2.1- Speed

Speed

We know how much motion something has by measuring its speed. Speed is the distance an object travels divided by the time it took the object to travel that distance. I know its another formula and science is beginning to sound like math class, but remember math and science are BFFs. To calculate the speed of an object you use:

Speed formula

We use this formula to calculate the average speed of an object. One thing we know about speed is that it is always changing.

Your speed moving down the hallways begins slowly, and then you find an area with no students so you increase your speed until you reach your locker, at which your speed stops.

During your whole journey down the hallway your speed was constantly changing, but we can calculate your average speed by determining that your locker is 12.5 meters down the hallway and it took you 25 seconds.

So in our hallway example you were moving an average of 0.5 meters (50 centimeters) ever second. Speed can be measured in any distance and time measurements. For example when you run the track in P.E. you wouldn’t want to measure your speed in centimeters per second (although the number would make you sound really fast). You would measure your average speed in meters per minute.

It is important to remember that during your run you were not going to same speed the entire time. At the beginning you were probably running really fast, but as the run went on you became tired, which caused you to slow down. Average speed takes all your movements (fast and slow) and gives you a number that you were moving overall. It will not tell you how much speed you had at the beginning of the race.