Q10CQ - College Physics (Urone)

Question

Does a car’s odometer measure position or displacement? Does its speedometer measure speed or velocity?

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

An odometer is used to measure the position of the vehicle. A speedometer is used to measure the speed of the vehicle.

Step 1: Odometer

An odometer, sometimes known as an odograph, is a device that measures the distance traveled by a vehicle, such as a motorcycle or an automobile.

An automobile's odometer keeps track of how far the vehicle has traveled. The distance traveled by automobile is used for a variety of purposes.

Step 2: Speedometer

A speedometer, often known as a speed meter, is a device that monitors and shows a vehicle's current (instantaneous) speed.

The odometer shows how far a car has driven, while the speedometer, as the name implies, shows how fast a car is driving. The odometer, which tells you how many kilometers a car has driven, is located at the base of the steering wheel on the dashboard, and the speedometer, which has a needle heading towards numerical values such as $\mathbf{10},\mathbf{20},\mathbf{30},\mathbf{40},\mathbf{50},\mathbf{60}\mathrm{...},$ is located to the side of the steering wheel on the dashboard.

So, now we can conclude that an odometer is a device used to measure the distance traveled by the vehicle, and a speedometer is used to measure the instantaneous speed.