Question

The only real difference between speed and velocity is velocity must have ___________.

1) direction
2) inertia
3) magnitude
4) temperature

Answer 1

Velocity is a vector quantity including both speed and direction, while speed is a scalar that only indicates how fast something moves.

Step-by-step explanation:

The key difference between speed and velocity lies in one essential attribute: velocity must have a direction associated with it. While both speed and velocity measure how fast something moves, velocity is a vector quantity, meaning it includes both the rate at which an object moves (its speed) and the direction of its motion. This makes velocity a more informative measure of motion because it conveys the path along which an object is moving. For example, 20 kilometers per hour due south is a velocity, as it specifies a direction, whereas 20 kilometers per hour on its own is merely speed, lacking that directional component.