The Kinematics of a Confused Dragonfly

What does the graph of horizontal position vs. time show about the motion of the dragonfly?

Is the dragonfly's motion forward, backward, or both?

Answer:

The graph of horizontal position vs. time shows the motion of the dragonfly in a straight line.

When analyzing the graph of horizontal position vs. time, we can understand the kinematics of the dragonfly's motion. The graph represents the dragonfly's position at different points in time. If the graph shows a straight line, it indicates that the dragonfly is moving either forward or backward in a straight line.

If the line has a positive slope, the dragonfly is moving forward, while a negative slope indicates that the dragonfly is moving backward. In this case, if the graph shows a combination of lines with positive and negative slopes, it means that the dragonfly is moving both forward and backward at different times during its motion.