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speed

(Encyclopedia)speed, change in distance with respect to time. Speed is a scalar rather than a vector quantity; i.e., the speed of a body tells one how fast the body is moving but not the direction of the motion. If...

Speed, John

(Encyclopedia)Speed, John, 1552?–1629, English historian and cartographer. He abandoned his trade as a tailor to engage in mapmaking. Many of his maps of parts of England and Wales were published in The Theatre o...

governor, device

(Encyclopedia)governor, automatic device used to regulate and control such variables as speed or pressure in the functioning of an engine or other machine. A governor may be an electric, hydraulic, or mechanical de...

speedometer

(Encyclopedia)speedometer, instrument that indicates speed. A cable from an automotive speedometer is attached to the rear of the transmission of an automobile; the cable turns at a rate proportional to the speed o...

tachometer

(Encyclopedia)tachometer tăkŏmˈətər [key], instrument that indicates the speed, usually in revolutions per minute, at which an engine shaft is rotating. Some tachometers, especially those used in automobiles, ...

sonic boom

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Sonic boom wave pattern from a supersonic aircraft and variation in pressure sonic boom, shock wave produced by an object moving through the air at supersonic speed, i.e., faster than the spee...

Campbell, Donald Malcolm

(Encyclopedia)Campbell, Donald Malcolm, 1921–67, British automobile and boat racer. The son of Sir Malcolm Campbell, from whom he inherited his passion for assaulting speed records and his mechanical inclinations...

Mach number

(Encyclopedia)Mach number mäk [key] [for E. Mach], ratio between the speed of an object and the speed of sound in the medium in which the object is traveling. An airplane that has the velocity of Mach 3.0 is trave...
 

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