Subsection 2.6.1 Speed
Speed is a scalar quantity that describes how fast an object is moving. It is the rate at which an object covers distance. Speed does not have a direction; it only has magnitude. There are different ways to measure speed:
- Instantaneous Speed is the speed of an object at a particular moment in time. Imagine looking at a car’s speedometer at a specific instant; the reading is the car’s instantaneous speed.
- Average Speed the instantaneous speed averaged over a period of time. Average speed is calculated by dividing the total distance traveled by the total time taken to travel that distance.\begin{equation*} \text{Average Speed} = \frac{\text{Total Distance}}{\text{Total Time}} \end{equation*}
- Rotational Speed refers to how fast an object rotates or spins. It is often measured in revolutions per minute (RPM) or radians per second.
A knot is a unit used to describe the speed of ships. One knot is equal to one nautical mile per hour, which is approximately 1.15 miles per hour or 1.85 km/hour.
