Velocity
Definition
Velocity refers to the rate at which an object changes its position in a specific direction. It includes both speed and direction.
Analogy
Imagine you are driving a car on a straight road. Your velocity would be your speedometer reading combined with whether you are going forward or backward, left or right.
Related terms
Speed: Speed measures how fast an object moves without considering its direction. Unlike velocity, it does not take into account if the object is moving forward, backward, etc.
Acceleration: Acceleration describes how quickly an object's velocity changes over time. It can refer to speeding up, slowing down, or changing direction.
Displacement: Displacement measures the change in position from one point to another for an object moving in a specific direction. It considers both distance and direction.
"Velocity" appears in:
Study guides (8)
AP Physics 1 - 1.1 Position, Velocity, and Acceleration
AP Physics 1 - 1.2 Representations of Motion
AP Physics 1 - 2.5 Newton's Third Law and Free-Body Diagrams
AP Physics 1 - 2.7 Applications of Newton’s Second Law
AP Physics 1 - 3.6 Centripetal Acceleration and Centripetal Force
AP Physics 1 - 5.2 Representations of Changes in Momentum
AP Physics 1 - 6.1 Period of Simple Harmonic Oscillators
AP Physics 1 - 6.2 Energy of a Simple Harmonic Oscillator
Additional resources (4)
Practice Questions (8)
- A 3kg pendulum has a velocity of 3m/s at the bottom of its swing. What is the maximum height it reaches? Neglect air resistance and friction.
- What is the velocity of a moving object that has a mass of 20kg and an associated kinetic energy of 250J?
- An object that started from rest has an impulse of 10 Ns when it slides off the edge of a frictionless table. What is this object’s velocity sliding off the table if its mass is 10kg?
- A block of mass M slides across a frictionless table with a velocity v and collides and sticks with a block of mass 0.5M that was initially at rest. What is the velocity of the two blocks after the collision?
- In the motion of a simple mass-spring oscillator, velocity is at its MAXIMUM at
- A student builds a track for a toy car to go around a curve. If the student doubles the velocity of the car, what happens to the acceleration of the car if the radius is to remain unchanged?
- Which of the following are NOT indicated a by a horizontal line on a velocity vs time graph
- A circus performer swings a yo-yo in a clockwise vertical circle during a performance. When the yo-yo is at the top of its circle, what are the directions of its velocity and acceleration?
Resources
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