Physics Honors: Semester Exam Vocabulary
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Created by:
vanillaflourish on May 22, 2011
Description:
This will cover Chapters 11-22 for our school's final exam. Bear in mind that I can't find all the lists, and so some of this vocab will be from the textbook. If anyone wants to pitch in, I would be eternally grateful. :D The password is our school's initials (no caps).
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260 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Amplitude | the maximum displacement from the equilibrium |
| Antinode | a point in a standing wave, halfway between two nodes, at which the largest displacement occurs |
| Complete destructive interference | When two waves interfere and the displacements are added, the resultant wave has a displacement of zero. |
| Compression | The positions in the conducting medium at which the molecules of the medium are bunched together; particles are moved closer together; pressure is above normal. |
| Constructive Interference | A superposition of two or more waves in which individual displacements on the same side of the equilibrium potion are added together to form the resultant wave. |
| Crest | The highest point above the equilibrium position |
| Damping | Friction retards the motion of a vibrating object and brings it to rest. |
| Density or pressure wave | The wave creates regions in the medium where the medium is compressed, high pressure (crests) and regions where the medium is expanded and low pressure regions (troughs). |
| Destructive interference | A superposition of two or more waves in which individual displacements on opposite sides of the equilibrium position are added together to form the resultant wave |
| Frequency (f) | the number of cycles or vibrations per unit of time |
| Hooke's Law | the spring force equals the negative product of the spring constant and the displacement |
| Interference | Waves meet and overlap. |
| Longitudinal wave | A wave whose particles vibrate parallel to the direction the wave is traveling. |
| Mechanical wave | a wave that requires a medium through which to travel |
| Medium | A physical environment through which a disturbance (i. e., a wave) can travel |
| Node | a point in a standing wave that maintains zero displacement |
| Period | the time that it takes for a complete cycle to occur |
| Periodic motion | a repeated motion |
| Periodic wave | a wave that consists of a series of similar pulses being repeated |
| Pulse wave | a wave that consists of a single traveling pulse |
| Rarefaction | The positions in the conducting medium at which the molecules of the medium are spread apart; particles are spread farther apart; pressure is below normal |
| Reflection | The change in direction of a wave at a surface causes it to move away from the surface. |
| Restoring force | pushes or pulls a vibrating object toward its original equilibrium position |
| Simple harmonic motion | vibration about an equilibrium position in which a restoring force is proportional to the displacement from equilibrium |
| Sine wave | a wave whose source vibrates with simple harmonic motion |
| Speed of a wave | equals the frequency times the wavelength |
| Spring constant | a measure of the stiffness of a spring |
| Standing wave | a wave pattern that results when two waves of the same frequency, wavelength, and amplitude travel in opposite directions and interfere |
| Superposition | the combination of two overlapping waves |
| Superposition principle | When two or more waves travel through a medium at the same time, the resultant wave is the sum of the displacements of the individual waves at each point. |
| Transverse wave | a wave whose particles vibrate perpendicularly to the direction the wave is traveling |
| Trough | The lowest point below the equilibrium position |
| Waveform | a picture of a wave that represents either the displacements of each point of the wave at a single moment in time or the displacements of a single particle as time passes |
| Wavelength | the distance between two adjacent similar points on wave, such as from crest to crest or trough to trough |
| Sound wave | back and forth vibration of particles with simple harmonic motion |
| Compression (sound wave) | region of a longitudinal wave in which the density and pressure are at a maximum |
| Rarefaction (sound wave) | region of a longitudinal wave in which the density and pressure are at a minimum |
| Audible | sound waves that the average human ear can hear; frequencies between 20 and 20,000 Hz |
| Infrasonic | sound waves with frequencies less than 20 Hz |
| Ultrasonic | sound waves with frequencies above 20, 000 Hz |
| Pitch | Measure of how low or high a sound is perceived to be, depending on the frequency of the sound wave |
| Number of dimensions in which sound waves propogate | 3 dimensions |
| Wave fronts | In a diagram, the lines representing the compression of a wave radiating out from a point |
| Rays | in a diagram, the lines representing the direction of wave motion |
| Plane waves | At distances from the source that are great relative to the wavelength, spherical wave fronts are approximated with parallel planes |
| Doppler effect | observed change in frequency when there is relative motion between the source of the wave and an observer |
| Intensity | rate at which energy flows through a unit area perpendicular to the direction of wave motion |
| Threshold of hearing | softest sounds that can be heard by the average human ear; frequency = 1000 HZ and intensity of 1.0 × 10⁻¹² W/m² |
