Question

Well, I'm doing a lab about a wind-up toy and the main objective of the lab is to find if the toy moves at a constant speed. I don't understand what to look for when it comes to researching for background information about this topic. Please help? :(

Answer 1

God has called me to help you.....

Answer 2

Constant speed? Speed is a scalar measurement which mean it doesnt have a direction(like a vector)

Constant speed has no acceleration and is at an equilibruim in translation and rotational motion.

F=ma = zero newton second law of motion

A toy in a constant speed.......ummmmm........ There isnt a toy that can do that unless its on a frictionless surface.

Answer 3

@oOKawaiiOo, not sure if God also told you what the answer must be, but you may have missed the point slightly. Speed is a vector and not a scalar measurement, because it has direction (or do you usually drive home after school at top speed but without caring in which direction you go ?). In addition, not sure what the second law of motion and the frictionless surface mean here.

@mamtasingh2, I assume that your lab assignment requires you to find out if the speed of the toy changes over time. You can measure this by defining a distance, e.g. 1 meter on the ground and measure the time the toy travels from start to finish. Note this time, pick up the toy, turn it around and let it run the same distance again. Measure the time to travel again. Keep on repeating until the toy stops or hardly moves anymore.

You now have a range of measurements, for instance 10, 10, 12, 13, 15, 20 sec, which tell you that the toy took more and more time for every attempt to travel the same distance. This can only happen if the toy slows down. You can even calculate the speed per leg, because you know that speed = distance/time and you have both distance and time from your experiment. Hope this helps...

Answer 4

LOL

Speed is a scalar because it only has a magnitude and no direction. Like 55 miles per hour.
Velocity is a vector because it has both magnitude and direction like 55 miles per hour NE.

You have speed and velocity mixed up my friend.

Answer 5

Nope, from a phyics perspective it doesn't matter at all. It remains a vector but you may choose to ignore that fact. CU ...

Answer 6

gotcha. Im no physicist.

Answer 7

:-) Take care !

Answer 8

Hey NLCircle do you know alot about waves?

Answer 9

Mwah, let's not axagerate that. What's your question ?

Answer 10

So a sound wave is a longitudinal wave. Why is that when sound goes from 1 medium to another, the frequency doesnt change? and only the medium can affect the speed of the wave?

Answer 11

@oOKawaiiOo, will get back to you via PM, in order to keep the original question clear, OK ?