increased) or deceleration (if the

velocity is decreased by an opposing force). This is the Second Law of

Motion. And acceleration is expressed in m/s2.

Acceleration = Change in Velocity (m/s)

(m/s2 ) Time taken (s)

It is the property of matter that it opposes any change in an objectÂ’s

fixed position. This is called Inertia. The greater the mass of an

object the greater will be the force of Inertia. This indicates that

to make an object move from its stationary position, it will take a