# Average speed and velocity relationship

### Speed and Velocity

The average speed and average velocity are also related like the speed and the velocity. The average velocity is the ratio of total displacement of the object over. Thus, the number calculated above is not the speed of the car, it's the average speed for the entire journey. In order to emphasize this point, the equation is. The velocity of an object is the rate of change of its position with respect to a frame of reference, and is a function of time. Velocity is equivalent to a specification of an object's speed and direction of The average velocity is always less than or equal to the average speed of an object. This can be seen by realizing that while.

And fortunately, there is a shortcut.

## Speed and Velocity

The average speed during the course of a motion is often computed using the following formula: In contrast, the average velocity is often computed using this formula Let's begin implementing our understanding of these formulas with the following problem: While on vacation, Lisa Carr traveled a total distance of miles.

Her trip took 8 hours.

What was her average speed? To compute her average speed, we simply divide the distance of travel by the time of travel. Lisa Carr averaged a speed of 55 miles per hour.

Yet, she averaged a speed of 55 miles per hour.

The above formula represents a shortcut method of determining the average speed of an object. Average Speed versus Instantaneous Speed Since a moving object often changes its speed during its motion, it is common to distinguish between the average speed and the instantaneous speed.

### Velocity - Wikipedia

The distinction is as follows. Instantaneous Speed - the speed at any given instant in time.

You might think of the instantaneous speed as the speed that the speedometer reads at any given instant in time and the average speed as the average of all the speedometer readings during the course of the trip. Moving objects don't always travel with erratic and changing speeds. Occasionally, an object will move at a steady rate with a constant speed. That is, the object will cover the same distance every regular interval of time.

If her speed is constant, then the distance traveled every second is the same. The runner would cover a distance of 6 meters every second.

If we could measure her position distance from an arbitrary starting point each second, then we would note that the position would be changing by 6 meters each second.

This would be in stark contrast to an object that is changing its speed. An object with a changing speed would be moving a different distance each second.

Calculating average velocity or speed - One-dimensional motion - Physics - Khan Academy

The data tables below depict objects with constant and changing speed. Now let's consider the motion of that physics teacher again. The physics teacher walks 4 meters East, 2 meters South, 4 meters West, and finally 2 meters North. The entire motion lasted for 24 seconds. Determine the average speed and the average velocity.

### Speed & Velocity – The Physics Hypertextbook

The physics teacher walked a distance of 12 meters in 24 seconds; thus, her average speed was 0. Remember that the displacement refers to the change in position and the velocity is based upon this position change. Here is another example similar to what was seen before in the discussion of distance and displacement.

The diagram below shows the position of a cross-country skier at various times. At each of the indicated times, the skier turns around and reverses the direction of travel. Thus, we go into the world of speed and velocity. Yes, most of us know that the first one is scalar and the latter is a vector quantity.

When it comes to traveling, average speed and average velocity will often differ, and perhaps by large quantities. Well, that was quite easy; just add a direction and voila! If only it were that easy! In average speeds and average velocities, the direction may change and the speeds may vary, therefore, the calculations may somehow become a bit more complex. Once again, when you refer to speed, it is not a vector expression, therefore no direction is involved.

Average speed is all about the total distance traveled divided by the total time taken.

• Speed & Velocity
• Average Speed
• Difference Between Average Speed and Average Velocity

A car from point A reaching an exact point B will have an average speed by adding all the distance covered divided by how long it took to get there. Note that the traveling directions can go east, then west, zigzag, or back and forth; the destination point can even go back to the starting point.

Consider this equation when trying to calculate the average speed of traveling from points A to D: Average speed can reach an enormous value, while the average velocity may be very minimal, even zero. This is possible due to the different way of calculating the average velocity. The displacement does not care about the distance of the whole course, as it only deals with the direct distance from the origin to the destination.