A car travels 600 m in 30 s. What is its average speed? Why is its actual speed usually different from its average speed?

1 Answer
May 8, 2018

#20 \ "m/s"#

Explanation:

Well, the average speed is given through the equation,

#barv=d/t#

  • #barv# is the average speed

  • #d# is the total distance traveled

  • #t# is the total time taken

So, here:

#barv=(600 \ "m")/(30 \ "s")#

#=20 \ "m/s"#

Its actual speed might be different from its average speed because a car's speed is not always constant. There'll be traffic lights, and so you'll have to stop sometimes, which takes time, but your speed will be zero meters per second. Therefore, there'll be some points where you are stationary and decreasing your total average speed.