A student records the free fall of a small steel ball released from rest near the surface of Earth. She sketches both the velocity–time and the position–time graphs in her notebook. In her sketch the velocity–time graph is a curve that starts at the origin and gradually bends upward, while the position–time graph is a straight line that rises uniformly with time.
Analyse her sketches and answer the following:
(i) Identify one conceptual error in each of her two sketches.
(ii) Draw the qualitatively correct velocity–time and position–time graphs for the same experiment on the same pair of labelled axes.
(iii) Explain, with reasons, the shape of each correct graph you have drawn.
(iv) Describe how the slope or curvature of each graph is related to physical quantities of the motion.