Speed Basics
Ever wondered how your sat nav calculates how long your journey will take? Speed is simply the distance you travel divided by the time it takes - it's a scalar quantity, which means it only has size, not direction.
The equation is dead simple: v = d/t, where v is speed (in ms⁻¹), d is distance (in metres), and t is time (in seconds). You can rearrange this to find distance: d = vt.
Think of it like this - if you walk 100 metres in 50 seconds, your speed is 2 ms⁻¹. Easy as that!
Quick Tip: Remember that speed is always positive - you can't have negative speed, even if you're moving backwards!
