Foot per Second to Earth's Velocity

Foot per second measures the number of feet traveled in one second. Commonly used in engineering, ballistics, and some sports in the United States.

1 ft/s = 0.3048 m/s exactly (by definition of the international foot). 1 ft/s = 0.6818 mph.

To m/s: × 0.3048. To km/h: × 1.097. To mph: × 0.682. To knots: × 0.592.

Bullet velocities (handgun: 800–1,200 ft/s; rifle: 2,500–4,000 ft/s), waterfall flow rates, industrial conveyor speeds, and skydiving terminal velocity (120 ft/s).

Speed of sound: 1,125 ft/s at sea level. Free fall: 32 ft/s² acceleration. Skydiver terminal velocity: 120 ft/s. Baseball pitch: 132 ft/s (90 mph).

Confusing ft/s with mph — 1 ft/s is only 0.68 mph, not 1 mph. Also, mixing up ft/s and ft/min in HVAC calculations.

1 ft/s ≈ 0.3 m/s or ≈ 1.1 km/h. Quick check: 100 ft/s ≈ 70 mph. Multiply ft/s by 0.68 for approximate mph.

Earth's orbital velocity around the Sun is approximately 29,765 m/s (29.8 km/s), the speed at which our planet travels through space.

v = 2πr/T where r is Earth's orbital radius (~150 million km) and T is one year. Result: ~29.8 km/s.

To km/h: × 3,600. To mph: × 66,600. 29.8 km/s = 107,280 km/h = 66,660 mph.

Interplanetary mission Δv calculations, understanding Earth's motion, and cosmic velocity references.

We're all traveling at ~30 km/s around the Sun right now. In one second, Earth moves 30 km — about 19 miles!

Forgetting about Earth's motion when calculating interplanetary trajectories — it provides free velocity!

~30 km/s around the Sun. We travel 940 million km per year at this speed. Missions to other planets add/subtract from this.