Speed

1. Speed Average speed = distance/ time

2. Cheetah • Fastest Land Animal in the world. • One was measured at 63 mi/hr. • It is probable that speeds up to 70 mi/hr are possible. • Cannot run at this speed for more than 1/4 mile.

3. Pronghorn Antelope • Fastest animal in North America (top speed of 55 mi/hr). • Can run at speeds of 42 mph for up to 2 miles. • Has the largest heart for its size of any North American mammal.

4. Fastest Marine mammal • The Killer Whale has been measured at speeds up to 34 mi/hr. • Several species of dolphins and porpoises are also thought to be as fast or faster.

5. Killer Whale Males - 20 – 30 feet long, 12,000 lbs. Record male 32 feet long, 17, 636 lbs.

6. Right Whale Dolphin • The Right Whale dolphin lacks a dorsal fin. • It is a pelagic species (open ocean) so little is known of its behavior. • It can reach speeds close to 40 mph.

7. Fastest Fish • The Sailfish is the fastest fish at a measured speed of 68 mph! • Swordfish, marlin and Yellowfin Tuna are other very fast fish.

8. Fastest Bird • The Peregrine falcon can dive at a speed approaching 200 mph. • They need this diving speed to catch up with the birds that they prey upon.

9. Ducks • This is a Shoveler. • Like many ducks they have been clocked at 60 mph. • They can maintain such speeds for miles.

10. Wright Flyer • Maximum speed in the Military model was 45 miles/hour!! • This is a picture of Orville Wright demonstrating the Wright flyer for the US Army at Fort Myer, Virginia in 1908.

11. Cessna 172 • Very common civilian aircraft. • Cruises at about 100 mph. • Maximum allowable speed 150 mph.

12. Lockheed P-38 Lightning • 1939 design was the first US aircraft to break 400 miles/hr in level flight. • 10,000 were built during WW II. • 6 flyable examples exist today.

13. P-47 Thunderbolt • Fastest WW II US fighter. • Achieved a speed of 505 miles/hr at 25,000 ft in 1945 • Was powered by a 2,500 hp engine. • 12,000 built during WW II. • About 9 still flying today

14. Fastest Propeller Aircraft • Rare Bear, a modified WWII fighter aircraft was measured at a speed of 529 mi/hr in level flight. • Rare Bear won last years Reno Air Race at an average speed of 488 mph. • It has a modified 4,000 hp engine.

15. Rare Bear low pass

16. Passenger Jets • This Boeing 727 can carry 200 people at high altitudes. • They cruise at around 530 mph. • Because they fly so high, they are above most of the wind and weather to be found closer to the earth’s surface.

17. Airbus 380 • Largest air liner in the world • Can hold from 525 to 852 people. • Cruises at 560 mph.

18. Lockheed F - 16 • The F - 16 is one of the main fighter aircraft of the United States and several other countries of the world. • It has a top speed of nearly 1,800 mph • It uses its radar to find and attack other aircraft before they can be seen visually!

19. Sonic Boom

20. Fastest Jet Aircraft • USAF SR-71 recon aircraft was measured at 2,194 mi/hr • This jet usually flew above 55,000 ft. • It was retired from active duty in 1995.

21. Fastest Rocket Aircraft • The X-15 was the fastest rocket aircraft • It attained a speed of 4,520 mph (1967) at an altitude of 354,000 ft.

24. Space Shuttle • The Space Shuttle reaches speeds of 17,000 mph as it enters low earth orbit. • It does not have sufficient speed to escape the earth’s gravity and rocket to the moon.

30. shuttle launch

31. Apollo Moon Rockets • For a long time this was the fastest man-made vehicle. • These rockets attained speeds of 25,000 mph • This speed was necessary for the spacecraft to escape the earth’s gravity.

36. Apollo 11 Launch

37. Atlas V Rocket • The Atlas V Rocket is the fastest Rocket in the US inventory. • It can travel at 8 mi/sec • This is the same as 28,800 miles/hour. • This is the rocket that will be used to launch the space probe to Pluto.

38. Ulysses Spacecraft • The Shuttle Discovery launched the Ulysses spacecraft on October 6, 1990. • It reached Jupiter on Feb. 8, 1992 • Ulysses was sent toward the sun to use its gravitational field to increase its speed. • This “slingshot” effect increased Ulysses’ speed to about 100,000 mph. • Ulysses is still operational and sending back data today!

39. New Horizons • New Horizons is a mission designed to fly by Pluto and its moon Charon and transmit images and data back to Earth. • It was launched in January, 2006. • It was boosted into space by an Atlas V rocket. • The rocket had extra strap-on solid-fuel boosters. • The spacecraft will slingshot around the sun. • This slingshot around the Sun will increase the spacecraft’s speed to 130,000 mph. • It will still take it 9 years to reach Pluto!

40. Planet Mercury • The closer a planet is to the Sun the faster it goes. • Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. (36,000,000 miles) • It takes the planet 88 days to orbit the Sun. • Its speed is 53,522.7 mph.

41. Andromeda Galaxy • Largest Galaxy of the Local Group. • The Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy are approaching each other at a speed of 300,000 miles/hr.

43. Light • Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles/sec • That is 300,000 km/sec! • That would be 7.5 times around the earth in 1 sec.

44. Starship Enterprise • This craft could do warp 12! • That is 12 times the speed of light!