How To Calculate Problems Concerning Velocity

Whatever you do in your daily life, velocity happens because you are constantly moving or you are constantly in motion. It is inevitable. It happens even when you work, try to express something, or even play with paintball.  It also happens in a flying aircraft, in sports performance and even in computers. When you throw something with a horizontal or with a vertical motion, it also takes place. When this happens, energy is also expended.

But what is it exactly? It is part of science, specifically physics, and is defined as the speed of change of your location or position. To be able to define it, you will need direction and speed. It is also considered as a physical vector quantity. There are two major kinds of velocity, and these are escape velocity and relative velocity. Escape velocity can be defined as the smallest amount of velocity your body should have to make sure that you can escape the Earth’s field of gravity. Kinetic energy that is greater compared than the potential gravitational energy is needed for an object to be able to escape. Relative velocity is the measure of two things, which is established through a coordinate single system. This velocity is essential in modern and classical physics because a lot of topics cover two object’s relative velocity.

Here are a few examples of velocity related problems: 


1. Displacement and distance are also part of the subject matter, but you should be aware that these two are completely different. Say for instance, if you travel 30 kilometers east and then 10 kilometers west, the distance that you have traveled equals to 40 kilometers, while displacement equals 20 kilometers east. Distance can be considered scalar while displacement can be considered vector. Magnitude can be found in scalar terms while direction and magnitude are in vector.
2. Instantaneous velocity illustrates the object’s velocity at a given point. Let’s say you are driving an SUV and the speedometer hurriedly goes to 80 kilometers per hour, then 80 kilometers per hour is the SUV’s instantaneous velocity.
3. Average velocity can be arrived at by simply dividing the displacement by time. When you move your car 30 kilometers in just 3 hours, then 10 kilometers per hour is your average velocity.
4. Relative motion is also part of velocity. Say for instance, your car is moving at a speed of 30 km per hour going south, and your sister’s car is moving at 20 km per hour going north, then your car’s velocity relative to your sister’s car is 50 kilometers per hour.
5. If you were asked to find distance traveled, you will have to multiply velocity with time. If the problem calls for you to solve for the velocity when distance and time are given, then all you have to do is divide distance over time. For example, the velocity of a rocket that is traveling at 8000 meters in 11.11 seconds is 720.072 meters per second.
6. To find acceleration, you simply divide velocity over time. So if an object goes to 200 meters per second in just 0.4 seconds, the acceleration is 200 meters per second.

The formula in solving velocity and other velocity related problems is quite simple. All you have to do to solve them is do transposition and you can get the right formula. You just have to have the basic knowledge in math. A handy calculator can also help you.