Question

Which of the follow sentences contains an example of instantaneous velocity?

• A. The car covered 500 kilometers in the first 10 hours of its northward journey.
• B. Five seconds into the launch, the rocket was shooting upward at 5000 meters per second.
• C. The cheetah can run at 70 miles per hour.
• D. Moving at five kilometers per hour, it will take us eight hours to get to the base camp.
• E. Roger Bannister was the first person to run one mile in less than four minutes.

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

Five seconds into the launch, the rocket was shooting upward at 5000 meters per second.

Instantaneous velocity has a magnitude and a direction, and deals with the velocity at a particular instant in time. All three of these requirements are met only in B . A is an example of average velocity, C is an example of instantaneous speed, and both D and E are examples of average speed.