PHYSICS Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Acceleration
Document Summary
Definition: starting with speed and velocity, speed is defined as the distance travelled by an object in a given time, or more simply as distance travelled per unit time. While on the other hand velocity is displacement per unit time. The difference is the same as that between distance and displacement; Speed is a scalar quantity while velocity is a vector. Well, scalar quantities are those which have a magnitude only, while vector quantities have both a direction and a magnitude. Just to further clear it out, consider a car going at a speed of 40 m/s. We are not told whether the car is going northwards, down the hill or whatever. Average speed can be calculated using the formula: Average speed = total distance travelled / total time taken. The distance b/w town a and town b is 25 km . A car travels from town a to town b and then returns to town a .
