Instantaneous vs. Average Velocity

Most recent answer: 12/12/2015

Q:
What is the difference between average velocity and instantaneous velocity... i am confused about these two term and wanna understand by physical examples
- Sajad (age 22)
pakistan
A:

Suppose a train is travelling from Munich to Vienna. The distance between two cities is known exactly, so by calculating the time that it took between the departure and arrival, you can calculate the average velocity of the train service. This makes it possible to make rough conclusions such as the InterCity Expresses travel at 200 km/h, in contrast to regional services that serve at only 100km/h.

But actually, neither ICE nor regional travels at exactly that speed throughout the entire journey. At stations and curves, the travel speed is lower, at straight sections higher than this number. This variable speed along the path is the instantaneous velocity.

Tunc


(published on 12/12/2015)