Question

what is the difference between speed and average speed?

Answer 1

Hi,

In physics, speed and average speed are defined as

Speed: It is the rate of change of distance w.r.t to time. It is also known as instantaneous speed

Average speed: It is defined as total distance covered by total time taken.

Instantaneous speed is the speed recorded by a moving body at any given moment i.e. at any given moment of time if you were to check the speed at that time; it’s called the instantaneous speed. Now average speed is the average of a number of instantaneous speeds taken, inclusive of initial and final speed and those very instantaneous speeds in between. Instantaneous speeds can be high or low or very high or very low or just at average whereas average speed is like a constant speed throughout a journey.

In simple words, when driving in your car instantaneous speed (or simply speed) at any time is what the speedometer reads. Average speed is the distance of the total trip divided by total time taken.