Motion

VELOCITY AND INSTANTANEOUS SPEED

In this worksheet you will learn about velocity and instantaneous speed.

In worksheet 9.1 you learnt about average speed.

distance travelled
average speed =
tim e
Average speed tells us how fast we were going for the whole journey, but
sometimes we need to know more details about the journey.

special
words
instantaneous speed
velocity
displacement

You also need to know your instantaneous speed, your speed at any particular
moment, so that you can obey the speed limits. Car drivers have a special gauge to
measure their instantaneous speed.
Sometimes we also need to know the direction of travel.
Velocity will tell us our speed and the direction of travel.

60

70

80

50

10

40

110

For example, a car travelling 90 km/h west on a freeway has

a different velocity from a car going 90 km/h north on
another freeway. They have the same speed but not the same
velocity.
velocity = speed + direction

90

10

20

30

120 130 140

15

0047
In velocity, displacement is measured, not distance.
Displacement is the change in position of an object from
where it starts to where it ends up. It tells us about the direction of the travel.

For example, if I walk 3 km east, sit down and then walk another 1 km to the west, my
final displacement is 2 km east.
displacement
average velocity =
time
N
Imagine that you have to walk to a shop and go
120 m
around two corners to get there. The map of the
displacement shows how far you have travelled to get
to the shop and the direction that you have walked as
well. The dotted line shows the final displacement.
After your walk you were 120 m east of the starting
spot. So your displacement was 120 m east.
You had walked more than 120 m to get there.
The total distance you travelled was
100 m + 120 m + 100 m = 320 m. The whole journey
took 3 minutes or 180 seconds.

W
100 m

E
100 m

home

120 m
Displacement
S

Calculations
distance
average speed =
time
320 m
=
180 s
= 1.77 m/s

displacement
average velocity =
time
120 m east
=
180 s
= 0.66 m/s east

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Motion

To do
1 Make up a story about a short journey like the one on this worksheet.

2 Draw the displacement map (remembering to show the direction of travel) and say how
long the journey took.

3 Calculate the average speed and average velocity for the journey. Use the units metres
and seconds.

4 Give the map to a partner and get them to work out the average speed and average
velocity for the journey in their workbook.

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