velocity

[jessiegirl]

if a student drove 500 miles to college in 1hr and 40 min. what would the average velocity be?

[Rollo]

300 miles per hour.

{Seems very fast. Don't they have speed limits there?}

[zig.zag]

didn't know they actualy arrived to be honest

they spend too much time in the student's bar

[New Judge]

How old are you jessiegirl?

I could work out the answer to such a question when I was about eight years old. (Five hundred miles in five thirds of an hour, therefore one hundred miles in one third of an hour, hence three hundred miles in three thirds of an hour).

Was it really worth posting the question? And under "Science"?

[beso]

Wait up there over zealous judge. There is insufficient information to determine velocity. Only speed can be calculated.

Velocity is a vector quantity and as such must include both rate and direction. Moreover unless the road is straight the average velocity will be less than the speed along the path taken.

Eat thy words, judge.

[north star]

perhaps the 'kicker' to the question is that it asks for the average velocity rather than the average speed. As velocity is a vector you need to give the bearing of the college in relation to the start point.

[north star]

snap, beso.

[beso]

north *
:-)