Question

Does the speedometer of a car read average speed or instantaneous speed? How do you know?

Answer 1

Hint: In this question we have to measure whether the speedometer of a car reads average speed or instantaneous speed. For this we are going to understand how a speedometer works and how we can find the speed of a car using this information.

Complete solution:
The speedometer is a device in a car that shows the speed of the car. Another device also that is attached to a speedometer is an odometer. Odometer reads the distance travelled by that car. As we know that the speedometer shows the speed of each and every moment. It does not stay at one reading it keeps going with time. The speed of that car can be found out by using the number of rotations of the wheel of the car.
It shows that the speedometer shows the speed of every instant; it means that speedometer shows instantaneous speed of the car. The average speed and instantaneous speed can never be the same. Average speed is the speed by which the car has travelled the whole distance.
Result- Hence, from the above explanation we can see that the speedometer reads instantaneous speed.

Note: In this question we just had to find the kind of measurement a speedometer does. It is very direct and simple that the speedometer reads instantaneous speed. There are other devices also which we use to measure different parameters. For example we use an anemometer to find the speed of wind. Odometer to find the distance covered. We use Barometer to find the pressure. So there are many devices to measure various parameters.