Lesson

3 Speed and Velocity

Lesson Overview

Have you ever tried making a paper boat when it’s raining hard outside and
made several more and later on started a race of which will go faster? Ever tried to
try all the routes from your school to you home to see which is the fastest route? If
yes, then this lesson will be enjoyable for you. In the previous lessons, we have
already discussed about Scalar and Vector quantities, in this lesson, we are going to
discuss about Speed and Velocity.
Although speed and velocity are often used interchangeably in everyday life, they
represent different quantities in Physics. Speed is a measurement of how fast an
object moves relative to a reference point. It does not have a direction and is
considered to only have a magnitude thus, a scalar quantity. Speed can be figured
by the formula:
Speed = Distance/Time
or
s = d/t
This is the way the speed of a car is typically measured. In science and physics the
standard unit of measure for speed is generally meters per second or m/s. The
measurement of speed can reflect two different scalar quantities.

 Instantaneous Speed - The speed of an object at a given moment. The car

may be travelling at 80 mph at this moment, but it may slow down or speed up
during the next hour.

 Average Speed - The average speed is calculated by the distance that an

object traveled over a given interval of time. If a car traveled 50 miles over the
course of one hour then its average speed will be 50 mph. It may be that the
car traveled at instantaneous speeds of 40 mph and 60 mph during that time,
but the average speed is 50 mph.

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While on the other hand, Velocity is the rate of change in an object's position.
Velocity has a magnitude (speed) and a direction. Velocity is a vector quantity that
refers to “the rate at which an object changes its position”. As such, velocity is
direction aware. When evaluating the velocity of an object, one must keep track of
the direction, one must fully include direction information in order to fully describe the
velocity of an object. This is one of the essential differences of speed and velocity.
Velocity is represented by the formula:

Velocity = the change in distance/change in time

Velocity = Δx/Δt

How can be differentiate the two? Speed is the magnitude of velocity. Velocity
is the speed of an object plus its direction. Speed is called a scalar quantity and
velocity is a vector. The fastest possible speed in the universe is the speed of light.
The speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second.

That was easy! Right? Let’s start!

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 I Will Do This
Activity 1: Time Out!

Materials

clock piece of paper

ballpen marker ( chalk / charcoal)

Procedure

1. Ask two of your family members to participate in the activity.

2. Look for spacious place free from obstruction, it may be indoor or outdoor.
3. Using a chalk or charcoal marker, mark a specific starting point.
4. From starting point, measure twenty (10) of your arm span (the distance
from the middle fingertip of the left hand to that of the right hand when
stretching out both arms horizontally)
5. At the end of the tenth arm span, mark it as the end point.
(It is important to note that this is your own arm span and it’s not a standard
measurement).
6. Ask two of your family members to walk from starting point to end point with
the use of clock or any devices that measure time in seconds. The same
process applies, but this time ask them to run as fast as they can.
7. Record the data on the table below. Solve for distances and velocity.
WALKING
Members Distance Time Speed
(s) (distance / time)
Family Member 1 10 arm Span arm span / seconds

Family Member 2 10 arm Span arm span / seconds

You 10 arm Span arm span / seconds

RUNNING
Members Distance Time Speed
(s) (distance / time)
Family Member 1 10 arm span arm span / seconds

Family Member 2 10 arm span arm span / seconds

You 10 arm span arm span / seconds

WALKING

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 Member Initial Final Initial Final Direction Velocity
s Distance Distanc Time Time (df –di) / (tf-ti)
(di) e (ti) (tf) (Left of
(df) Right)

Family 0 arm 10 arm 0s arm span /

Member span span seconds
1
Family 0 arm 10 arm 0s arm span /
Member span span seconds
2
You 0 arm 10 arm 0s arm span /
span span seconds

RUNNING

Member Initial Final Initial Final Direction Velocity

s Distance Distanc Time Time (df –di) / (tf-ti)
(di) e (ti) (tf) (Left of
(df) Right)

Family 0 arm 10 arm 0s arm span /

Member span span seconds
1
Family 0 arm 10 arm 0s arm span /
Member span span seconds
2
You 0 arm 10 arm 0s arm span /
span span seconds

Analysis Questions:

1. Compare the relative speeds and velocities that your family members have
reached the end point.
a. What can you say about their speed? Velocity?
b. Who among the family members is the fastest?

WALKING

Family Member 1 vs You

Family Member 2 vs Family Member 1
You vs Family Member 2
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

RUNNING

Family Member 1 vs You

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 Family Member 2 vs Family Member 1
You vs Family Member 2
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

2. What does direction in velocity tell us?

_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

3. Why does initial distance and initial time in solving for velocity is zero?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

4. What are the factors that influence the speeds and velocities of the family?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

5. Why is arm span not a standard measurement for distances?

_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

I Learned This

Fill-in the blanks. Select your answer from the word box.

scalar velocity time distance

speed vector direction

I have learned that 1. ___________ is a measurement of how fast an object

object's position unlike speed it is considered as a 4. _________ quantity that refers
to “the rate at which an object changes its position. Both of them is influences by the
factors such as 5. ___________ and 6___________. Furthermore, a vector is just
like a speed with 7. ____________.

