Speed and Velocity

Distance-time graph example By: Sjlegg

Summary: Speed and velocity are a classic example of scalars and vectors, because speed is only the magnitude of how fast something is going, while velocity is not only the speed but also the direction the object is going. To find the speed of an object, you have to put the distance over the time of an object, and to find the velocity of an object you must put: distance former minus distance latter over time former minus time latter.

SP4: Analyzing and interpreting data
In order to find the speed of various cars, we put them on a ramp and let go, we recorded the time and distance of all of the cars. After we put them in a data table and found the average speed and time of every car. We then plotted the points on a graph and drew a straight line to the origin. Afterwards we found the slope of the line, which was the speed of the cars. We then used that information to order the cars from fastest to slowest.

XCC: Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

There are multiple ways to measure speed, these ways are various unit rates. The unit rate that is for the standard scale is meters per second, or m/s. For smaller scales it is centimeters per second or cm/s, and larger scales it's kilometers per hour, or km/hr. Seeing how different scales function allows one to notice how various objects move and what outside forces affect somethings velocity changes.