Speed tells us how fast something is moving. It is the rate at which distance is covered.
There are many ways to look at speed. The instantaneous speed is the speed of an object at a particular instant. The speedometer on a car measures instantaneous speed –> the speed at the point in time. The speed on the speedometer is often changing.
Let’s also look at other types of speed: constant speed and average speed.
Average Speed
In many real-life situations, the speed is not constant. Sometimes the object slows down, speeds up, or stops for a while.
So we calculate average speed over the entire journey.
Constant Speed
A constant speed means that the object is travelling at the same speed throughout the entire journey. It does not slow down or speed up.
If the speed of an object remains constant, then constant speed = average speed.
Units of Speed
The units for speed is in terms of units of distance/ units of time, for example km/h, m/min, m/s.