When interpreting a velocity–time graph, what physical quantity is represented by the area under the graph during a specific time interval?
Distance (or displacement) travelled
On a velocity–time graph the vertical axis carries velocity and the horizontal axis carries time, so any small strip under the curve has the size velocity × time.
Velocity multiplied by time gives the length moved, so summing all such strips over the interval — that is, the area enclosed under the graph — gives the path length covered, i.e. the distance (or displacement) in that interval.
The slope of the same graph, not its area, gives acceleration, and the height of the curve at an instant gives the speed at that instant.
Hence, the answer is Distance (or displacement) travelled.
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Important Questions from Motion
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