Velocity Flashcards

All 5 cards in this deck

What is velocity?

Speed in a stated direction — it is a vector.

True or false? An object moving at constant speed in a circle has a constant velocity.

False. Its direction keeps changing, and velocity is speed in a stated direction, so velocity changes.

What two things can change to make an object's velocity change?

Its speed, or its direction (or both).

What is the difference between distance and displacement?

Distance is the total path length (scalar); displacement is the straight-line distance in a stated direction (vector).

True or false? A velocity can be given as a negative number.

True. The minus sign shows the object is moving in the opposite direction to the one chosen as positive.