The speed of a particle is the instantaneous rate at which its distance of travel is changing.
Over any finite period of time, its speed is:
(distance traveled) / (time to travel the distance).
The direction of travel is irrelevant to a description of speed.
SPEED = total DIST. traveled / total time taken
The speed of a particle measures how fast it moves, calculated as the distance traveled divided by the time taken. It is a scalar quantity, meaning it only has magnitude and no direction. For example, if a particle covers 100 meters in 5 seconds, its speed is 20 m/s.
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