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Constant Velocity versus Accelerated Motion:
An object that moves with a constant velocity is moving with a constant speed in an unchanging direction. The distance traveled in each consecutive second is the same. An object that has an accelerated motion is changing its velocity. It could be speeding up, slowing down or changing direction. If the object is slowing down, then the amount of distance traveled in each second is decreasing. If the object is speeding up, it is covering a greater distance in each consecutive second.
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The oil drop pattern uses dots to represent the location of the car after a certain interval of time - perhaps after every 1-second. An inspection of the location of each dot relative to the previous dots allows you to determine if the distance traveled in the most recent second is increasing, decreasing or staying the same. This allows you to determine if it is a constant speed or accelerated motion.
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Acceleration is the rate at which the velocity changes. If one car has a greater acceleration than another car, then it is changing its velocity at a greater rate. If the car is speeding up, than its speed value is increasing by a greater rate. If both cars start from rest, then the car with the greater acceleration will cover a greater distance in the same amount of time. If the answer to this question isn't immediately obvious, then you could simply count off four or five or six seconds for both cars to see which car moves the greatest distance in that amount of time.
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