Speed
Introduction to Speed
• Speed is a way of saying how far someone travelled in a
certain time. This means we want to learn how fast a
vehicle, person or any object travelled rom one position to
another.
• Speed is calculated using a rule which is important to
learn for questions asking the speed of a journey.
Calculating Speed
Calculating Speed
• This triangle displays how
speed, distance and time can be
calculated.
1. Distance = Speed x Time
2. Speed = Distance / Time
3. Time = Distance / Speed
Calculating Speed
• In order to calculate
speed there are
important units that
are used for
representing the
Distance
speed of an object Speed Time
Kilometres (km)
travelling. Kilometres per hour Hours (h)
(km/h)
Metres (m) Metres per second Seconds (s)
(m/s)
Miles (miles) Miles per hour (mph) Hours (h)
Conversion of Units
• Sometime units must be converted as for example the
time may be given in minutes although minutes are not
used to measure time when calculating speed. This is a
way of tricking the student. So what happens is converting
the minutes into hours by dividing the minutes by 60.
Conversions of Units
1. Distance:
a) km m (multiply by 1000)
b) m km (divide by 1000)
2. Time:
a) hours seconds (multiply by 3600)
b) minutes seconds (multiple by 60)
Conversions of Units
c) seconds hours (divide by 3600)
d) seconds minutes (divide by 60)
e) minutes hours (divide by 60)
f) hours minutes (multiply by 60)
Conversions of Units
3. Speed:
g) km/h m/s (multiply by 1000/3600)
h) m/s km/h (divide by 1000/3600)
Questions
• You are growing a little taller each year. What units could
you use to measure how fast you are growing?
• A horse and rider cover 54 km in 9 hours. | Calculate the
mean speed.
• Explain what is meant by speed.
• What is the rules for calculating time?
Answers
• Cm/year
• 6 km/h
• Speed is a way of saying how far can someone travel in a
certain time.
• Time = distance / speed
Distance-Time Graphs
• Speed can be calculated
through information
displayed on a distance-
time graph. In a
distance-time graph, he
time is plotted on the x-
axis and the distance is
plotted on the y-axis.
Calculating Speed
The Speeds Triangle
Gradient
1. Speed = distance/time 1. Gradient=change in
2. Speed = _____km/h or m/s distance of y
or mph
change in time of x
2. Gradient = y2-y1/x2-x1
3. Gradient = Rise/Run