Speed, velocity and

acceleration

Both Mr Rabbit and Mr Tortoise

took the same round trip, but Mr
Rabbit slept & returned later.

Who runs faster?

Me, as I spent
less time on the
trip.

No, I travelled
more distance every
second I ran.

Who is right?

Some kid is lost in the woods.

(a) If he walks at a speed of 4

km/hr, try to locate his
possible positions on the

Some kid is lost in the woods.

(b) What else is important to find the

Thekid?
direction in which he has been
walking.

Reference Points

All Motion is relative

All motion is relative to a reference.
This means that we describe motion of an
object relative to some other object

All Motion is relative

In our environment, the reference for
motion is the earths surface, and speeds
are measured relative to the earth
The earth moves at 107,000 km/h relative
to the sun

Calculating Motion and Speed

Speed

How can we describe how fast an object

moves?
E.g. A car on Beltway 8 travels 90
km in 1 hour.
We say that the car travels at a
speed of 90 km/hr.

Speed

How can we describe how fast an object

moves?

Speed is a measure of how fast

something moves.
Speed
Speed =
= distance
distance travelled
travelled per
per unit
unit of
of
time
time(for long distances)
SI unit: m/s
or km/h

Speed

Average speed

A
A car
car travels
travels at
at 50
50 km/h,
km/h,
slows
slows down
down to
to 0
0 km/h,
km/h,
and
and speeds
speeds up
up again
again to
to 60
60 km/.
km/.

Its average speed over the whole journe

overall distance travelled
=
total time of travel

Question 1
A bug crawls 10 cm in 5 sec. What was
the bugs approximate speed in cm/sec?
2 cm/sec

Speed

Average speed
Average speed does not tell
the variations during the
journey.
On most trips, the speed at
any instant is often different
from the average speed.

Speed

Instantaneous speed

Instantaneous
= speed at any instant
speed
The word speed alone
instantaneo
Instantaneous speed us speed
distance travelled in an extremely
short time interval

Speed

Instantaneous speed

Speedometer tells the cars

speed at any instant!

Question 2
The world record for womens 100m race is 10.49 s.
What is the average speed?
( 100
)
Average speed =
m 10.49
s
= 9.53 m/s

Velocity

Velocity

Velocity is...
a speed in a given direction
or of change of displacement.
rate
direction
velocity
magnitude
(speed)

a
vector
quantit
y

Velocity

Speed with direction

Train engineers use
speed only.

speed = 90 km/h

Pilots use
velocity
(direction &
speed).

speed = 300
km/h
direction = west

Velocity

Average velocity

overall displacement
Average velocity =
total time of travel

direction of overall
direction of velocity =
displacement

Question 3
A student runs around a circular track that
is 1000m in length in a time of 30 min.
What is the average velocity of the
student?

0 m/min

If the student runs completely

around the track, they are back
where they began. So their overall
displacement is zero.

Velocity

Instantaneous velocity

The velocity at any instant is called

instantaneous velocity.

If a car moves at a constant velocity...

its average and instantaneous
velocities have the same value.

Question 4

Which of these is a correct velocity?

A.
B.
C.
D.

55 miles per hour

15 kilometers per second
30 meters per second east
400,000,000 meters per hour

Acceleration

Acceleration

When an object
moves faster
and faster,
its speed is
increasing
(velocity
changed).

Acceleration

When an object
moves slower and
slower,
its speed is
decreasing (velocity
changed).

Acceleration

When an object
changes direction,
its velocity
changes too.

Acceleration

Acceleration measures the change in

velocity
directio
speed
n
Acceleration
Acceleration =
= velocity
velocity per
per unit
unit
time
time
overall change in velocity
=
total time taken
Unit: m/s/s

= m/s2

vector quantity

Acceleration

If a car accelerates at 2 m s2, what does that

mean?

v=0

t=0

1m

t = 1 sv = 2 m s1,
v = 2 m s
1

3m

t = 2 sv = 4 m s1,
v = 2 m s
1

5m

t=3s
v = 6 m s1,
v = 2 m s1

Question 5
Tommy accelerates
from 20 m/s at 15 sec
(t1) to 40 m/s at 60 sec
(tWhat
is his avg. acceleration
2).
between t1 and t2?
Avg. acceleration
= 40 m/s 20 m/s
60s 15 s

= .44 m/s2

20 m/s
45 s