Motion Unit Vocabulary Flashcards
Distance
How far an object has moved
Displacement
Distance and direction of an object’s change in position from the starting point.
Speed
Distance an object travels per unit of time.
Average Speed
Total distance traveled divided by the total time of travel.
Velocity
The speed of an object and the direction of its motion.
Instantaneous speed
Speed at a given point in time.
Force
A push or a pull
Acceleration
Rate at which velocity changes with time
Inertia
A passive property and does not enable a body to do anything except oppose such active agents as forces.
Balanced forces
Equal in size but opposite direction
Net Force
Two or more forces on an object
Friction
Force that resists the sliding or rolling of one solid object over another.
Newton’s second law of motion
The acceleration of an object depends upon two variables – the net force acting on the object and the mass of the object.
Static friction
The frictional force resists force that is applied to an object, and the object remains at rest until the force of static friction is overcome.
Sliding friction
A type of motion between two surfaces in contact.
Centripetal acceleration
The acceleration of a body traversing a circular path.
Air resistance
A force that acts in the opposite direction of moving objects
Gravity
A force which tries to pull two objects toward each other
Weight
Weight is the name of the force exerted on an object due to the acceleration of gravity.
Centripetal force
A force that acts on a body moving in a circular path and is directed toward the center around which the body is moving.
Momentum
Product of the mass of a particle and its velocity.
Newton’s third law of motion
For every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.
