What is the difference between speed and velocity? Give a real example.
I keep getting these two confused in problems. My teacher said velocity is a vector and speed is scalar but I do not understand what that means in practice. If a car goes around a circular track, what happens to its speed and velocity?
1 Answer
Speed is how fast something moves (magnitude only). Velocity is speed with direction. A car going around a circular track at constant 60 km/h has CONSTANT SPEED but CONTINUOUSLY CHANGING VELOCITY, because the direction keeps changing. This is why the car experiences centripetal acceleration even at constant speed. Scalar = magnitude only (distance, mass, time). Vector = magnitude + direction (displacement, velocity, acceleration, force). In problems, if direction matters, use velocity; if only magnitude matters, use speed.
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