Summarize the following:
The speed of an object is the total distance traveled divided by the time it took to travel that distance. Unlike a vector which is defined by having both a magnitude and direction, such as velocity, speed only has a magnitude. Magnitude is the size or amount of the term. Another way to think about magnitude is how far away the term is from zero. For example, if a car is moving at 15 miles per hour, it is 15 away from zero and therefore has a magnitude of 15. The formula to calculate speed is speed = total distance/total time Instantaneous speed is the rate at which an object is moving in a given moment. Speed is expressed as the ratio of distance to time. When traveling in a car, your instantaneous speed is what the speedometer reads at any point in time. It is the rate you are traveling at that moment. Common units for speed include miles per hour (mph) and kilometers per hour (kph). Average speed is the total distance traveled for a given amount of time. The formula for both average and instantaneous speed is the same, but average speed takes into account the whole trip, while instantaneous speed is only for a specific moment of time. The example used in the following steps will calculate average speed.
Define speed. Understand instantaneous speed. Understand average speed.