Are you getting confused between speed and velocity? It is very obvious and you don’t need to worry, we will help you to find you answers by our informative article.

Speed is often misconstrued with the ‘velocity’, because of having similar applications but these two are very different concepts of motion. Speed is the rate of change of distance or basically how much distance (m) has been covered in a particular time(s). Velocity is the rate of change of displacement or change of distance in a particular direction with respect to time.

As “speed and velocity” both terms are very confusing, it is important to know them individually.

Speed

Speed is a scalar quantity which means it has no direction. It is basically how fast an object is moving. If the speed of the particle is high it means the particle is moving fast and if it is low, it means the particle is moving slow. Speed in SI is measured in ms^-1. Speed never decreases with time and cannot be negative. For a moving body, it is never zero. Speed may or may not be equal to velocity.

Velocity

Velocity is a vector quantity which means it has both magnitude and direction. It is the rate at which the object is moving or changing position. Its direction is same as the direction of the moving object. Even if the object is slowing down, and the magnitude of velocity is decreasing, its direction would still be same as the direction in which the object is moving. Velocity in SI is measured in ms^-1. Velocity can decrease with time. For a moving body, it can be zero.

To understand better, let’s look at the differences between speed and velocity.

Meaning

Speed refers to the distance covered by an object in unit time whereas velocity refers to the displacement of the object in unit time.

Nature

Speed is a scalar quantity while velocity is a vector quantity.

Calculated with

Speed is calculated with distance whereas velocity is calculated with displacement.

Components

Components of speed are distance and time while components of velocity are distance, time and direction of motion.

When the Body Returns to Its Initial Position:

When the body returns to its initial position the speed will not be zero but velocity will be zero.