What is speed?
The rate of change of the position of the object is called the speed. Speed has only magnitude and no direction. Therefore, speed is a scalar quantity. A fast-moving object has a larger speed. The SI unit of speed can be determined from the unit of distance and time. The SI unit of distance is metres and the SI unit of time is seconds. Therefore, speed is measured in meters per second. The fastest speed is the speed of light. The speed of light is equal to 3 x 108 m/s. Galileo was the first person to measure speed.
What is the formula of speed?
From the definition of speed, we can find “What is the formula of speed?”. Speed is measured as the ratio of the distance by time. Therefore, the formula for speed is given as
Speed = distance/time
Speed is of two types: average speed and instantaneous speed. The speed we talk about mostly is about average speed. Average speed is the total distance traveled per unit of time. But speed will be changing as the object moves. The object can move faster sometime and slower sometime. So there is something called instantaneous speed. Instantaneous speed is the speed of the object at a particular instant. The instantaneous speed is measured by taking a very short span of time.
Distance and Displacement
Distance and displacement are two terms that seem almost similar. Distance is the measure of how much ground an object has moved during the motion. Displacement is the measure of the shortest distance between the initial position and the final position. The distance between the two objects does not depend on the direction, whereas displacement depends on the direction of motion.
What is the difference between speed and velocity?
Speed is the distance covered by the object in a unit time. Velocity is a measure of displacement per unit time. Let us find “What is the difference between speed and velocity?”
The distance covered by an object can never be zero, therefore speed can never be zero. Distance is a scalar quantity, therefore speed is also a scalar quantity. Speed is not dependent on the direction of motion of the object.
Displacement can be a zero, therefore the velocity of the object can also be zero. Velocity is a vector quantity since displacement is also a vector quantity. Velocity and displacement depend on the direction of motion of the object. The SI unit for speed and velocity is the same. Both speed and velocity are measured in m/s.
For example, 60km/hr is the measure of the speed of the car, while 60 km/hr in the east direction is velocity. Calculating speed is pretty simple, whereas calculating velocity is a bit complicated. An object may possess different velocity but the speed will remain the same. The speed of the object may be equal to the velocity sometime but not always.
