AP Physics Semester 1: Conceptual Questions 2025 EXAM Save In a displacement by time graph, what type of graph would represent an object at rest? - CORRECT ANSWERS A horizontal line BECAUSE as the time increases, the displacement stays the same. You dri

AP Physics Semester 1: Conceptual Questions 2025 EXAM Save In a displacement by time graph, what type of graph would represent an object at rest? - CORRECT ANSWERS A horizontal line BECAUSE as the time increases, the displacement stays the same. You drive six km at 50 km/h and then another six km at 90 km/h. What will your average speed be? - CORRECT ANSWERS Less than 70 km/h BECAUSE the average is 70 km/h, however, you drive less than 70 km/h for longer because you are driving slower. If an object is moving in the +x direction and experiences an acceleration of 2 m/s^2, what happens to the velocity? - CORRECT ANSWERS The velocity increases by 2 m/s every second BECAUSE if an object is accelerating, the velocity cannot remain constant and must increase as well. A rock from a volcanic eruption is launched straight up into the air with no appreciable air resistance. What is correct about the velocity and acceleration while the rock is in the air? - CORRECT ANSWERS The acceleration is downwards in all points of motion BECAUSE after it has been thrown out of the volcano, gravity is working. Gravity is constant and down. Doesn't matter if the rock is on the way up, or the way down, it is accelerating downward due to gravity. An auto manufacturer advertises that their car can go "from zero to sixty in eight seconds". What characteristic of motion is this description? - CORRECT ANSWERS The average acceleration BECAUSE the car increases it speed, but not at a constant rate?? A child is standing on a bridge throws a rock straight down. The rock leaves the child's hand at a time t = 0 seconds. If we take upwards as the positive direction, what would that graph the best represents the velocity of the stone as a function of time look like? - CORRECT ANSWERS An exponential curve under the x axis starting at zero BECAUSE the rock increases its velocity each second, it does not remain constant because there is an acceleration due to gravity. If there was no acceleration the velocity would remain constant and the line would not curve. A 10 kg and a 20 kg rock are thrown upward with the same initial speed of zero and experience no significant air resistance. If the 10 kg rock reaches a maximum height h, what maximum height will the 20 kg ball reach? - CORRECT ANSWERS h (the same height) BECAUSE mass does not matter when there is no air resistance and they are thrown with the same velocity. What would a graph that represents zero acceleration look like? - CORRECT ANSWERS Diagonal line pointing away from the axis on a displacement vs time graph BECAUSE the velocity is constant. Also, on a velocity vs. time graph, it would be a horizontal line BECAUSE as time increases, velocity is not; once again, it is constant. In a curved graph, what value of t is the speed of the particle equal to 0 m/s? - CORRECT ANSWERS The time of the tip of the curve BECAUSE it is a displacement by time graph and the tip has no movement, it is completely horizontal meaning there is zero velocity. If the velocity of an object is zero at some point, then will the acceleration also be zero at that point? - CORRECT ANSWERS No BECAUSE as long as the object will increase its speed in the next period of time, there will be an acceleration?? If the acceleration of an object is zero, then can that object be moving? - CORRECT ANSWERS Yes BECAUSE the velocity could still be constant, it does not have to be zero for the acceleration to be zero. It just does not get faster with each time frame. If a car and a truck drive along a straight road but the car takes diagonal path and the truck takes a straight path, when they meet, what is true about the distances each traveled? - CORRECT ANSWERS The truck will have traveled further than the car BECAUSE the car took a cut path and creates a triangle in the graph, so if you were to solve for the displacement, you would multiply base times height but also divide by two, for the truck there would be no division so his displacement is greater?? Suppose a ball is thrown straight up and experiences no appreciable air resistance. What is its acceleration just before it reaches its highest point? - CORRECT ANSWERS Exactly gravity BECAUSE gravity never changes. Which of the following quantities has units of displacement? - CORRECT ANSWERS anything with mi, km, etc NO m/s^2 or m/s BECAUSE they do not show the displacement, only the speed or acceleration you are at. A racing car accelerates uniformly from rest along a straight track. This track has markers spaced at equal distances along it from the start. The car reaches a speed of 140 km/h as it passes marker two. Where on the track was the car when it was traveling at half this speed, that is 70 km/h? - CORRECT ANSWERS Before marker one BECAUSE the time it takes is longer so it will reach 70 km/h much before marker one?? What does the slope of a velocity versus time graph give? - CORRECT ANSWERS acceleration BECAUSE acceleration is how much the velocity has increased in a certain period of time. Suppose that a car traveling to the west begins to slow down as it approaches a traffic light. What is true about the acceleration? - CORRECT ANSWERS The acceleration is towards the east BECAUSE it is decelerating towards the west?? An object is moving with the constant non zero velocity in the +x direction. What does the position vs time graph of this object look like? - CORRECT ANSWERS A straight line making an angle with the time axis BECAUSE as time increases, the velocity is also increasing constantly. A 10 kg rock and a 20 kg rock are dropped at the same time and experience no significant air resistance. If the 10 kg rock falls with acceleration a, what is the acceleration of the 20 kg rock? - CORRECT ANSWERS a (the same) BECAUSE gravity always remains the same!! A child standing on a bridge throws a rock straight down. If upward is taken as the positive direction, which of the graphs shown below best represent the acceleration of the stone as a function of time on an acceleration by time graph? - CORRECT ANSWERS A horizontal line below the x axis BECAUSE acceleration does not change as time does and upwards is positive so it would be -9.8 m/s^2. Two objects are dropped from a bridge, an interval of 1 second apart. During the time that both objects continue to fall, what happens to their separation? - CORRECT ANSWERS It increases BECAUSE ?? Two objects are thrown from the top of a tall building. One is thrown up, and the other is thrown down, both with the same initial speed. What are their speeds when they hit the street? - CORRECT ANSWERS They are traveling at the same speed BECAUSE gravity accelerated them at the same rate. In a velocity by time graph, the motion of a particle begins under the x axis and makes a straight diagonal line and continues onward until it is above the x axis, what can you say about the speed of the particle? - CORRECT ANSWERS Decreases then increases BECAUSE the magnitude of the number is what matters, not the sign in front of it. Ball A is dropped from the top of a building. One second later, ball B is dropped from the same building, as time progresses, what is the difference in their speeds? - CORRECT ANSWERS Remains constant BECAUSE they accelerate at the same rate and as the height increases, so does the velocity; they are directly proportional. Can an object have a constant non-zero velocity and a changing acceleration? - CORRECT ANSWERS No BECAUSE when the velocity does not increase, there is no acceleration. What does the slope of a position vs. time graph give you? - CORRECT ANSWERS