The average angular speed is given by . The instantaneous angular speed is given by . Every point on the wheel has the same angular speed. Assume that you turn the axle of the spinning wheel from vertical to horizontal. The wheel is still spinning with the same angular speed, but its angular velocity w has changed.
Angular velocity is a vector quantity.
Its magnitude is the angular speed, and its direction is the direction of the axis of rotation. There is, however, a subtlety we have to take care of. Assume that the axis of rotation is vertical. Just saying the axis is vertical does not tell us the sense of rotation . To specify the sense of rotation we use a convention called the right-hand rule .