Speed, Velocity,

and Acceleration
Physics Notes
GCE Study buddy
Displacement
● The distance in a straight line in a certain direction from
the starting point
● Eg Lily walked 1km to the North, then 2km to the East
followed by 1km to the south.
● a. what is her total walking distance?
● b. what is her final displacement?

● Answers:
● a. 1 + 2 + 1 = 4km
● b. 2m due east from starting point
Speed and Velocity
● Scalar: has only magnitude and no direction
○ Speed is distance travelled by a body per unit time
● Vector: has both magnitude and direction
○ Velocity is distance travelled per unit time in a stated
direction
○ Velocity = Distance/time
● Units: ms-1 or kmh-1
● Average speed is NOT the constant speed
● average speed = total distance/total time
● Instantaneous speed: the speed at any instant
○ Use speedometer to find instantaneous speed
○ Can be found by finding the gradient of the tangent to the
displacement-time graph, at that point in time
Speed measurement using
ticker-tape timer
 Acceleration
● Defined as the rate of change of velocity with time
● Acceleration = (final v - initial v)/time
● Units: ms-2 or kmh-2
● If velocity is constant, acceleration= 0
● If velocity decreasing --> negative acceleration/deceleration
● The gradient of a velocity-time graph of a moving object gives
the acceleration of the object at a given time
Acceleration of bodies
falling near to earth
● An object falling near to Earth, where the air resistance is
negligible, has a velocity-time graph that is s straight line.
It falls with a constant acceleration
● The only force acting on the object experiencing free fall
is the force of gravity
● Acceleration = 10ms-2
Acceleration-time graphs

Decreasing Decreasing Constant

acceleration speed speed
Velocity-time graphs

Constant Constant Zero speed

speed speed

Increasing Constant Zero

acceleration acceleration acceleration
Distance-time graph
 Area under velocity-time
graph
● Area under
velocity-time graph is
the distance
Question Time!
Velocity m/s

6.0

Time s
0.0 5.0

The figure shows the variation of speed v with time t at the

beginning of a bicycle ride.
a. Describe the variation of the acceleration of the bicycle with time
b. Use the graph to determine
i. the speed at t = 5.00s
ii. the acceleration at t = 5.00s
iii. the approximate distance travelled in the first 5.00s
Answers

a. The acceleration has an initial positive value which

decreases until it reaches 0m/s^2
bi. 6.0m/s
bii. 0m/s^2
biii. distance = area under graph
= 0.5 x (5.0+2.5) x 6.0
= 22.5m
 Question Time
Students investigating motion down an inclined plane
measure the speed of a steel ball at one second intervals
after the ball starts to roll down from rest down one such
plane
time in s 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00

speed in 0.00 0.60 1.20 1.80

m/s

a. calculate the average acceleration over the first 3.00s

b. calculate the average speed over the first 3.00s
c. what was the distance travelled by the ball in the first
3.00s?
d. how do the numbers in the table show that the
acceleration was constant?
Answers
a. 0.60m/s^2

b. average speed = 0.5 x (u + v)

= 0.5 x (0.00 + 1.80)
= 0.90m/s

c. distance = average speed x time

= 0.90 x 3
= 2.7m

d. The speed increases by a constant value of 0.60m/s

every second, hence the acceleration can be seen to be
constant