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Speed and Velocity
Physics Textbooks Boundless Physics Kinematics Speed and Velocity
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Concept Version 6
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Average Velocity: A Graphical Interpretation

Average velocity is defined as the change in position (or displacement) over the time of travel.

Learning Objective

  • Contrast speed and velocity in physics


Key Points

    • Average velocity can be calculated by determining the total displacement divided by the total time of travel.
    • The average velocity of an object does not tell us anything about what happens to it between the starting point and ending point.
    • Average velocity is different from average speed in that it considers the direction of travel and the overall change in position.

Term

  • velocity

    A vector quantity that denotes the rate of change of position with respect to time, or a speed with a directional component.


Full Text

In everyday usage, the terms "speed" and "velocity" are used interchangeably. In physics, however, they are distinct quantities. Speed is a scalar quantity and has only magnitude. Velocity, on the other hand, is a vector quantity and so has both magnitude and direction. This distinction becomes more apparent when we calculate average speed and velocity.

Average speed is calculated as the distance traveled over the total time of travel. In contrast, average velocity is defined as the change in position (or displacement) over the total time of travel .

Average Velocity

The kinematic formula for calculating average velocity is the change in position over the time of travel.

The SI unit for velocity is meters per second, or m/s, but many other units (such as km/h, mph, and cm/s) are commonly used. Suppose, for example, an airplane passenger took five seconds to move -4 m (the negative sign indicates that displacement is toward the back of the plane). His average velocity would be:

v = Δx/t = -4m/5s = -0.8 m/s

The minus sign indicates that the average velocity is also toward the rear of the plane.

The average velocity of an object does not tell us anything about what happens to it between the starting point and ending point, however. For example, we cannot tell from average velocity whether the airplane passenger stops momentarily or backs up before he gets to the back of the plane. To get more details, we must consider smaller segments of the trip over smaller time intervals.

To illustrate the difference between average speed and average velocity, consider the following additional example . Imagine you are walking in a small rectangle. You walk three meters north, four meters east, three meters south, and another four meters west. The entire walk takes you 30 seconds. If you are calculating average speed, you would calculate the entire distance (3 + 4 + 3 + 4 = 14 meters) over the total time, 30 seconds. From this, you would get an average speed of 14/30 = 0.47 m/s. When calculating average velocity, however, you are looking at the displacement over time. Because you walked in a full rectangle and ended up exactly where you started, your displacement is 0 meters. Therefore, your average velocity, or displacement over time, would be 0 m/s.

Average Speed vs. Average Velocity

If you started walking from one corner and went all the way around the rectangle in 30 seconds, your average speed would be 0.47 m/s, but your average velocity would be 0 m/s.

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