speed
Sign in to saveIn kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as v) of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time, it is thus a non-negative scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance travelled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as the duration of the time interval approaches zero. Speed is the magnitude of velocity (a vector), which indicates additionally the direction of motion.
AI overview
Speed is a measurement of how far an object travels in a given amount of time, expressed as a non-negative number without regard to direction. It matters because it tells us how quickly something is moving, and it's closely related to velocity, which additionally specifies the direction of that motion.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Physical quantity.caption
- 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 given amount of time, while a slow-moving object covers a relatively small amount of distance in the same amount of time.
- Physical quantity.unit
- m/s, m s−1
- Physical quantity.symbols
- v
- Physical quantity.dimension
- L T−1
- Physical quantity.name
- Speed
- Physical quantity.image
- Motorcyclist in Midtown Manhattan-L1002704.jpg
- Physical quantity.image_size
- 250px
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
11 sectionsContents
- Definition
- Historical definition
- Instantaneous speed
- Average speed
- Difference between speed and velocity
- Tangential speed
- Units
- Examples of different speeds
- Psychology
- See also
- References
In kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as v) of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time, it is thus a non-negative scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance travelled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as the duration of the time interval approaches zero. Speed is the magnitude of velocity (a vector), which indicates additionally the direction of motion.
Speed has the dimensions of distance divided by time. The SI unit of speed is the metre per second (m/s), but the most common unit of speed in everyday usage is the kilometre per hour (km/h) or, in the US and the UK, miles per hour (mph). For air and marine travel, the knot is commonly used.