Average velocity in two dimensions

In the plane the average velocity between two events is not a number but a vector: it has a direction, the one running from the starting point to the arrival point, and a magnitude.

Principle — Average velocity vector

$\vec{v}_{\text{media}} = \frac{\vec{S}_B - \vec{S}_A}{t_B - t_A}$

The definition is the natural generalisation of the one-dimensional case: in place of the position difference $s_B - s_A$ we have the difference of the position vectors $\vec{S}_B - \vec{S}_A$ (the displacement), divided by the time interval. Since subtraction between vectors is carried out component by component, the average velocity is also calculated separately along $x$ and along $y$.

A worked example of direct application is Il cane nel parco, where the two components of the average velocity are obtained independently.

Collegamenti

Argomenti: Vettori Concetti: Velocità media Metodi: Scomposizione in componenti cartesiane

Esercizi collegati: Il cane nel parco · Ranking velocità di quattro auto · Distanza dall’area del grafico v-t