Chapter 5 Flashcards
Ampère’s Law
the principle developed by André Ampère (1862) that an electric current generates an electric field that is proportional to the strength of the current. if the current is flowing through a coil of wire, the strength of the magnetic field is also proportional to the number of turns in the wire.
beta decay
a nuclear reaction that occurs in the nucleus of an atom when a neutron spontaneously converts into a proton, emitting a electron and neutrino in the process.
electric field
a field around electric charges; produces a force on other charges present in the field.
electromagnet
a magnet formed by winding a wire into a coil and passing a current through it.
electromagnetic force
a force caused by an electric or magnetic field.
electrostatic force
a force between objects that are charged with static electricity.
ferrous metal
a metal containing iron
field
a region in space around an object in which other objects experience a force if they are susceptible to the particular type of field involved.
field lines
arrows on a graphical representation of a field that indicate the direction, range and strength of the force that is present on an object placed in the field, assuming that object is the type to be affected by the type of field in question.
force
a push or a pull.
general theory of relativity
Albert Einstein’s theory (1915) of gravity; an explanation of gravity in terms of acceleration, and of the curvature of the geometry of space time around a massive object.
gravitational field
a field around an object possessing mass; produces a force on other massive objects; also effects electromagnetic radiation.
gravitational force
the weakest of the four fundamental forces; the force of attraction between two objects due to their gravitational fields the force is so weak that it is typically only noticeable in the case of very large masses
interaction
an alternative way of understanding forces in terms of subatomic particle changes.
inverse-square law
an inverse proportion in which on quantity decreases as another quantity increases; the first quantity decreases in proportion to the square of the second quantity; generically represented as Y=k/x^2
