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Speed is the magnitude of velocity (a vector), which indicates additionally the direction of motion. Speed has the dimensions of distance divided by time. The SI unit of speed is the metre per second (m/s), but the most common unit of speed in everyday usage is the kilometre per hour (km/h) or, in the US and the UK, miles per hour (mph).
The metre per second is the unit of both speed (a scalar quantity) and velocity (a vector quantity, which has direction and magnitude) in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the speed of a body covering a distance of one metre in a time of one second.
The kilometre, a unit of length, first appeared in English in 1810, [9] and the compound unit of speed "kilometers per hour" was in use in the US by 1866. [10] "Kilometres per hour" did not begin to be abbreviated in print until many years later, with several different abbreviations existing near-contemporaneously.
The scalar absolute value of velocity is called speed, being a coherent derived unit whose quantity is measured in the SI (metric system) as metres per second (m/s or m⋅s −1). For example, "5 metres per second" is a scalar, whereas "5 metres per second east" is a vector.
[1]: 137 For example, the metre, kilometre, centimetre, nanometre, etc. are all SI units of length, though only the metre is a coherent SI unit. The complete set of SI units consists of both the coherent set and the multiples and sub-multiples of coherent units formed by using the SI prefixes. [1]: 138
Power per unit cross sectional area W/m 2: M T −3: intensive Linear density: ρ l: Mass per unit length kg⋅m −1: L −1 M: Luminous flux (or luminous power) F: Perceived power of a light source lumen (lm = cd⋅sr) J: Mach number (or mach) M: Ratio of flow velocity to the local speed of sound unitless: 1: Magnetic flux: Φ
Speed; system unit code (alternative) symbol or abbrev. notes sample default conversion combinations SI: metre per second: m/s m/s US spelling: meter per second 1.0 m/s (3.3 ft/s)
The knot (/ n ɒ t /) is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour, exactly 1.852 km/h ... The length of the internationally agreed nautical mile is 1 852 m.