| Threshold of pain | Loudest sounds that can be heard by the average human ear; intensity of 1.0 W/m² |
| Relative intensity | Ratio of the intensity of a given sound wave to the intensity at the threshold of hearing |
| Decibel (dB) | dimensionless unit that describes the ratio of two intensities of sound; the threshold of hearing is commonly used as a reference intensity |
| Decibel level | Measure of loudness |
| Forced vibration | vibrations in one object are transferred to other objects |
| sympathetic vibrations | vibrating strings of a guitar force the bridge and body of a guitar to vibrate |
| Natural frequency | certain frequency an object would normally have when it vibrates |
| Resonance | Phenomenon that occurs when the frequency of a force applied to the system matches the natural frequency of vibration of the system, resulting in a large amplitude of vibration |
| Eardrum | thin, flat piece of tissue at the end of the human ear canal |
| Hammer, Anvil, and Stirrup | three small bones of the human middle ear |
| cochlea | Snail-shaped tube about 2 cm long in the human inner ear |
| Basilar membrane | runs through the coiled cochlea, dividing it roughly in half |
| fundamental frequency | lowest frequency of vibration of a standing wave |
| Harmonic series | series of frequencies that includes the fundamental frequency and integral multiples of the fundamental frequency |
| Spectrum of sound | In music, the mixture of harmonics that produces the characteristic sound of an instrument |
| Timbre | musical quality of a tone resulting from the combination of harmonics present at different intensities |
| Beat | periodic variation of a wave's amplitude that is the superposition of two waves of slightly different frequencies |
| Visible spectrum | six elementary colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet |
| Electromagnetic wave | a wave that consists of oscillating electric and magnetic fields, which radiate outward from the source at the speed of light; in order of increasing frequency: radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X rays, and gamma rays |
| Wave fronts (light) | Lines of particles in any type of wave that is perpendicular to the wave's motion |
| Wavelet | Circular or spherical wave produced by point sources on the wave front |
| Huygen's Principle | a wave front can be divided into point sources: the line tangent to the wavelets from these sources marks the wave front's new position |
| Ray | a straight line perpendicular to the wave front representing the propagating wave |
| Luminous flux | the rate at which light is emitted from a source |
| Lumens (lm) | unit of measurement for luminous flux |
| Illuminance | the luminous flux divided by the area of the surface |
| Lux | unit of measurement of illuminance (lm/m²) |
| Reflection | Change in direction of an electromagnetic wave at a surface that causes it to move away from the surface |
| diffuse reflection | light reflected in many different direction; light reflected from a rough, textured surface |
| Specular reflection | light reflected in one direction only; light reflected from smooth, shiny surfaces |
| Angle of incidence | The angle between a ray that strikes a surface and the line perpendicular to that surface at the point of contact |
| Angle of reflection | the angle formed by the line perpendicular to a surface and the direction in which a reflected ray moves |
| Normal | the line perpendicular to the reflecting surface |
| Flat mirror | a mirror whose reflecting surface is a plane |
| Object distance (p) | distance of the object from the mirror |
| Image distance (q) | Distance of the image from the mirror |
| Virtual image | an image that forms at a point from which light rays appear to come but do not actually come |
| Ray diagrams | Drawings that use simple geometry to locate an image formed by a mirror |
| Real image | An image formed when rays of light actually pass through a point on the image |
| Concave spherical mirror | a mirror whose reflecting surface is a segment of the inside of a mirror |
| Radius of curvature | equals the radius of the spherical shell of which the mirror is a small part |
| Center of curvature (C) | the center of the spherical shell of which the mirror is a small part |
| Spherical aberration | occurs when parallel rays far from the principal axis converge away from the mirror's focal point |
| Parabolic mirrors | In this type of mirror, parallel rays converge at the mirror's focal point |
| Paraxial rays | Light rays that are very near the principal axis of the mirror |
| Mirror equation | 1/p (object distance) + 1/q (image distance) = 2/R (radius of curvature; 1/p + 1/q = 1/f (focal length) |
| Focal point (F) | the point where light rays parallel to the principal meet after reflecting from the mirror |
| Focal length (f) | the distance from the mirror to the focal point |
| Magnification | the ratio of the height of the image to the object's height; the negative ratio of the image distance to the object distance |
| Convex spherical (diverging) mirror | a mirror whose reflecting surface is an outward-curved segment of a sphere |
| Linear polarization | the alignment of electromagnetic waves in such a way that the vibrations of the electric fields in each of the waves are parallel to each other |
| Transmission axis | the line along which light is polarized |
| Refraction | the bending of a wave front as the wave front passes between two substances in which the speed of the wave differs |
| Angle of refraction | the angle between the refracted ray and the normal |
