SPEED

AND
VELOCITY

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

MOTION
MOTION
Motion is just a change in position.

To describe how an object moves you need

A ruler to measure where an object is.

And a clock to measure when an object is.
Here is a little bug located at 0 cm at 0
seconds.
10 seconds later he is at 50 cm.
SPEED
The speed of the bug is just his distance
traveled divided by how long it takes.

Speed = distance/time

Speed = 50 cm/10 s = 5 cm/s

Speed is just how fast something is
moving.

Speed is always a positive number.

Quantities that can be described by a

single number are called scalars.
VELOCITY
Velocity is speed and direction.

Velocity is how fast and which way.

Quantities that have direction are

called vectors.
A negative velocity does not mean an object
is moving slower than zero cm/s.

You can’t move slower than standing still.

It just means an object is moving in a certain

direction.
Calculating velocity is a little more complicated
than calculating speed.

Velocity = change in position/time

Velocity = (final position – initial position)/time

Velocity = (80cm – 100cm)/10 seconds

Velocity = - 2 cm/s
PRACTICE PROBLEM
AVERAGE VELOCITY
 1. What is Otter’s average velocity over his entire trip
when it takes him 2 minutes to walk 100 meters north
and another 1 minute to walk 70 meters south?
Express your answer using the proper SI units. Round
your answer to two decimal places, and include a
direction if necessary.
Otter’s displacement is just how far he ends up from
where he started (as the crow flies) and in which
direction. If he walked 100 meters north and then
turned around and walked 70 meters south, he ended
up 30 meters north of where he started. Thus, Otter’s
displacement over his entire trip is 30 meters to the
north. See the image below
 𝟑𝟎𝒎𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉
 

  𝟑𝟎 𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉
𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 =

𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚=
𝟑 𝒎𝒊𝒏 .

  𝟑𝟎 𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝟏 𝒎𝒊𝒏 . 𝟑𝟎 𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉

𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 = 𝒙 =
𝟑 𝒎𝒊𝒏 . 𝟔𝟎 𝒔 𝟏𝟖𝟎 𝒔

(𝟐𝒎𝒊𝒏 .+𝟏𝒎𝒊𝒏.)
 𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 =𝟎 . 𝟏𝟕 𝒎
𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉
PRACTICE PROBLEM
What is the average velocity of my bunny
rabbit when she hops 6 meters to the
east across the room in 11 seconds?
Express your answer using the proper SI
units. Round your answer to two decimal
places, and include a direction if
necessary.

  𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
   𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
  6 𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑡h𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡
𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
11 𝑠

𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦=0.55 𝑚/ 𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑡h𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