Velocity

From High School Online Collaborative Writing

Physics
Everything Waves: Sound General Overview of Wave Properties Wave Phenomena: (True for all waves) Interference Diffraction Refraction Reflection Doppler Why not Polarization? Standing Waves Pipes: Closed Open Velocity Power in physics Centripetal acceleration Series circuits Vectors Left hand rules Properties of magnets and motors Electromagnets and motors Electromagnets Momentum Newton's Law of Gravitation Strong Nuclear Force
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Just as distance and displacement have distinctly different meanings (despite their similarities), so do speed and velocity. Speed is a scalar quantity which refers to "how fast an object is moving." An object with no movement at all has a zero speed.

[edit] Changing positions

Velocity is a vector quantity which 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. Every step must go into moving that person further from where he/she started. For certain, the person should never change directions and begin to return to where he/she started from.

[edit] Direction-aware

Velocity is a vector quantity. As such, velocity is "direction-aware." When evaluating the velocity of an object, one must keep track of direction. It would not be enough to say that an object has a velocity of 55 mi/hr. One must include direction information in order to fully describe the velocity of the object. For instance, you must describe an object's velocity as being 55 mi/hr, east. This is one of the essential differences between speed and velocity. Speed is a scalar and does not keep track of direction; velocity is a vector and is direction-aware.

[edit] Calculating average speed and average velocity

The average speed during the course of a motion is often computed using the following equation:

Average Speed = Distance Traveled/Time of Travel

Meanwhile, the average velocity is often computed using the equation

Average Velocity= Displacement/Time

Source: The Physics Classroom

[edit] Additional reading

• Position, Velocity, and Acceleration in One Dimension, SparkNotes