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 I Practice This

YOU MUST SHOW YOUR WORK.

You can use a calculator but you must show all of the steps involved in doing the problem.

SPEED AND VELOCITY

PROBLEMS

1. If a car travels 400m in 20 seconds how fast is it going?

2. If you move 50 meters in 10 seconds, what is your speed?

3. You arrive in my class 45 seconds after leaving math which is 90

meters away. How fast did you travel?

4.  Julie is headed northwards to her home. She lives 40 miles away, and
it takes her 2 hours to get home. What is her velocity as she heads
home?

7
 I Apply This

Identify the whether the electromagnetic wave described according to its uses
is correct or not. Write on the circles TRUE if the statement is correct and FALSE if
not.

. A Velocity is equal to the

Speed is a vector quantity that change in distance over
has both magnitude and a change in time.
direction.

1.

The average speed is The speed of an object at a

calculated by the distance that given moment is known as
an object traveled over a the instantaneous speed.
given interval of time

3.

Mariana Trench
If one student was able to A velocity of 5 m/s east is
Mariana Trench achieved when a student runs
2. finish a distance of 20 meters
a distance of 20 meters in 6
in 10 seconds, his speed is 2 seconds east.
m/s.

8
 I Test Myself

Multiple Choice:

1. What is the minimum time required in order for Angelica, a Grade -9 student to
achieve a speed of 6 m/s within a distance of 18 meters?
A. 4 seconds B. 3 seconds C. 5 seconds D. 6 seconds

2. What is velocity?
A. the quickness of an object B. location of an object
C. speed in a specific direction D. direction of an object

3. The correct equation to calculate speed is?

A. distance/time B. distance x time
C. time/ distance D. distance/time2

4. The speed at any single instant of time is ________.

A. speed B. instantaneous speed
C. average speed D. vector

5. The main difference between speed and velocity is that velocity includes this:
A. magnitude B. units
C. direction D. there is no difference

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 Lesson

4 Acceleration

Lesson Overview

We ride vehicles once or twice every day to go to where we want.

Jeepneys, card, motorcycles all of which are forms of transportation. Suppose you
are in a car, and you are merging onto a freeway, you tend to go faster and eventually
your speed increases. So the moment you speed up to fit into the flow of traffic, you are
accelerating. Interesting, isn’t it? In the previous lessons, we have already discussed
about speed and velocity, in this lesson, we are going to discuss about
Acceleration.
It is the rate of change of velocity with time. Acceleration as a change in speed or
velocity (increasing or decreasing) at a time interval . The only two ways to accelerate
is by changing the speed or change in direction or change both. It is a vector quantity. If
the velocity of the object increases with time, its acceleration increases. If the velocity of
an object decreases with time, its acceleration is negative. The motion is uniformly
accelerated motion or it non-uniformly accelerated, depending on how the velocity
changes with time. It is uniform for a body if the velocity changes by equal amounts in
equal intervals and if its velocity changes by unequal amounts, it is non-uniform. Speed
can be figured by the formula:
Acceleration =  Change in velocity
Time taken
Its unit is m/s²
Constant speed does not guarantee that acceleration is zero. For example, a body
moving with constant speed in a circle changes its velocity every instant and hence its
acceleration is not equal to zero.

Acceleration isn't always the result of change in speed. Examples of motion where
they're moving with constant speed or velocity, however their direction of motion
changes continuously (a carousel, a bicycle on a circular path, etc.). Although you
may have a constant speed, your change in direction means you're accelerating.
Some objects move with a change in both speed and direction at the same time;
example roller coaster. The cars reach the top of the incline. Suddenly, they plummet

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toward the ground and then whip around a curve. You are thrown backward, forward,
and sideways as your velocity increases, decreases, and changes in direction. Your
acceleration is constantly changing because of changes in the speed and direction of
the cars of the roller coaster.

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 I Will Do This
Activity 1: Doing Detective Work

Consider this situation below:

Supposed you were having your on-the-job training in a private investigating

company. You were asked to join a team assigned to investigate a ‘hit and run’ case.
The alleged suspect was captured by the CCTV camera driving down a road leading
to the place of incident. The suspect denied the allegation, saying that he was then
driving very slowly with a constant speed. Because of the short time difference when
he was caught by the camera and when the accident happened, he insisted that it
was impossible that he would already be at the place when the crime happened. But
when you were viewing the scene again on the camera, you noticed that his car was
leaving oil spots on the road. When you checked these spots on site, you found out
that they are still evident. So you began to wonder if the spots can be used to
investigate the motion of the car of the suspect and check whether he was telling the
truth or not.

