| Term | Definition |
| acceleration | the rate at wich velocity changes |
| average speed | total distance divided by time interval |
| elapsed time | the time that has passed since the beginning of a fall |
| free fall | an object falling only affected by the force of gravity |
| instantaneous speed | the speed at any instant |
| rate | a quantity divided by time |
| relative | movement with respect to something |
| speed | a measure of how fast something is moving |
| velocity | rate of speed and direction |
| Newton's First Law | All objects continue in a state of rest or of motion in a straight line at a constant speed, unless it changes due to forces exerted upon it. |
| law of inertia | newtons first law |
| kilograms | mass is measured in... |
| mass | the quantity of matter in an object |
| weight | the force due to gravity on an object |
| newtons | forces are measured in ... |
| net force | the combination of all forces acting on an object |
| normal force | a force that counteracts the weight |
| equilibrium | occurs when the net force is zero |
| force | a push or a pull |
| friction | the force that acts between materials that touch as they move past each other |
| inertia | the property of a body t resist change |
| inversely | two values change in opposite directions |
| Newton's second law | a=f/m |
| air resistance | the friction acting on something moving through air |
| free body diagram | a diagram showing all the forces acting on an object |
| terminal speed | when acceleration terminates; air resistance = weight |
| interaction | a force is part of an ... |
| Newton's third law | when one object exerts a force on a second object, the second object exert an equal and opposite force on the first object |
| action force | 1st force in an interaction |
| reaction force | 2nd force in an interaction |
| electrostatics | electricity at rest |
| electrical forces | an attracting and repelling force that is billions of times stronger than gravity |
| charge | a fundamental property which causes attracting and repelling |
| conservation of charge | electrons are neither created nor destroyed, they are transferred is |
| Coulomb | the standard unit of charge |
| conductors | materials in which electrons travel with ease |
| insulators | materials in which electrons are more tightly bound and cannot move feely |
| induction | when something is created in another object without contact |
| semiconductors | materials which sometimes behave as conductors and sometimes as insulators |
| super conductors | metals which when can acquire infinite conductivity |
| Coulomb's law | F=kq1q2/dsquared |
| vector quantity | a quantity that require both magnitude and direction for a complete description |
| scalar quantity | a quantity that is completely described by magnitude only |
| resultant | the result of adding two vectors |
| components | the two vectors that can be substituted for a resultant |
| projectiles | they follow a curved path (spaceships, stone thrown in air) |
| satellite | a projectile fast enough to fall around the earth |
| momentum | inertia in motion (mv) |
| impulse | how long a force acts (F change in t) |
| conserved | when a quantity does not change |
| law of conservation of momentum | In the absence of an external force, the momentum of a system remains unchanged |
| elastic collision | When objects collide without being permanently deformed and momentum is transferred from the first object to the second object |
| inelastic collision | when colliding objects become tangled or couple together |
| work | the application of a force and the movement of something by that force (Fd) |
| Joule | measurement of work; a Newton-meter |
| power | the rate at which work is done |
| watt | unit of power; J/s |
| mechanical energy | the energy due to the position or movement of something |
| potential energy | energy stored because of the position of an object |
| kinetic energy | energy of motion |
| work energy theorem | work = change in energy |
| law of conservation of energy | energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can be transformed from one form into another, but the total amount of energy never changes. |
| efficiency | ratio of useful work output to total work input |
| circuit | a complete path on which charge can flow |
| series circuit | a circuit with a single path on which for electrons to flow (more bulbs=current decreases, resistance increases) |
| parallel circuit | a circuit that forms branches, each of which is a separate path for flow of charge (more bulbs=current increases, resistance decreases) |
| schematic diagrams | electric circuits are expressed in the form of these diagrams |
| magnetic poles | these produce magnetic forces |
| magnetic field | the space around a magnet in which a magnetic force is exerted |
| magnetic domains | clusters of aligned atoms which cause iron to be magnetized |
| electromagnet | a current carrying coil of wire with many loops |
| galvanometer | a sensitive current indicating instrument |
| Einstein | created the theory of Special Relativity |
| Faraday and Henry | discovered that electric current could be produced in a wire |
| Tesla | created AC which led to creation of transformers |
| electromagnetic induction | inducing voltage by changing the magnetic field around a conductor |
| Faraday's law | The induced voltage in a coil is proportional to the product of the number of loops and the rate at which the magnetic field changes within those loops |
| generator | when a moving coil in a magnet causes mechanical energy to be changed to electrical energy |
| transformer | an instrument that when using AC allows for changing of voltage; composed of a secondary and primary coil and an iron core |
| Maxwell | discovered that we see electromagnetic waves |
| I | variable for current |
| V | variable for voltage |
| R | variable for resistance |
| amps A | unit for Amperes |
| volts V | unit for Voltage |
| ohms omega | unit for resistance |
| electric potential energy | energy charge possesses due to its position |
| electric potential | electric potential energy per charge |
| volt | the unit of voltage or electric potential |
| voltage | electric potential--electric potential energy per charge |
| electric field | the space around every electric charge |
| potential difference | charge flows when there is a .............. |
| potential difference | difference in voltage between ends of a conductor |
| electric current | the flow of electric charge |
| voltage source | something that provides a potential difference |
| electric resistance | the resistance that a conductor offers that changes with conductivity, length and thickness of a wire |
| ohms | electric resistance is measured in....... |
| ohm's law | current=voltage/resistance |
| direct current | current that always flows in one direction |
| alternating current | electrons change their direction of flow |
| electric power | the rate at which electrical energy changes |
| joules | unit for energy |