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2007-08-12 14:26:09 · 6 answers · asked by Elizabeth 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Average speed would be the total distance you traveled divided by the total time you traveled.
I.e. if you take a two-hundred mile trip and it takes you four hours then your average speed was 50 miles per hour.
Mathematicly speaking, instantaneous speed (speed being the absolute value of the magnitude of velocity) would be the derivitive of your posistion vs. time graph. It would be the slope of a line tangent to any point on the graph.
Meaning that while it might have taken you 4 hours to complete your trip, there where times were you went 90 miles per hour and other time where you were slowed to a crawl.
Instantaneous speed is the speed you are traeling at any isntant
2007-08-12 14:38:57 · answer #1 · answered by bodicus 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Previous poster are correct, but a simple example might make it clear.
You know that a dropped object on earth will accellerate at 32 Ft. per second each second.
At the start it's instantaneous speed is 0, at one second, 32 FPS.
Since it has been subject to uniform acceleration, it has traveled 16 Ft. So its average velocity for the first second is 16 FPS.
2007-08-12 16:47:32 · answer #2 · answered by Irv S 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Instantaneous speed is the speed at a particular instant. It could be zero if stopped, or the top speed before slowing down or anywhere in acceleration. As I accelerate from 0 to 60, it could be anywhere along the line.
Average speed is found by averaging the top and bottom speed. One could be zero. The average of 0 to 60 is 30.
2007-08-12 14:32:05 · answer #3 · answered by science teacher 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I will give you an example of both. A photons instantaneous speed is equal to it's constant and average speed in a vacuum.
2007-08-15 15:11:40 · answer #4 · answered by johnandeileen2000 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Instanteneous: the speed at the particular moment in time
Average speed: the total distance traveled divided by the time this travel took.
Average velocity: avg displacement divided by elapsed time
2007-08-12 14:55:04 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Instanteneous: the speed at the particular moment in time
Average speed: the total distance traveled divided by the time this travel took.
Average velocity: avg displacement divided by elapsed time.
2007-08-12 14:31:12 · answer #6 · answered by Snowflake 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