SPH3U – Kinematics 2: Velocity and Speed

Review:
1) A _________ quantity is completely described by magnitude alone. A _________ quantity is completely
described by a magnitude with a direction.
a) scalar, vector b) vector, scalar

2) Speed is a __________ quantity and velocity is a __________ quantity.

a) scalar, vector b) vector, scalar

Speed vs. Velocity

Speed and velocity are two quantities in Physics that seem at first glance to have the same meaning. While related,
they have distinctly different definitions. Knowing their definitions is critical to understanding the difference
between them.

Speed is a quantity that describes how fast or how slow an object is moving with respect to time.
 Speed is a scalar quantity that refers to "how fast an object is moving." Speed can be thought of as the rate at
which an object covers distance. A fast-moving object has a high speed and covers a relatively large distance in a
short amount of time. Contrast this to a slow-moving object that has a low speed; it covers a relatively small
amount of distance in the same amount of time. An object with no movement at all has a zero speed.
 Speed, being a scalar, is dependent upon the scalar quantity distance. This is also a measure of a rate of change
of position but it is dependent upon the PATH.

Velocity is a quantity that is defined as the rate at which an object's position changes with respect to time.
 Velocity is a vector quantity that refers to "the rate at which an object changes its position." Imagine a person
moving rapidly - one step forward and one step back - always returning to the original starting position. While
this might result in a frenzy of activity, it would result in a zero velocity. Because the person always returns to
the original position, the motion would never result in a change in position. Since velocity is defined as the rate
at which the position changes, this motion results in zero velocity. If a person in motion wishes to maximize their
velocity, then that person must make every effort to maximize the amount that they are displaced from their
original position.
 Velocity, being a vector, is dependent upon the vector quantity displacement. Using the displacement will allow
you to find the average velocity of a moving object. The average velocity is found by calculating the total
displacement over the total time interval for that displacement to be accomplished.

Both are defined as rates of change with respect to time, so we will have to figure out an equation using our concept
of slope.

Speed = Change in ____________/Change in time Velocity = Change in ______________/Change in time

OR

Velocity = _________________/Change in time

Therefore using the following variables

Speed=V Change ∈Position= ⃗d final−d⃗ initial
Velocity=⃗
V Alternate : Change∈Position=displacement=∆ ⃗d=d⃗ final−⃗d initi
Change∈Distance=∆ d Change∈time=∆t=t 2−t 1

We can write these equations as:

∆d ∆d ∆ ⃗d ⃗d2 −⃗d 1
Speed: V = = Units: Velocity: ⃗
V avg = = Units:
∆ t t 2−t 1 ∆ t t 2 −t 1
Example 1: Suppose you are considering three different paths (A, B and C) between the same two locations.

Along which path would you have to move with the greatest speed to arrive at the destination in the same amount
of time? ____________ Why?

Example 2: It is possible for an object to move for 10 seconds at a high speed and end up with an average velocity of
zero.
a) True b) False

Example 3: If the above statement is true, then describe an example of such a motion. If the above statement is
false, then explain why it is false.

Example 4: Suppose that you run for 10 seconds along three different paths.

Rank the three paths from the lowest average speed to the greatest average speed. __________

Rank the three paths from the lowest average velocity to the greatest average velocity. __________

Calculating Average Speed and Average Velocity

The average speed of an object is the rate at which an object covers distance. The average velocity of an object is the
rate at which an object changes its position. Thus,

Average Speed = distance/time Average Velocity = displacement/time

Example 5: Mr Fraser drove his car to get groceries, the trip took 30 minutes. What is the average speed and
velocity of his trip, if his trip can be represented by the diagram below?
Example 6: You run from your house to a friend's house that is 3 miles away in 30 minutes. You then immediately
walk home, taking 1 hour on your return trip. Calculate the average speed and velocity, remember direction!

Example 7: A cross-country skier moves from location A to location B to location C to location D. Each leg of the
back-and-forth motion takes 60 seconds to complete; the total time is 180 seconds. The unit of length is meters.
Calculate the average speed and velocity of the skier during the 180 seconds of recreation.
Instantaneous vs. Average (Speed and Velocity)
Since a moving object often changes its speed during its motion, it is common to distinguish between the average
speed/velocity and the instantaneous speed/velocity. The distinction is as follows.
Instantaneous Speed/Velocity - the speed or velocity at any given instant in time. (ex the exact speed/velocity you
are travelling at an EXACT instant in time). This is calculated graphically ONLY, using a tangent line at the specific
time you are interested in.

