What Is Meters per Second (m/s)?
Meters per second, written as m/s, is a way to measure speed. It tells you how many meters something travels in one second of time. For example, if a toy car moves 5 meters in 1 second, its speed is 5 m/s.
Definition
Meters per second is the speed or velocity of an object that moves a certain number of meters in each second.
- Meter is the basic unit of length in the metric system.
- Second is the basic unit of time.
So, 1 m/s means an object moves 1 meter every second, always in the same direction if we talk about velocity.
History / Origin
The unit meters per second comes from the metric system, which was created in France in the late 1700s. Later, scientists around the world agreed to use a shared system of units called SI, the International System of Units.
In SI, the base unit of length is the meter and the base unit of time is the second. When people needed a clear way to talk about speed and velocity in science, they combined these two basic units to form meters per second, m/s.
Symbol & Abbreviation
The standard way to write meters per second is:
- Symbol m/s
- Spoken as meters per second
Other ways you might sometimes see it, especially in formulas, are:
- m s-1 which means meters times one over seconds
All of these mean the same thing, speed in meters for each second of time.
Current Use Around the World
Meters per second is used worldwide, especially in science and engineering. It is the official SI unit for both speed and velocity.
You will often see m/s in:
- Physics for motion problems and graphs of distance and time
- Engineering for machines, robots, and vehicles
- Weather reports for wind speed in many countries
- Sports science to study how fast athletes move
- Space and astronomy to describe the speed of rockets or planets in some scientific work
For everyday driving, many countries still prefer kilometers per hour or miles per hour. But inside scientific papers, school physics, and technical work, m/s is the main unit.
Example Conversions
Here are some useful ways to change meters per second into other common speed units.
Between m/s and kilometers per hour km/h
- 1 m/s is equal to 3.6 km/h
- To change m/s to km/h, multiply by 3.6
- To change km/h to m/s, divide by 3.6
Examples
- 5 m/s × 3.6 = 18 km/h
- 10 m/s × 3.6 = 36 km/h
- 72 km/h ÷ 3.6 = 20 m/s
Between m/s and miles per hour mph
- 1 m/s is about 2.237 mph
- To change m/s to mph, multiply by 2.237
- To change mph to m/s, divide by 2.237
Examples
- 10 m/s × 2.237 ≈ 22.37 mph
- 20 m/s × 2.237 ≈ 44.74 mph
- 60 mph ÷ 2.237 ≈ 26.8 m/s
Between m/s and feet per second ft/s
- 1 m/s is about 3.281 ft/s
- To change m/s to ft/s, multiply by 3.281
- To change ft/s to m/s, divide by 3.281
Between m/s and knots sea speed
- 1 m/s is about 1.944 knots
- To change m/s to knots, multiply by 1.944
- To change knots to m/s, divide by 1.944
Related Units
These speed units are closely related to meters per second.
- Kilometers per hour km/h common for road speed in most countries that use the metric system
- Miles per hour mph common in the United States and a few other places for road and air speed
- Feet per second ft/s sometimes used in engineering and sports in countries that use the imperial system
- Knot kn used for ship and airplane speeds, 1 knot is one nautical mile per hour
- Centimeters per second cm/s useful for small speeds in labs or school experiments
Meters per second connects to all these units through simple conversion factors, which makes it easy to compare speeds in different systems.
FAQs
Q What does 1 m/s mean in simple words
A It means something moves 1 meter every second. If you keep walking 1 meter each second without stopping or slowing, your speed is 1 m/s.
Q Why do scientists use m/s instead of km/h
A Scientists prefer m/s because it is made from basic SI units, meter and second. This makes formulas for motion, energy, and force simpler and more consistent.
Q Is m/s speed or velocity
A It can be used for both. When you only care about how fast something moves, it is speed. When you also care about direction, it is velocity. In both cases, the unit is m/s.
Q How do I quickly change m/s to km/h in my head
A Multiply by 3.6. For a quick estimate, you can think 4 instead of 3.6. So 10 m/s is a bit less than 40 km/h, exactly 36 km/h.
Q Is 10 m/s fast
A 10 m/s is 36 km/h or about 22 mph. That is fast for running, about the speed of a fast bicycle on a flat road, but slow for a car on a highway.
Q Where might I see m/s in school
A You will see m/s in physics class when you learn about motion, graphs of distance and time, forces, energy, and many types of experiments that involve objects moving.