Vivekanand Vellanki
3
The main difference is that speed is a scalar (no direction involved), while velocity is a vector (this has a direction). Lets take the example of a bouncing basketball. Let's consider two cases: basketball going down (downwards) and basketball bouncing back (upwards). The speed of the basketball while going down; and while bouncing back is the same. Hence, the speed is the same - downwards or upwards. However, the direction in which the basketball is travelling while going down is different from the direction while bouncing back. Hence, the velocity of the basketball is not the same while going downwards and upwards (although, the speed is the same). Lets take another example of a wall clock: Specifically, the motion of the tip of the minutes hand. In this case, the speed of the tip of the minutes hand is constant - i.e, it makes one revolution in one hour. Its speed would be 2 \pi \times r meters per hour where r is the radius in meters. The velocity of the tip of the minutes hand is always changing because the direction in which the tip is moving is always changing. At 10:00 am it is moving parallel to the earth; at 10:15am it is moving perpendicular to the earth towards the earth; at 10:30am it is moving parallel to the earth (reversed its direction from 10:00am); and at 10:45am it moving perpendicular to the earth away from the earth. In this case, the velocity of tip of the minutes hand is always changing - although the speed is the same.
Wairimu Kimani
0
Well, speed and velocity aren't the same b/c speed is the rate in which an object is traveling in a given time. Velocity is the change in direction of the object.
Craig Young
0
Wairimu, the first part of your answer is correct - speed is the rate at which an object is traveling. However, velocity is NOT the change of direction. Velocity is the rate at which an object is moving AND in a given direction. So velocity is speed PLUS direction. (The rate at which velocity is changing is called acceleration. I think you got that confused.)
Jordyn Bostick
0
Yes speed and velocity are different. To provide a much more simple answer speed is a description of how fast an object moves while velocity is the speed with a given direction.