| Light ray | The direction of propagation of the wave perpendicular to the wave front |
| Index of refraction | the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of light in a given transparent medium |
| Snell's Law | The index of refraction of the first medium x sine of the angle of incidence= index of refraction of a second medium x sine of the angle of the refraction |
| Lens | a transparent object that refracts light rays such that they converge or diverge to create an image |
| Converging (positive) lens | thicker at the middle than at its rim; positive focal length |
| Diverging (negative) lens | thinner at the middle than it is at the rim; negative focal length |
| Focal point (for lenses) | For a converging lens, it is the location where the image of an object at an infinite distance from the lens is focused; for a diverging lens, it is the point from which the diverged rays appear to originate |
| Focal length | the distance from the focal point to the center of the lens |
| Thin lens | the thickness of the lens is small compared tot he radius of curvature of the lens or the distance of the object from the lens |
| Front of the lens | the side of the lens that the light rays first encounter |
| Back of the lens | The side of the lens opposite where the light rays first encounter the lens |
| Thin-lens equation | 1/p (object distance) + 1/q (image distance) = 1/f (focal length) |
| Positive image distance | Distance from the lens to a real image in the back of the lens |
| Negative image distance | Distance from the lens to a virtual image in front of the lens |
| Magnification (for lenses) | The ratio of image height to object height; ratio of image distance from lens to object distance from lens |
| Cornea | the transparent front of the human eye; acts like a lens |
| Retina | the light-sensitive area in the back of the eye |
| crystalline lens | small lens between the cornea and the retina |
| Hyperopia (or farsightedness) | a condition in which distant objects are seen clearly; near objects are focused behind the retina |
| Myopia (or nearsightedness) | distant objects are not seen clearly; light is focused in front of the retina |
| Compound microscope | consists of two lenses: an objective lens near the object and an eyepiece lens |
| Total internal reflection | the complete reflection that takes place within a substance when the angle of incidence of light striking the surface boundary is greater than the critical angle |
| Mirage | produced by the bending of light rays in the atmosphere when there are large temperature differences between the ground and the air |
| Dispersion | the process of separating polychromatic light into its component wavelengths |
| Rainbows | produced because of dispersion in raindrops. Sunlight is spread into a spectrum upon entering a spherical raindrop, then internally reflected on the back side of the raindrop |
| Spherical aberration (lenses) | focal points of light rays far from the principal axis are closer the lens |
| Chromatic aberration | the focusing of different colors of light at different distances behind a lens |
| Coherence | the correlation between the phases of two or more waves |
| Coherent | When phase difference between two waves is constant, these waves are said to be... |
| Diffraction | a change in the direction of a wave when the wave encounters an obstacle, an opening, or an edge |
| Energy levels | different levels of energy possessed by atoms |
| excited | When atoms acquire added energy and go from a lower to a higher energy level, they are said to be ______. |
| First-order maximum | The first bright band on either side of the central maximum |
| Minimums | the series of dark bands in between the bright bands on either side of the central maximum |
| Fringes | series of bright and dark parallel bands |
| Incandescent light | Light from a glowing source, i.e. lightbulbs, candle flames, or the sun; incoherent light |
| Incoherent | When the phase difference between two waves is not constant, the waves are said to be.... |
| In phase | When the crest of one wave overlaps the crest of another wave and there is a phase difference of 0°, they are said to be... |
| Laser | a device that produces coherent light at a single wavelength |
| maser | a device similar to lasers, except it operates in the microwave region of the spectrum |
| Monochromatic light | light that has a single wavelength |
| Order number | the number assigned to interference fringes with respect to the central bright fringe |
| Out of phase | When the crest of one wave overlaps the trough of another wave and there is a phase difference of 180°, they are said to be ___ __ _____. |
| Path difference | the difference in the distance traveled by two beams when they are scattered in the same direction from different points |
| Resolving power | the ability of an optical instrument to form separate images of two objects that are close together |
| Secondary maxima | Series of narrower, less intense bright bands on either side of the broad, intense central band |
| Spectrometer | a device which separates light from a source into its monochromatic components |
| Zeroeth order maximum or central maximum | the central bright fringe |
| Rules of electric charge | like charges repel each other; unlike charges attract each other |
| Protons | positively charged particles |
| electrons | negatively charged particles |
| neutrons | uncharged particles |
| Nucleus | center of an atom; contains neutrons and protons |
| Ions | atoms that are positively or negatively charged |
| conservation of charge | When an object is charge, no charge is created or destroyed. |
