What's the Difference Between Speed and Velocity?  Speed and
velocity are sometimes used differently in real life than they
are in science. Everyday Einstein discusses the differences and
similarities between speed and velocity.  Lee Falin, PhD,
February 15, 2014 Episode #088  Page 2 of 2  I’m Not
Victor...I’m Vector!  If you look at how steep the line on your
distance-time graph is (technically called the slope), you can
figure out your velocity.  In science, velocity is the rate at
which something’s position changes. In our walking example, the
fact that you had a speed of 50mph tells us how fast you were
going, but it doesn’t tell us anything about your position. Were
you walking in a straight line, zig-zagging down the street, or
going in circles? All of those scenarios have the same speed,
but different velocities.  While speed is measured by distance
traveled in a given amount of time, velocity is
the displacement of something in a given amount of time.
Velocity is what scientists call a vector quantity