summary of terms physics exam
Order by
59 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Fact | a phenomenon about which competent observers who have made a series of observations are in agreement with |
| Hypothesis | An educated guess |
| Law | a general hypothesis or statement about the relationship of natural quiantities that has been tested over and over and has not been contridicted |
| Law | Also known as principal |
| psuedoscience | Fake science that pretends to be real science |
| Scientific method | principals and procedures for the systematic pursuit of knowledge |
| Theory | a synthesis of a large body of information that encompasses well-tested and verified hypothesis. |
| Newtons first law of motion | Every object continues in its state of rest, or in uniform motion in a straight line, unless compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it. |
| Inertia | the property of things to resist change |
| Force | a push or a pull |
| Net force | The vector sum of forces that act on an object |
| Mechanical equilibrium | The state of an object or a system to of pbjects where there is no change in motion. |
| Equilibrium rule | For anything in equilibrium the sum of the forces is zero |
| Speed | how fast something moves |
| velocity | The speed and direction of an object |
| Vector quantity | has both magnitude and acceleration |
| Acceleration | The rate at which velocity changes |
| Free Fall | motion under the influence of only gravity. |
| Friction | The resistance force that opposes motion |
| mass | The amount of matter in an object |
| weight | the force due to gravity |
| Kilogram | unit of mass |
| Newton | a unit of force |
| Volume | the quantity of space an object takes up |
| Newtons second law | The acceleration of an object is directly porportional to the net force acting on the object |
| Force | any influence that can cause an object to accelerate |
| Terminal speed | when air resistance is equal to weight in a falling object |
| Terminal velocity | when direction is specified and air resistance is equal to weight in a falling object |
| Newtons third law | Whenever one object exerts a force on the other object, the second object exerts an equal and opposite force |
| Vector quantity | both magnitude and direction |
| Scalar quantity | just magnitude and no direction |
| Vector | an arrow drawn to represent a vector quantity |
| Resultant | The net result of two or more combined vectors. |
| momentum | The product of the mass of an object and its velocity |
| Impulse | The product of force acting on an object and the time during which it acts. |
| Law of conservation of momentum | momentum before=momentum after |
| Elastic collision | when there is no heat and the objects do not stick together |
| Inelastic collision | when there is heat and the two objects stick together |
| Work | w=fd |
| power | p=work/time |
| Energy | the property of a system that enables it to do work |
| Mechanical energy | Energy due to the position of something |
| potential energy | the energy that something poses because of its position |
| Kinetic energy | energy of motion |
| conservation of energy | energy cannot be created nor destroyed but simply transformed into something else |
| machine | a device that increases or decreases force |
| conservation of energy for machines | The work output cannot exceed the work input |
| lever | simple machine that allows pivot |
| efficiency | the percentage of work put into a machine that is converted into a useful output. |
| Tangential speed | circular motion |
| rotational speed | number of rotations per unit of time |
| rotational inertia | its resistance to change of its state of rotation |
| torque | t=lever arm x force |
| center of mass | average position of mass |
| equilibrium | the state of an object when it is not acted upon by a net force or net torque |
| centripetal force | force that causes an object to move in a circle |
| centrifugal force | imaginary force ex. you when a car turns around a corner |
| angular momentum | the product of a bodys rotational inertia and rotational velocity about a particular axis. |
| conservation of angular momentum | when no external torque acts on an object, no change in angular momentum can occur. |
First Time Here?
Welcome to Quizlet, a fun, free place to study. Try these flashcards, find others to study, or make your own.