Abstract

Do you like to watch the Olympics and see a new world record get set? Have you ever wondered how fast you'd need to go to achieve that world record? Well, in this sports science fair project, you'll find out how to compute speeds needed to achieve world records. Not only that, but you'll learn what speed is, and how to measure it in almost anything that moves! So head for the track, you're on a search for speed!

Objective

To learn how to measure speed and to compare the speeds of athletes in different sporting events.

Introduction

A world track record! It's always exciting to watch! You see the winning time flashed on your TV, but just how fast was that runner going, on average? What was his or her speed? In this science fair project, you'll learn how to find out the speed of not only world-class runners, but of other athletes and neighborhood bike and skateboard riders, too. In fact, once you understand what speed is, you'll be able to measure the speed of just about anything that moves, including a river. If you'd like a preview of how it's done, visit DragonflyTV (see Bibliography) and join Jenny, Simi, and Danny as they measure the speed of four classes of rapids enjoyed by kayakers.

Speed is one of the most common measurements that people take. It tells you how the position of something is changing with respect to time. When you hear, for example, that a car is going at a speed of 25 miles per hour, (mph) it means that if the car kept going at this same speed, in 1 hour (h) it would have gone 25 miles. Miles per hour is a common measure of speed in the United States and is known as the English system, but in other countries and in science and engineering, the metric system is often used instead. The units of speed in the metric system are meters per second, (m/s) or for cars, kilometers per hour (km/h).

The word per in all these units tell you that you are going to use division to calculate speed. You measure the distance something has traveled and divide it by the time it took to travel that distance. That gives you speed. You can then transform your speed calculation into whatever units you want to look at by using standard conversion tables.

Equation 1:

$$Speed = \frac{Distance}{Time}$$

• Speed is in meters/second (m/s) in the metric system.
• Distance is in meters (m) in the metric system.
• Time is in seconds (s) in the metric system.

Here's an example of how to calculate speed, using Equation 1. The world record in the men's 800-m track and field is event is 1 minute (min) and 41 seconds (sec). To get the runner's speed in miles per hour, follow these three steps:

1. Convert the winning time to seconds: 1 min and 41 sec is the same as 101 sec total.
2. Next, to calculate the speed, use Equation 1 and divide the total distance, 800 m, by 101 sec, and that gives you 7.92 m/s.
3. The final step (which is optional, but a way to put it in units that might be more familiar to you) is to convert meters per second into miles per hour. To do this, find the conversion tables for seconds to hours, and meters to miles. If you look this up, you see that there are 3600 sec in 1 h, and there are 1609.34 m in 1 mile. You can then convert from meters per second to miles per hour using Equation 2.

Equation 2:

(

7.92 meters 1 sec

)

×

(

3600 sec 1 hour

)

×

(

1 mile         1609.34 meters

)

=

(

17.7 miles 1 hour

)

= 17.7 miles per hour

Do you see how the meters and seconds units cancel out, leaving behind miles per hour? So, now you know, to run the 800-m track event in world record time, your speed must average 17.7 mph!

Now it's time to set up your own neighborhood races with bikes, skateboards, scooters, or your own two feet. How many miles per hour can you go at short distances? How about over longer distances? Can you get close to world record running speeds when you're riding your bike? Let the racing begin!

Terms and Concepts

• Speed
• Position
• Miles per hour (m/h)
• Meters per second (m/s)
• Kilometers per hour (km/h)
• Division
• Conversion tables
• Linear

Questions

• What is speed?
• What are the units of speed?
• How do you measure speed?
• How do you calculate speed?
• How do you convert speed from one set of units to another?

Materials and Equipment

• Lab notebook
• Stopwatch
• Helper
• Personal computer with internet access

You need a way to measure distance.

• An ideal place to measure distance is a school sports track, which is often marked out for you. Typically, one lap around on the inside lane is 400 m (or 440 yards, approximately one-quarter of a mile).
• If you are going to be testing speeds over short distances on a sidewalk or empty parking lot, you can use a measuring tape to mark out a certain number of feet.
• Your family's car has an odometer, which can be used to measure out a distance in a safe location for testing.
• Some roads have mileage markers that you can use to tell how far you have gone, but again, you must make sure the road is a safe and appropriate spot for testing.
• Some cities have Olympic-sized community pools for public use. One length of the pool is 50 m.

You need a way to measure time.

• A stopwatch is ideal if you are measuring sprints or shorter distance races.
• A regular digital watch, or watch with a second hand is an acceptable alternative for measuring speeds over longer distances.

Experimental Procedure

Variations

Careers

If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring these related careers:

Related Links

• Science Fair Project Guide
• Other Ideas Like This
• Sports Science Project Ideas
• My Favorites

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