Here is an activity that you can do to help you with your investigation. You will
analyze the motion using strips of papers with dots. For this activity, assume that the
dots represent the ‘oil drops’ left by the car down the road.

Materials

Ruler paper strips with dots cutter or pair of scissors

Procedure
A. Using a Tape Chart
1. Cut the paper strips with dots as shown in Figure 1.
2. Label each dot. Start from 0, then 1, 2, 3, and so on. In this example, each
dot occurred every 1 second.

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 3. Examine the distances between successive dots.
Q1. How will you compare the distances between successive dots?

_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
4. Cut the strip at each drop, starting from the first to the last drop, and paste
them side by side on a graph paper to form a tape chart as shown in the
figure below

Q2. How do the lengths of the tapes compare?

________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Q3. If each tape represents the distance travelled by the object for 1 second,
then what ‘quantity’ does each piece of tape provide?
_____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Q4. What does the chart tell you about the speed of the car?
_____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

The difference in length between two successive tapes provides the object’s
acceleration or its change in speed or velocity for a time interval of 1 second.

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 Q5. How will you compare the changes in the lengths of two successive
tapes?
_____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

Q6. What then can you say about the acceleration of the moving car?
_____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

B. Using Motion Graphs

5. Measure the distance travelled by the car after 1 second, 2 seconds, and so on by measuring
the distance between drops 0 and 1, 0 and 2, and so on. Enter your measurements in the Table
below.

6. Plot the values in Table above as points on the graph below.

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7. Join the mid-points of the tops of the tapes with a line just like what is shown
on the figure below. You have now converted your tape chart to a speed-time
graph.

Q8. How does you graph look like? How is this different from your graph in
Figure 12?
_____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

Q9. How will you interpret this graph in terms of the speed and acceleration
of the moving car?
_____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

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 __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

Q10. If you found out in your investigation that the arrangement of oil drops
left by the car is similar to what you used in this activity, was the suspect
telling the truth when he said that he was driving with constant speed?
_____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

I Learned This
Fill-in the blanks. Select your answer from the word box.

scalar velocity time distance

speed vector direction

I have learned that 1. ___________ is a measurement of how fast an object

object's position unlike speed it is considered as a 4. _________ quantity that refers
to “the rate at which an object changes its position. Both of them is influences by the
factors such as 5. ___________ and 6___________. Furthermore, a vector is just
like a speed with 7. ____________.

16
 I Practice This

YOU MUST SHOW YOUR WORK.

You can use a calculator but you must show all of the steps involved in doing the problem.

Acceleration Problems

1. If a car?

2. If you move 50 meters in 10 seconds, what is your speed?

3. You arrive in my class 45 seconds after leaving math which is 90

meters away. How fast did you travel?

4.  Julie is headed northwards to her home. She lives 40 miles away, and
it takes her 2 hours to get home. What is her velocity as she heads
home?

17
 I Apply This

Identify the whether the electromagnetic wave described according to its uses
is correct or not. Write on the circles TRUE if the statement is correct and FALSE if
not.

. A Velocity is equal to the

Speed is a vector quantity that change in distance over
has both magnitude and a change in time.
direction.

1.

The average speed is The speed of an object at a

calculated by the distance that given moment is known as
an object traveled over a the instantaneous speed.
given interval of time

3.

Mariana Trench
If one student was able to A velocity of 5 m/s east is
Mariana Trench achieved when a student runs
2. finish a distance of 20 meters
a distance of 20 meters in 6
in 10 seconds, his speed is 2 seconds east.
m/s.

18
 I Test Myself

Multiple Choice:

1. What is the minimum time required in order for Angelica, a Grade -9 student to
achieve a speed of 6 m/s within a distance of 18 meters?
A. 4 seconds B. 3 seconds C. 5 seconds D. 6 seconds

2. What is velocity?
A. the quickness of an object B. location of an object
C. speed in a specific direction D. direction of an object

3. The correct equation to calculate speed is?

A. distance/time B. distance x time
C. time/ distance D. distance/time2

4. The speed at any single instant of time is ________.

A. speed B. instantaneous speed
C. average speed D. vector

5. The main difference between speed and velocity is that velocity includes this:
A. magnitude B. units
C. direction D. there is no difference

References

https://www.needpix.com/photo/528850/

https://physics.info/velocity/practice.shtml

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https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/1DKin/Lesson-1/Speed-and-Velocity#:~:text=Speed%2C
%20being%20a%20scalar%20quantity,scalar%20quantity)%20per%20time%20ratio.&text=On
%20the%20other%20hand%2C%20velocity,at%20which%20the%20position%20changes.

https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/1DKin/Lesson-1/Acceleration

https://www.toppr.com/guides/physics/motion-in-a-straight-line/acceleration/

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