0.9 Phy1060: motion -- displacement and vectors

Table of contents

• Preface
  • General
  • Prerequisites
  • Viewing tip
    • Figures
    • Listings
  • Supplemental material
• General background information
• Discussion and sample code
  • Creation of tactile graphics
  • Displacement
  • Addition and subtraction of vectors
  • Mathematical solutions
    • Using the Math.atan method
    • Mathematical solution to an earlier problem
    • Subtracting vectors
    • Adding more than two vectors
  • Non-mirror-image graphics
• Run the scripts
• Resources
• Miscellaneous

Preface

General

This module is part of a collection of modules designed to make physics concepts accessible to blind students.

If you opened this page in the context of the book, a Table of Contents for the book (or collection) should be available above and to the left of thisparagraph. Otherwise, click here to open the book at the beginning.

This book is intended to supplement but not to replace the textbook in an introductory high school or college physics course.

The purpose of this module is to introduce motion and to explain displacement and vector analysis in a format that is accessible to blind students.

Prerequisites

In addition to an Internet connection and a browser, you will need the following tools (as a minimum) to work through the exercises in these modules:

• A graph board for plotting graphs and vector diagrams ( (External Link) ).
• A protractor for measuring angles ( (External Link) ).
• An audio screen reader that is compatible with your operating system, such as the NonVisual Desktop Access program (NVDA), which is freelyavailable at (External Link) .
• A refreshable Braille display capable of providing a line by line tactile output of information displayed on the computer monitor( (External Link) ).
• The ability to create tactile graphics as described here .

The minimum prerequisites for understanding the material in these modules include:

• A good understanding of algebra.
• An understanding of the use of a graph board for plotting graphs and vector diagrams ( (External Link) ).
• An understanding of the use of a protractor for measuring angles ( (External Link) ).
• A basic understanding of the use of sine, cosine, and tangent from trigonometry ( (External Link) ).
• An introductory understanding of JavaScript programming ( (External Link) and (External Link) ).
• An understanding of all of the material covered in the earlier modules in this collection.
• An understanding of the creation and use of tactile graphics as described here .

Viewing tip

I recommend that you open another copy of this document in a separate browser window and use the following links to easily find and view the figuresand listings while you are reading about them.

Figures

• Figure 1 . Key-value pairs for the image in Phy1060a1.svg.
• Figure 2 . Mirror image contained in the file named Phy1060a1.svg.
• Figure 3 . Key-value pairs for the image in Phy1060b1.svg.
• Figure 4 . Mirror image contained in the file named Phy1060b1.svg.
• Figure 5 . Key-value pairs for the image in Phy1060c1.svg.
• Figure 6 . Mirror image contained in the file named Phy1060c1.svg.
• Figure 7 . Key-value pairs for the image in Phy1060d1.svg.
• Figure 8 . Mirror image contained in the file named Phy1060d1.svg.
• Figure 9 . Key-value pairs for the image in Phy1060e1.svg.
• Figure 10 . Mirror image contained in the file named Phy1060e1.svg.
• Figure 11 . Screen output for Listing #1.
• Figure 12 . Screen output for Listing #2.
• Figure 13 . Screen output for Listing #3.
• Figure 14 . Non-mirror-image version of the image contained in the file named Phy1060a1.svg.
• Figure 15 . Non-mirror-image version of the image contained in the file named Phy1060b1.svg.
• Figure 16 . Non-mirror-image version of the image contained in the file named Phy1060c1.svg.
• Figure 17 . Non-mirror-image version of the image contained in the file named Phy1060d1.svg.
• Figure 18 . Non-mirror-image version of the mage contained in the file named Phy1060e1.svg.