Speed, Velocity and

Acceleration
Mathias Wingman
Physics 1
Reference Frames and Displacement
Any measurement of position, distance, or speed
must be made with respect to a reference frame.

5 km/h
80 km/h

A person walks towards the front of the

train at 5km/h. The train is moving 80km/h
with respect to the ground, so the
walking person’s speed, relative to the
ground, is 85 km/h.
 Reference Frames and Displacement
+y

When specifying the

North
motion of an object, it is
important to specify not
-x
only the speed but also West
0
East
+x
the direction of motion.

South
-y
 Distance Vs Displacement
4km + 2km + 2km + 2km = 10km DISTANCE
How far the object travelled.
2km

2.5 km, West

2km DISPLACEMENT
How far the object is from the
4km starting point.
2km

2.5km
 Average Speed (v)

The total distance traveled along its path divided

by the time it takes to takes to travel this distance.

Distance Traveled d
Ave. Speed = =
Time elapse t
A snail can walk a total distance of 1.2 km
within 2 hours. What is the ave. speed of the
snail?
d 1.2 km
s = = = 0.6 km/h
t 2 hours

1000 m 1 hr m FINAL ANSWER

0.6 km x x = 0.167
s
hr 1 km 3600 s
Speed vs Velocity

SPEED is simply a positive number with units (it has

only magnitude). VELOCITY, on the other hand, is
used to signify both magnitude (numerical value)
of how fast an object is moving and also the
direction in which it is moving.

SPEED is a scalar quantity

VELOCITY is a vector quantity
 Average Velocity ( v )

Average Velocity is defined in terms of displacement,

rather than total distance traveled.

Displacement final position – initial position

Ave. Velocity = =
Time Elapse Time elapse

xf - xi x
v = =
tf - ti t
The position of a runner as a
function of time is plotted as
moving along the x axis of a
coordinate system. During a
3.00 s time interval, the
runner’s position changes
from x1 = 50.0m to x2 = 30.5m.
What is the runner’s average
velocity?
 30 m , east
10 m , west

A snail walks 30 m
east and then walks
back 10 m west within
600 s. What is the
speed of the snail and
what is the velocity of
the snail?
 Instantaneous Velocity
Velocity at a particular moment
of time or during an infinitesimally
short time interval.

10 m/s 6 m/s 8 m/s

Acceleration (a)
Acceleration is the change in velocity divided by the time
taken to make this change

Change of Velocity
Ave.
Acceleration =
Time Elapsed

V2 - V1 v
a = =
t2 - t1 t
Raffa accelerates along a straight road from rest to 42
km/h in 5.0 s. what is Raffa’s average acceleration?
 Motion at Constant Acceleration
In real life acceleration of an object is at constant or nearly constant.
In this case the instantaneous and average acceleration are equal.

a= Constant
 Motion at Constant Acceleration
In real life acceleration of an object is at constant or nearly constant.
In this case the instantaneous and average acceleration are equal.

a= Constant
Thank you for listening