Speed Formula Physics

The best way to start observing the speed is to look at your car’s speedometer. The next time when you’re in your car on the highway, do just that. What does it say? I’m going to assume you always obey the speed limit, so if the speed limit is 65 miles per hour, your speedometer should read 65 miles per hour. This means that if you drive for 65 miles, it will take you an hour. In this article, we will discuss speed formula physics with example. Let us learn!

Source:wikihow.com

Speed Formula Physics

Concept of Speed

It doesn’t matter where you’re driving to, how many turns the road takes, or if you’re on a big, circular track. Speed is only concerned with how much ground you’ve covered in the time you’ve been driving.

To put an official definition on it, speed is how much distance is covered over a specific period of time, regardless of direction traveled. Since there is no directional component, speed must be a scalar quantity.

In physics, you can calculate average speed by taking the total distance travelled and dividing it by the total time required to travel that distance.

Speed is the rate at which an object’s position changes, measured in meters per second. For example, if a thing begins at the origin, and then moves three meters in three seconds, its speed is one meter per second. The equation for speed is simple like distance divided by time. You take the distance travelled (for example 3 meters) and divide it by the time (three seconds) to get the speed (one meter per second)

So, we can define Speed as the rate of change of position of an object in any direction.

Speed Formula

The formula of speed is:

s=\( \frac{d}{t}\)

Where,

s	is the speed in m.s-1
d	is the distance travelled in m
t	is the time taken in s

Speed Unit

The following are the units of speed are:

1. CGS system cm.s{-1}
2. SI system ms{-1}

Types of Speed

The types of speed are:

• Uniform speed
• Variable speed
• Average speed
• Instantaneous speed

Uniform speed: A thing is said to be at even speed when the object covers the same distance in equal time intervals.

Variable speed: An article is said to be in variable speed while the object covers a different distance at the same intervals of times.

Average speed: Average speed is defined as the even speed which is the ratio of total distance travelled by an object to the total time taken by the object.

Instantaneous speed: When a thing is moving with variable speed, then the speed of that object at any instant of time is known as instantaneous speed.

Solved Examples

Q. 1: Lilly is driving a scooter with a speed of 6 km per hr for 2 hr. Calculate the distance travelled by her?

Solution:

As given in the question,

Speed of the Scooty s = 6 km per hr

Time taken t = 2 hr

Distance travelled d =?

Speed distance time formula is given as

s=\(\frac{d}{t}\)

Rearranging it,

d = s × t

Putting values,

d = 6 × 2

d= 12 km

Therefore distance is 12 km.