Question

An airplane flying directly eastward at a constant speed travels 324 km in 2.0 h.(a) What is the average velocity of the plane? km/h(b) What is its instantaneous velocity? km/h

Answer 1

a)

The average velocity of an object is given by:

`\begin{gathered} v=(\Delta x)/(t) \\ \text{ where }\Delta x\text{ is the displacement and }t\text{ is the time } \end{gathered}`

In this case we know the displacement is 324 km and the time is 2 h, then we have:

`\begin{gathered} v=(324)/(2) \\ v=162 \end{gathered}`

Therefore, the average velocity of the plane is 162 km/h

b)

We know that the plane is flying at constant speed, this means that its average velocity and instantaneous velocity are equal, therefore, the instantaneous velocity is 162 km/h.