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velocity is defined as the speed at
which an object travels in a given
direction
the right formula to use for calculating
velocity depends on a few different
factors
such as whether the object is
accelerating at a constant rate or
whether it is moving in a circle as
opposed to a line
the most basic formula for calculating
velocity is velocity v equals distance
d over time
t
if you don't already know the time and
distance
you'll need to calculate them first
subtract the initial position
from the final position to find distance
and subtract the start time from the end
time to find the time
for instance
if a runner began sprinting due east at
the 22 meter mark along a track and
ended up at the 52 meter mark
you'd subtract
22 from 52 to find the distance
or displacement of 30 meters
similarly if they began their sprint at
5 35 01 pm
and ended it
at 5 35 06 pm
you can find the time by subtracting 1
from 6 giving you 5 seconds
this will tell you that they ran 30
meters in 5 seconds
which means that they maintained an
average velocity of 6 meters per second
east
if you're finding the velocity of an
object that's accelerating instead of
moving at a constant rate
things get a little more complicated
if you know the acceleration rate of the
object
you can find the final velocity using
the formula
vf
final velocity
equals v1
initial velocity
plus
at
acceleration times time
for example
if an object accelerated north at a rate
of 5 meters per second per second
over 5 seconds
and had a starting velocity of 6 meters
per second
its final velocity would be 6 meters per
second plus
5 meters per second per second times
5 seconds
or
31 meters per second north
once you know both the final and initial
velocity you can calculate the average
velocity of an accelerating object
to do this
add initial velocity to final velocity
and divide the result by two
in this case
six meters per second
plus 30 meters per second
divided by 2 equals 18 meters per second
north
the method for finding the velocity of
an object around a circle is a little
different
to do this
use the formula v velocity
equals 2 pi r the circumference of the
circle
over t
time for example
an object that moves around a circle
with a radius of 50 meters in 13 seconds
would have a velocity of 2 pi
50 meters over 13 seconds or
approximately
24.17
meters per second