Average Speed/Velocity - the average of all instantaneous speeds or velocities; found simply by a distance/time or
displacement/time equation

 The instantaneous speed/velocity of an object is  Occasionally, an object will move at a steady rate
the speed/velocity that an object has at any given with a constant speed. That is, the object will
instant. cover the same distance every regular interval of
 When an object moves, it doesn't always move at time.
a steady pace. As a result, the instantaneous value  For instance, a cross-country runner might be
is changing. running with a constant speed of 6 m/s in a
 For an automobile, the instantaneous speed is the straight line for several minutes. If her speed is
speedometer reading. constant, then the distance traveled every second
 The average speed is simply the average of all the is the same.
speedometer readings taken at regular intervals
of time.
 Of course, the easier way to determine the
average speed is to simply do a distance/time
ratio.
 Moving objects don't always travel with erratic
and changing speeds.

Example 8: Consider the data at the right for the first 10 minutes of a teacher's trip along the expressway to school.
Determine the average speed (in m/s) for the 10 seconds of motion and the average velocity (in m/s) for the first 10
seconds of motion

Time Position Distance up to Displacement up

(s) (m) that time (m) to that time (m)
0 0

1 1

2 4

3 9

4 16

5 25

6 36

7 49

8 64

9 81

10 100
Example 9: Consider the same data from Example 8, find the instantaneous speed and the instantaneous velocity of
the teacher at 5 seconds into their travel.

Position vs Time
110

100

90

80

70
Position [N] (m)

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Time (s)
Homework

1) A camper kayaks 16 km [E] from a camping site, stops, and paddles 23 km [W].
a) What is the camper's final position with respect to the campsite? (7 km [W] of campsite)
b) What is the total displacement of the camper? (7 km [W])
c) What is the distance covered by the camper? Is it the same as the displacement? Explain. (39 km)
2) Two SCUBA divers take turns riding an underwater tricycle at an average speed of 1.74 km/h for 60.0 h. What
distance do they travel in this time? (104 km)

3) An airplane is travelling from Vancouver to Toronto following the jet stream. The plane cruised at an average
speed of 1100 km/h for the 4000 km flight. How long did the flight take? If the plane left Vancouver at 3:00 am
EST, what time did it arrive in Toronto? (3.64h, 6:38am)

4) A truck driver, reacting quickly to an emergency, applies the brakes. During the driver’s 0.32 s reaction time, the
truck maintains a constant velocity of 27 m/s [FORWARD]. What is the displacement of the truck during the time
the driver takes to react? (8.64 [FORWARD])

5) A swimmer crosses a circular pool with a radius of 16 m in 21 s.

a) What is the swimmer’s average speed? (1.5 m/s)
b) If the swimmer were to swim around the circumference of the pool at this same speed, how long would it
take? (66s)

6) A city bus leaves the terminal and travels, with a few stops, along a straight route that takes it 12 km [E] of it
starting position in 24 minutes. In another 18 minutes, the bus turns around and retraces its path, ending at a
stop 2.0 km [E] of the terminal. What is the average speed of the bus for the entire route? (31.4 km/h)

7) The same bus as in question 6 is on the same route. Determine

a) Its average velocity from the terminal to the farthest position from the terminal. (30 km/h [E])
b) Its average velocity for the entire trip. (2.9 km/h [E])
c) Explain why your answers for a and b are different.

8) A truck travels at an average speed of 45 km/h over a distance of 105 km. It then travels another 85 km at a
higher average speed. His overall average speed for the entire trip is 55 km/h. What was his average speed for
the second stage? (75.8 km/h)

9) The Arctic tern holds the world record for bird migration distance. The tern migrates once a year from islands
north of the Arctic Circle to the shores of Antarctica, a displacement of approximately 1.6 x 104 km [S]. (The
route, astonishingly, lies mainly over water.) If a tern’s average velocity during this trip is 21 km/h [S], how long
does the journey take? (Convert your answer to days). (31.7 days)

10) Bugs Bunny travels from his rabbit hole for 25 minutes to the farmer’s field 3.5 km [E] of his hole. However,
when he arrives, there is the farmer waiting with a gun so Bugs scoots back towards his hole and hides under a
bush that is 1.5 km [E] of his hole. His dash took 5.0 minutes.
a) Determine Bugs’ average speed. (11 km/h)
b) Determine Bugs’ average velocity. (3 km/h [E])