What is the difference between acceleration, speed, and velocity?
Answer:
The pace at which a distance change is known as speed. Acceleration is the rate of change in velocity per unit of time, while velocity is the rate of change in displacement (change in distance in a given direction with respect to time).
Speed, Velocity, and Acceleration
Speed
- Speed is used to measure how fast an object moves. It is calculated by the distance an object travels divided by the time it takes the object to travel that distance. The formula for speed is s = d/t, where s represents speed, d represents distance, and t represents time.
Velocity
- Velocity is measured in the same units as speed, but the direction of motion is also given. Direction may be described, for example, as north, south, east, west, left, or right. Velocity is said to be a vector quantity, meaning both magnitude (distance from one point to another) and direction are specified.
Acceleration
- Acceleration is the rate of velocity change during a certain period of time. Since the unit for velocity has time in the denominator (m/s for example), and velocity is divided by units of time (s for example) to calculate acceleration, the unit of time is given in the denominator twice. So, the units for acceleration are m/s^2, which is stated as “meters per second per second” or “meters per second squared.”
Reymark R. Bumatay
Bayambang National High School
