In a displacement-time graph, what does the slope indicate?

In a displacement-time graph, the slope represents velocity. This is because the slope measures how much the displacement changes with respect to time. Velocity is defined as the rate of change of displacement over time, which is exactly what the slope of the graph indicates.

If the slope is positive, the displacement is increasing, indicating motion in a particular direction; if the slope is negative, the displacement is decreasing, indicating motion in the opposite direction. The steepness of the slope reflects the magnitude of the velocity: a steeper slope corresponds to a higher velocity, whereas a gentler slope indicates a lower velocity.

Understanding this relationship is crucial for interpreting motion in physics, as the displacement-time graph provides a visual representation of how an object's position changes over time, and the slope analysis enables the calculation and understanding of its velocity.