Question 3
An object moving with a speed that is not uniform covers a total distance of 18 m in 6 s. What is its average speed over that time?
The right answer is the one marked above.
3 m s-1. The average speed is found by dividing the total distance travelled by the total time taken:
average speed = 18 m ÷ 6 s = 3 m s-1
This does not mean the object travelled at 3 m s-1 throughout. It may have been faster in some seconds and slower in others; the average speed simply represents the whole journey with a single value.