Science 10 Motion Notes Part 3

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Speed and velocity

Imagine you are watching a 100-metre dash race between your friend and Usain Bolt. Bolt finishes the race in 10 seconds and your friend takes 15 seconds. Who is faster? We often use the words fast and slow when describing movement. You have also likely heard the words speed and velocity before but what is the difference between them? Speed is a scalar that measures how quickly an objects position changes. The symbol for speed is v. Where do we commonly use this measurement?

Velocity is a vector that includes how quickly an objects position changes, as well as the direction of the movement. The symbol for velocity is v. Speed and velocity are both measured in a distance per time. The most common units are metres per second (m/s) and kilometres per hour (km/h). Think about this: Speed is to velocity as distance is to displacement. A question to think about: Explain why two objects traveling with the same speed might have different velocities. Give an example of this situation.

Average velocity
Average velocity (vav) is the rate of change in position over a time interval. In real life, there are not many things that move with perfectly uniform motion. What factors can you think of that may cause a moving object to slightly speed up or slow down? We can use position-time graphs to calculate velocity. To do this we use the slope of the line (remember objects in uniform motion will create straight lines on position-time graphs). Velocity = Slope = Rise Run Example: What is the velocity of jogger A? What is the velocity of jogger B? = (Change in position) = (Change in time) d . t

We can also calculate average velocity without using a position-time graph, using the formula
Remember that we already know how to calculate displacement ( velocity we put this information together! ) and time interval ( ), so to calculate average

There are three types of problems you may encounter using the formula the displacement or time interval.

You can rearrange the formula to find

1)

The question gives you the displacement and time interval and you must find velocity.

Example: Usain Bolt holds the world record for the 100-metre sprint: 9.58 seconds! Calculate his average velocity during the race. Step 1: Write down the information you are given. (Tip: It sometimes helps to draw a picture if you are having difficulty!)

Step 2: Identify what the question is asking you to find. Step 3: Use the formula to find the answer.

Step 4: Check your answer to make sure it makes sense and has the proper units. Follow these steps to answer the other types of questions:

2) The question gives you time interval and velocity and you must find displacement. Example: What is the displacement of a bicycle that travels at +8.0 m/s for 1 minute?

3) The question gives you the displacement and velocity and you must find the time interval. Example: A person is running from an angry bull. His velocity is +7 m/s. How long will it take him to get 50 m [N] of the bull?