meðalhraði

Meðalhraði, often translated as average speed, is a fundamental concept in physics and everyday life used to describe how fast an object moves over a certain distance. It is calculated by dividing the total distance traveled by the total time taken to cover that distance. The formula for average speed is distance divided by time.

Understanding average speed is crucial for various applications, from calculating travel times for journeys to analyzing the performance of vehicles. For instance, if a car travels 100 kilometers in 2 hours, its average speed is 50 kilometers per hour. This value doesn't necessarily represent the speed at any single moment during the journey; the car might have traveled faster or slower at different points.

Average speed is a scalar quantity, meaning it only has magnitude and no direction. This distinguishes it from average velocity, which is a vector quantity and also takes direction into account. In scenarios where an object moves back and forth or changes direction, the average speed can be significantly different from the magnitude of its average velocity. For example, if an object travels 10 meters east and then 10 meters west, returning to its starting point, its total distance is 20 meters, but its displacement is zero. If this journey took 10 seconds, the average speed would be 2 meters per second, while the average velocity would be zero.