Distance from shop to home = 3 km, time taken from home to shop = 1 hour and time taken from shop to home = 2 hour. Therefore, we describe the rate of motion of such objects in terms of ‘average’.Įxample: Consider yourself going to a shop on a cycle, you stop cycle many times on the way and then you come from the shop to your home.

In most cases, objects will be in non-uniform motion.

It travels 30 miles in the first hour, 45 miles in the second hour and 75 miles in the third hour.

Velocity is a vector quantity it has both magnitude and direction. Average speed formula is used to find the uniform rate which involves something travelling at fixed and steady pace.

Average speed is usually applied to vehicles like cars, trains, and airplanes. Convert this figure back to hours by multiplying by 60 (the number of minutes in an hour). Average speed measures the average rate of speed over the extent of a trip.

The SI unit of velocity is also metre per second. Our average speed therefore was 1.0625 miles per minute.

Velocity: Velocity is the speed of an object moving in a definite direction.

Speed is a scalar quantity it only has direction.

This is represented by the symbol m s –1 or m/s.

The SI unit of speed is metre per second.

Speed: Distance travelled by the object in unit time.

Average speed symbol