What is Speed?
When movement occurs from one position to a different one, the thing is said to have traveled a certain distance before it stops. the space traveled divided by the time taken to travel the distance is known as the speed of the object.
Thus, a fast-moving object features a high speed and covers a relatively large distance in a short amount of time. On the opposite hand, a slow-moving object features a low speed and covers a shorter distance in the same amount of time as an object with a high speed.
The speed of an object depends on both the space and the time taken to cover the distance traveled. Therefore, if the thing travels a certain distance but returns to the starting point again, the entire distance traveled is taken, regardless of direction & used to calculate speed.
Since we’d like not to consider the direction of motion, speed may be a scalar quantity.
The magnitude of speed can never be a negative value because the thing covers some distance irrespective of direction. The speed might be zero only if the object was at rest.
Regardless of the change in the direction of motion, the speed remains constant.
What is Velocity?
The change within the position of the object that has occurred is known as displacement. The displacement per unit of your time taken for the displacement to occur is known as velocity.
To calculate velocity, the direction during which the object has been displaced is also taken into consideration. If the thing travels a certain distance but comes back to the starting point, the motion would never end in a change of position. Since velocity is defined because of the rate at which position changes, the speed in this case is zero.
Since we also consider the direction of motion of the thing, velocity is understood to be a vector quantity.
The magnitude of velocity is positive or negative depending on the direction of motion. If the thing changes its direction of motion the velocity of the object also changes.
Difference Between Speed and Velocity
Speed is the amount of distance an object covers at a given speed. Velocity is the rate at which an object changes position.
Speed may be a scalar quantity because the direction of motion is not considered. Velocity may be a vector quantity as the direction of motion is also considered.
The magnitude of speed can never be a negative value. The magnitude of velocity is positive, negative, or zero.
Speed doesn’t change whether or not direction changes. Velocity, on the opposite hand, continues to vary with a change in direction.
The speed of an object may or might not be equal to velocity. But an object can have different velocities at identical speeds.
Comparison Between Speed and Velocity
| Parameters of Comparison | Speed | Velocity |
| Definition | The total distance traveled by an object in a unit of time is known as the speed of the object. | The displacement of an object in a unit of time is known as the velocity of the object. |
| Type of quantity | Speed is a scalar quantity | Velocity is a vector quantity |
| Change of direction | No change in speed with a change in direction. | Velocity changes with a change in direction. |
| Magnitude | The magnitude of speed can never be negative or zero. | The magnitude of Velocity is positive, negative, or zero. |
| Interrelation | Speed may or may not be equal to velocity. | An object can possess different velocities but the same speed. |