| quantization of charge | When an object is charged, its charge is always an integral multiple of a fundamental unit of charge. |
| Coulomb (C) | SI unit of charge |
| Fundamental unit of charge (e) | the magnitude of the charge of single electron or proton; 1.60 × 10⁻¹⁹ C. |
| Electrical conductor | a material in which electrical charges can move freely |
| Electrical insulator | a material in which electrical charges cannot move freely |
| Semiconductors | In their pure state, they are electrical insulators; adding other atoms as impurities they become conductors. |
| Superconductors | At or below a certain temperature, they can conduct electricity indefinitely without heating |
| Charging by contact | process of charging objects by rubbing them together |
| Grounding | a conductor is connected to Earth by means of a conducting wire or copper pipe |
| Induction | process of charging a conductor by bringing it near another charged object and grounding the conductor |
| Sink system | a system which can absorb a large number of charges without becoming charged itself |
| Polarization | a surface charge is induced on an insulator; the charge within the individual molecules are realigned such that the molecule has a slight charge separation |
| Electric force | Force between charged particles |
| Coulumb's Law | Electric force is proportional to the magnitude of the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. |
| Principle of superposition | resultant force on a charge is the vector sum of the individual forces on that charge. |
| Equilibrium | The net external force acting on a body is zero. |
| Field force | force that is exerted by one object on another even though there is no physical contact between the objects |
| Electric field (E) | a region where an electric force on a test charge can be detected |
| Newtons per Coulomb (N/C) | SI unit of electric field strength |
| Electric field direction (E) | the direction of the electric force that would be exerted on a small positive test charge |
| Electric field strength (E) | Coulomb's constant times charge producing the field divided by the distance squared |
| Electric field lines | drawn pointing in the direction of the electric field; the number of lines is proportional to the electric field strength and tangent to the electric force vector at any point; outside a charged conductor they are perpendicular to the conductor's surface |
| Electric dipole | the charge configuration between two point charges of equal magnitudes but opposite signs |
| Electrostatic equilibrium | no net motion of charge is occurring within a conductor; the electric force is zero everywhere inside the conductor |
| Excess charge | On an isolated conductor, this resides entirely on the conductor's outside surface; on an irregularly shaped conductor tends to accumulate where the radius of curvature of the surface is smallest i.e. at sharp points |
| Alternating current | In this type of current, charges move back and forth in 2 different directions |
| Ampere | SI unit of current; 1 Coulomb of charge passing through a cross-sectional area in a time interval of one second |
| Battery | an energy storage device that provides a constant potential difference between two locations, called terminals, inside the device; does work to move charges; converts chemical energy into electrical energy |
| Capacitance (C) | The ability of a conductor to store energy in the form of electrically separated charges; depends on the size and shape of the conductor; the ratio of charge to potential difference; equals Q/ΔV |
| Capacitance in a Parallel Plate Capacitor in a vacuum | Equals ε₀A/d |
| Capacitor | a device that is used to store potential energy |
| Conventional current | the flow of positive charges |
| Dielectric | an insulating material between a capacitor's plates; increases capacitance |
| Direct current | In this current, charges move in a single direction. |
| Drift velocity | the net velocity of a charge carrier (positive and negative charges) moving in an electric field |
| Electric current (I) | The rate at which electric charges can pass through a given area; equals ΔQ/Δt |
| Electric energy transfer | At high potential difference to minimize energy loss |
| Electric potential (V) | The work that must be performed against electric forces to move a charge from a reference point to the point in question, divided by the charge |
| Electrical potential energy | Energy associated with a charge due to its position in a field |
| Electric power | The rate of conversion of electrical energy; equals IΔV, I²R, (ΔV)²/R |
| Farad | SI unit for capacitance |
| Generator | supplies energy to charge carriers; converts mechanical energy to electrical energy |
| Mechanical energy | KE + PE (gravitational) + PE (electric) + PE (elastic) |
| Joule | SI unit for electrical potential energy |
| Kilowatt-hour | energy measurement used by power companies |
| Non-ohmic | In this kind of materials, resistance is not constant over a range of potential differences. |
| Ohm | SI unit for resistance |
| ohmic | this kind of material has a resistance that is constant over a range of potential differences; it obeys Ohm's Law |
| Parallel plate capacitor | two parallel plates separated by a small distance |
| permittivity of a vacuum | a constant that equals 8.85 × 10⁻¹² C²/N∗m |
| Potential difference (ΔV) | The work that must be performed against electric forces to move a charge between two points in question, divided by the charge |
| Potential difference between a point at infinity and a point near a point charge | equals kq/r; it is (ΔV) |
