Speed and Velocity

Cliff Notes

I. Calculating Speed

A. Speed

speed is the change in distance over time, or simply:

speed=distance/time

1. unit of speed=unit of distance/unit of time

examples: miles/hour, meters/second, kilometers/hour

B. Distance

distance=speed x time

C. Time

time=distance/speed

II. Examples

Ex1: A football field is about 100 m long. If it takes a person 20 seconds to run its length, how fast (what average speed) were they running? 5 m/s

Ex2: The pitcher’s mound in baseball is 85 m from the plate. It takes 4 seconds for a pitch to reach the plate. How fast is the pitch? 21.25 m/s

Ex3: If you drive at an average speed of 100 km/hr for 6 hours, how far will you go? 600 km

Ex4: If you run at 12 m/s for 15 seconds, how far will you go? 180 m

Ex5: Every summer I drive to Michigan. It is 3900 km to get there. If I average 100 km/hr, how much time will I spend driving? 39 hours

Ex6: A bullet travels at 850 m/s. How long will it take a bullet to go 1000 m? 1.18 s

Attachments

Calculating Speed, Time, and Distance - Worksheet for practice with speed, time and distance