Travel graphs
Travel graphs are used to show an object's change in distance over time. The horizontal axis shows time and the vertical axis shows distance.
We can determine how fast something is going based on how steep the line is. If a certain part of the line is very steep then the object is moving faster. If the line is horizontal (flat), then time is passing but the distance isn't changing, which means that the object isn't moving. If the line is sloping down this means the object is travelling back to the origin.
Exploration
Consider the travel graph of a student being driven away from school. The distance is given in relation to the school. So the starting distance of $0$0 km away from school means that they are at school.
The student is driven away from school in the first line shown. The line then gets steeper, so the student is travelling faster away from school. At the $5$5 minute mark the car stops moving for $2$2 minutes, shown by the horizontal line. The car then starts travelling back towards school.
Travel graphs show how far an object is from a point, and how that changes over time. They also show how fast an object might be moving based on the distance travelled in an amount of time.
Practice questions
Question 1
Paul is driving his child home from school. After $5$5 minutes, the car slows down.
Which travel graph represents this journey?
A
B
C
D
Question 2
The Weber family travel $600$600 km every year for their annual holidays.
Their distance from home on the trip this year is given in this travel graph:
When did they stop for a break?
1 hours into the journey
A5 hours into the journey
B4 hours into the journey
C2 hours into the journey
DHow far from their destination were they after $2$2 hours?
Select the two time periods when they were travelling at the same speed.
From $3$3 to $5$5 hours
AThe final $3$3 hours
BThe first $2$2 hours
CFrom $2$2 to $3$3 hours
D