How to Calculate the Average Speed of a Moving Object

Question:

A car accelerates uniformly from rest and completes a 322 m race in a time of 7.26 s. What is the average speed of the car?

Final answer:

The average speed of the car during the race is approximately 44.35 m/s. This is calculated using the formula for average speed which is the total distance traveled divided by the total time elapsed.

In order to calculate the average speed of a moving object, you need to divide the total distance traveled by the total time taken to cover that distance. This gives you the overall speed of the object throughout the entire journey.

For example, in the case of the car that accelerated uniformly from rest and completed a 322 m race in 7.26 s, the average speed can be calculated as follows:

Formula: Average Speed = Total Distance / Total Time

Given data:

Total Distance = 322 m

Total Time = 7.26 s

By substituting these values into the formula, we get:

Calculation:

Average Speed = 322 m / 7.26 s ≈ 44.35 m/s

Therefore, the average speed of the car during the race is approximately 44.35 m/s. This indicates how fast the car covered the entire 322 m distance in the given time of 7.26 seconds.

It is important to remember that average speed provides an overall picture of how fast an object is moving without considering the variations in speed that may have occurred during the journey.