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Q.Explain the terms the average velocity and instantaneous velocity. When they are equal?

Andhra Pradesh BieapBIEAP Intermediate Board (1st Year) 2019Subjective· 4mImportance★★★★★
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Average velocity is displacement divided by the total time taken; instantaneous velocity is the velocity at one specific instant. The two coincide only when the body's velocity does not change with time (uniform motion).

Average velocity

If a body undergoes displacement Δx\Delta x in a time interval Δt\Delta t (from t1t_1 to t2t_2), its average velocity over that interval is defined as:

vˉ=ΔxΔt=x2−x1t2−t1\bar{v} = \frac{\Delta x}{\Delta t} = \frac{x_2 - x_1}{t_2 - t_1}

It tells you the overall rate of displacement over a finite, possibly long, interval — it does not describe how the velocity varied moment-to-moment within that interval.

Instantaneous velocity

Instantaneous velocity is the velocity of a body at one particular instant of time. It is defined as the limiting value of the average velocity as the time interval Δt\Delta t shrinks to zero:

v=lim⁡Δt→0ΔxΔt=dxdtv = \lim_{\Delta t \to 0} \frac{\Delta x}{\Delta t} = \frac{dx}{dt}

i.e., it is the derivative of position with respect to time, evaluated at that instant. On a position–time graph, it equals the slope of the tangent to the curve at that point.

When are they equal? …

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