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Measurement and Kinematics

Quick questions on Speed, velocity and acceleration: N(A)-Level Physics kinematics

4short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.

What is speed?
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Speed tells you how far something travels in each second. The formula is:
What is velocity?
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Velocity is speed in a stated direction. A car moving at 15 m s−115\ \text{m s}^{-1} has a speed; a car moving at 15 m s−115\ \text{m s}^{-1} due north has a velocity. The size is the same, but velocity also tells you the direction.
What is acceleration?
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Acceleration tells you how quickly the velocity changes each second. The formula is:
What is wrong unit for acceleration?
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It is m s−2\text{m s}^{-2}, not m s−1\text{m s}^{-1}. The extra "per second" is because it is a change of velocity each second.

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