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Welcome to our Physics lesson on Velocity in Two Dimensions, this is the second lesson of our suite of physics lessons covering the topic of Speed and Velocity in 2 and 3 Dimensions, you can find links to the other lessons within this tutorial and access additional physics learning resources below this lesson.
The procedure for finding the (average) velocity in two dimensions is much shorter than the one used for calculating the average speed. We need only the coordinates of the initial and final position; none of the in-between coordinates are needed.
1. First we find the x and y-coordinates of the starting and ending point (xi, yi, xf, and yf)
2. Then we find the displacement for each direction by using the equations
and
3. Afterwards we find the magnitude of the total displacement ∆r⃗ by using the equation
4. Finally, we calculate the magnitude of the average velocity using the equation
where t is the time taken for the entire motion.
We can illustrate this point by considering again the numerical example in the previous paragraph.
1. We have xA = 4m, xE = 6m, yA = 3m and yE = 11m.
2. Hence,
and
3. The total displacement therefore is
4. Hence, the total average velocity is
With Instantaneous Velocity, the procedure is the same as in the case of instantaneous speed. The only difference is the sign of result, which unlike in the instantaneous speed, here can be positive or negative depending on the sign of the displacement.
You have reach the end of Physics lesson 3.6.2 Velocity in Two Dimensions. There are 3 lessons in this physics tutorial covering Speed and Velocity in 2 and 3 Dimensions, you can access all the lessons from this tutorial below.
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