Galileo’s speedometer: an approach to the concept of instantaneous velocity

Abstract

Difficulties presented by students on the concept of instantaneous velocity are well known. This is in part due to instantaneous speed being often defined in terms of the notion of mathematical limit, which may not be clear to many students in introductory physics courses. In this work we present a complementary teaching proposal that can help students to get a better grasp of instantaneous velocity. The approach is based on Galileo’s ideas on instantaneous speed, which he borrowed from the Mertonian scholars much before infinitesimal calculus was developed.