| Potential difference in a uniform electric field | varies with the displacement from a reference point; equals -Ed |
| Potential energy stored in a charged capacitor | Depends on the charge and the potential difference between the capacitor's two plates; equals 1/2 Q ΔV |
| Potentiometer | has variable resistance; has a fixed and an adjustable contact |
| Resistance | the opposition presented to electric current by a material or device |
| Resistors | used to control the amount of current in a conductor |
| Volt (V) | SI unit for potential energy and potential difference (joule/coulomb); also equals IR |
| Circuit breaker | triggers a switch when current reaches a certain value |
| Closed circuit | a complete loop for electrons to follow |
| Electric current | a set of electrical components connect such that they provide one or more complete paths for the movement of charges |
| Emf | The energy per unit charge supplied by a source of electric current |
| Equivalent parallel circuit resistance | Together, this is always less than the smallest resistance in the group of resistors. |
| Equivalent series circuit resistance | Always greater than any individual resistor in the circuit |
| Equivalent resistance | The total resistance of all the individual resistors in a circuit |
| Fuse | a small metallic strip that melts if the current exceeds a certain value |
| Load | any element or group of elements in a circuit that dissipates energy |
| Open circuit | no complete loop for electrons to follow |
| Parallel circuit | describes two or more components of a circuit that provides separate conducting paths for current because the components are connected across common points or junctions |
| Schematic diagram | a representation of a circuit that uses lines to represent wires and different symbols to represent components |
| Series circuit | describes two or more components of a circuit that provides a single path for current |
| Short circuit | circuit contains little resistance to the movement of charges |
| Source of emf | any device that increases the potential energy of charges circulating in a circuit |
| Terminal voltage | the potential difference across the battery's terminals; slightly less than emf |
| Poles | Ends of a bar magnet (north and south); like poles repel each other, and unlike poles attract each other |
| Ferromagnetic | materials such as iron, cobalt, and nickel, in which the magnetic field produce by the electron spins in atoms do not cancel completely |
| Magnetic domain | a region composed of a group of atoms whose magnetic fields are aligned in the same direction |
| Permanent magnet | material that retains its magnetism; magnetically hard |
| Temporary magnet | material that does not retain its magnetism; magnetically soft |
| Magnetic field (B) | a region in which a magnetic force can be detected |
| Tesla (T) | SI unit of magnetic field strength |
| Magnetic flux (Φ) | the number of field lines that cross a certain area at right angles to that area; Φ= A B cos θ |
| Magnetic declination | the difference between true north, which is defined by the axis rotation of the Earth, and north indicate by a compas |
| Magnetic south pole | Approximately 1500 km from the Earth's geographic north pole |
| Source of the Earth's magnetic field | Movement of charges in the convection currents in the Earth's core; Earth's rate of rotation |
| Right hand rule | used to find the direction of a magnetic field around a current carrying (flow of positive charge) wire |
| Alternative right-hand rule | used to find the direction of the magnetic force on a positive charge |
| Force on a current-carrying conductor | F=B I L |
| Solenoid | a long, helically wound coil of insulated wire; acts as a magnet when it carries a current |
| Electromagnet | device with an iron rod inserted inside a solenoid; acts like a bar magnet |
| Galvanometer | Device used in the construction of both ammeters and voltmeters; when current enters the coil, which is in a magnetic field, the magnetic force causes the coil to rotate. |
| Electromagnetic induction | the process of creating a current in a circuit loop by changing the magnetic flux in the loop |
| Lenz's law | The magnetic field of the induced current is in a direction to produce a field that opposes the change causing it |
| Faraday's law | the average induced emf equals the negative of the number of loops in the circuit times the time rate of change of the magnetic flux; emf= -NΔΦ/Δt; emf = -NΔ(A B cos θ) |
| Motor | a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy |
| Generator | a machine that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy |
| Back emf | the emf induced in a motor's coil that tends to reduce the current in the coil of the motor |
| Mutual inductance | the ability of one circuit to induce an emf in a nearby circuit in the presence of a changing current |
| RMS (root-mean-square) current | the value of alternating current that gives the same heating effect that the corresponding value of direct current does |
| Transformer | a device that increases or decreases the emf of alternating current |
| Fundamental forces | strong, electromagnetic, weak, and gravitational |
| electromagnetic radiation | the transfer of energy associated with an electric and magnetic field; it varies periodically and travels at the speed of light |
| Photon | a unit or quantum of light; a particle of electromagnetic radiation that has zero rest mass and carries a quantum of charge |
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