Speed vs Velocity: Difference between revisions
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==The Main Idea== | ==The Main Idea== | ||
Speed and velocity are similar concepts, and as a result, the terms are often confused and incorrectly | Speed and velocity are similar concepts, and as a result, the terms are often confused and interchanged incorrectly in everyday conversation. The key difference between them is that velocity is a [[Vectors|vector]] quantity that describes both how fast and in which direction an object is moving, while speed is a scalar quantity that describes only how fast an object is moving. Speed is the magnitude of the velocity vector. Velocity is the more descriptive of the two, as it contains all of the information speed contains and then some. It is easy to tell the speed of an object given only its velocity, but it is impossible to tell the velocity of an object given only its speed because one has no way of knowing the object's direction of travel. | ||
===A Mathematical Model=== | ===A Mathematical Model=== | ||
====Relationship between speed and velocity=== | |||
=== | ===Average Speed vs Average Velocity=== | ||
==Examples== | ==Examples== | ||
Revision as of 16:03, 6 August 2019
This is a short page aiming to differentiate between speed and velocity. For more detailed information on either of those topics, view their respective main pages.
The Main Idea
Speed and velocity are similar concepts, and as a result, the terms are often confused and interchanged incorrectly in everyday conversation. The key difference between them is that velocity is a vector quantity that describes both how fast and in which direction an object is moving, while speed is a scalar quantity that describes only how fast an object is moving. Speed is the magnitude of the velocity vector. Velocity is the more descriptive of the two, as it contains all of the information speed contains and then some. It is easy to tell the speed of an object given only its velocity, but it is impossible to tell the velocity of an object given only its speed because one has no way of knowing the object's direction of travel.
A Mathematical Model
=Relationship between speed and velocity
Average Speed vs Average Velocity
Examples
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Middling
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