Metre per second (U.S. spelling: meter per second) is an SI derived unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector quantity which specifies both magnitude and a specific direction), defined by distance in metres divided by time in seconds.
This is the main unit of speed.
The official SI symbolic abbreviation is m·s−1, or equivalently, m/s; although the abbreviation mps is sometimes used colloquially, but is incorrect according to the BIPM. Where metres per second are several orders of magnitude too slow to be convenient, such as in astronomical measurements, velocities may be given in terms of kilometres per second, where 1 km/s is equivalent to 103 metres per second.
One metre per second is roughly the speed of an average person walking.
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Conversions
1 m/s is equivalent to:
- = 3.6 km·h−1 (exactly)
- ≈ 3.2808 feet per second (approximately)
- ≈ 2.2369 miles per hour (approximately)
1 foot per second = 0.3048 m·s−1 (exactly)
1 mile per hour ≈ 0.4471 m·s−1 (approximately)
1 km·h-1 ≈ 0.2778 m·s−1 (approximately)
1 kilometre per second is equivalent to:
- ≈ 0.6213 miles per second (approximately)
- ≈ 2237 miles per hour (approximate)
Relation to other measures
Although m·s−1 is an SI derived unit, it could be viewed as more fundamental than the metre, since the latter is derived from the speed of light in a vacuum, which is defined as exactly 299 792 458 m·s−1 by the BIPM[1]. It follows that one metre is the length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of one second.
See also
References
External links
Categories: Units of velocity
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Q. To clarify: a standard size ball (e.g. tennis ball) dropped by a person on earth will apparently travel at approx. '9.8 metres per second, per second'. What does the second 'per second' mean? Is that just another way of saying that every passing second a further 9.8 metres has been travelled? If so, that's just a tautology and makes the meaning of the term unclear. Help please - I'm confused!
Asked by barry l - Mon Jan 1 08:14:22 2007 - - 10 Answers - 1 Comments
A. Say the ball or whatever starts with some initial velocity. As it falls, its speed will increase by 9.8 meters per second, every second. I other words, the ball gets faster as it falls and this is how many meters per second it adds every second.
Answered by Tony O - Mon Jan 1 08:20:55 2007
