Speed & acceleration
Edexcel GCSE Physics revision on Speed & acceleration. Aligned to the Pearson Edexcel GCSE Physics 1PH0 specification. This bank has 32 practice questions on this topic.
Sample questions (3 of 32)
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Question 1
Average speed is defined as...
- A) Distance / time
- B) Time / distance
- C) Distance x time
- D) Distance + time
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Answer: Distance / time
Distance is total length travelled (a scalar - just size). Speed is a scalar. Velocity is a vector (size + direction). A car going 30 mph north has the same speed as one going 30 mph south but different velocity. Average speed: total distance / total time. Instantaneous speed: at one moment (e.g. speedometer reading).
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Question 2
A car travels 120 km in 2 hours. Its average speed is...
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Answer: 60
Speed = distance / time. 120 / 2 = 60 km/h. Check units: km / hr = km/h. To convert km/h to m/s: divide by 3.6 (60 km/h = 16.67 m/s). Rule of thumb: multiply km/h by 0.28 to get m/s.
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Question 3
Acceleration is defined as...
- A) Change in velocity / time taken
- B) Distance / time
- C) Force / mass
- D) Final velocity / time
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Answer: Change in velocity / time taken
Acceleration: how fast velocity is CHANGING. Formula: a = (v-u)/t where u = initial velocity, v = final velocity. Units m/s^2. POSITIVE acceleration = speeding up (in the chosen direction). NEGATIVE acceleration = decelerating (slowing down) OR speeding up in the opposite direction. Average acceleration on a typical car: ~3 m/s^2.
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29 more questions on Speed & acceleration — plus mistakes tracking and spaced repetition across the whole Physics spec.