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### College Physics (Urone)

Book edition 1st Edition
Author(s) Paul Peter Urone
Pages 1272 pages
ISBN 9781938168000

# How are instantaneous velocity and instantaneous speed related to one another? How do they differ?

The velocity of the object at an instant is called instantaneous velocity. As the time interval approaches 0, so does the distance traveled. The instantaneous speed is the non-zero limit of the distance-to-time ratio.

See the step by step solution

## Step 1: Instantaneous Velocity

The velocity of an item at a given point in time. The instantaneous velocity is "the velocity of an item in motion at a single point in time."

The instantaneous velocity of an item with uniform velocity could be the same as its average velocity.

Graph showing average and instantaneous velocity.

It's calculated in the same way as average velocity but with a shorter time period. We know that total displacement divided by total time equals average velocity for a particular time span.

The displacement approaches 0 as the time interval approaches zero. However, the ratio of displacement to time has a non-zero limit, which is known as instantaneous velocity.

## Step 2: Instantaneous speed

We know that the entire distance traveled divided by the total time taken equals the average speed for a given time span.

The distance traveled approaches 0 as the time interval approaches zero. However, the instantaneous speed is the non-zero limit of the distance-to-time ratio. We may also say that instantaneous speed at any given moment is the magnitude of instantaneous velocity at that time, to put it another way.

## Step 3: Difference between instantaneous speed and velocity

 Instantaneous speed Instantaneous velocity It is a scalar quantity It is a vector quantity It is only the magnitude of the speed at instants. It is the value of velocity magnitude as well as the direction of the body at instants.

Therefore, the instantaneous velocity is the velocity of an item at a specific point in time. The distance traveled decreases as the specified interval of time approaches zero. The non-zero range of the distance-to-time ratio is the instantaneous speed.