Motions, forces & energy Flashcards
What are rulers used for?
to measure small distances of a few centimeters (cm)
What are measuring cylinders used for?
Measuring cylinders can be used to measure the volume of liquids
By measuring the change in volume, a measuring cylinder can also be used to find the volume of an irregular shape
What are the basic physical quantities?
Mass (symbol:m, si unit:kg), time (symbol: t, si unit: seconds), length (symbol:l, si unit: meter)
What’s the formula of speed?
s=d/t (speed=distance/time)
What is the symbol, formula and si unit for force?
Symbol: F
Formula: mass x acceleration
SI unit: kgm/s^2 or Newtons
What is the symbol, formula and si unit for acceleration?
Symbol: a
Formula: Vf-Vi/time taken
SI unit: m/s^2
What is mass?
Mass is the measurement of the quantity of matter in an object at rest relative to the observer. It is measured using a weighing scale and is measured in grams but answer is put in kg
What is length?
The measurement of the distance between two points
What is volume?
Measurement of the amount of space occupied. Derived from three length measurements. It’s measured using a measuring cylinder or a burette. Measured volume is in milliliters or cm^3
What is time?
A measurement of duration. Measured using a stopwatch in seconds
What is parallax error?
The error because of the incorrect positioning of the eyes while reading a measurement. To measure length properly, your line of sight must be perpendicular to the ruler scale. To measure volume properly, you have to be eye level with the scale and read the bottom of the meniscus
What is zero error?
When you don’t account for the distance before 0 on a measurement instrument.
What is a scalar?
quantity that has magnitude (size) only
What is a vector?
quantity that has magnitude and direction
Name some scalars
distance, speed, time, mass, energy and
temperature
Name some vectors
force, weight, velocity, acceleration, momentum,
electric field strength and gravitational field
strength
What is a simple pendulum?
An object suspended from a fixed point which moves back and forth. One swing of the pendulum is an oscillation
What is a period?
the interval of time it takes for a motion to repeat. The symbol is T
Why are short intervals of time measured in multiples?
An important factor when measuring time intervals is human reaction time (this is unique and constant to each individual-usually 0.1s-0.4s). This can have a significant impact upon measurements when the measurements involved are very short (less than a second). To fix this we measure in multiples and take the average.
What is velocity?
speed in a given direction
What is the average speed formula?
average speed = total distance travelled/
total time taken
What is the acceleration of free fall g for an object near to the surface of the Earth?
9.8 m/s^2 (it is constant)
Describe the motion of objects falling in a uniform gravitational field with air/liquid resistance
When an object falls, initially it accelerates. The resultant force on the object is very large initially, so it accelerates. As the object falls faster, the force of friction acting upon the object increases. Eventually the object falls at a steady speed when the force of friction equals the force of weight acting on it. This is called terminal velocity (when the forces are equal)
What do you need to remember when drawing graphs?
- More than half the page
- Label the axis, title
- Unit for each quantity
- Scale spaced evenly
- Plot point within half square accuracy using crosses
- Join the points with a smooth line
- Line of best fit
What’s the formula for weight?
weight = mass × gravitational field strength
What is weight?
a gravitational force on an object that has mass
What is gravitational field strength and what’s the equation?
force per unit mass.
g=W/m (g=weight/mass). this is equivalent to the acceleration of free fall
What is the effect of gravity on weight and mass?
Weight is the effect of a gravitational field on a mass. Mass always stays the same, but weight can change depending on how much gravity is acting upon an object.
What is density?
mass per unit volume;
ρ = m/V (mass/volume). The unit is g/cm^3 or kg/cm^3
How do you measure the density of a regularly shaped solid?
-
Regular Shape: Measure mass(m)using a balance, and measure volume (V) by direct measurement of dimensions.
1. Place the object on a digital balance and note down its mass
2. Use either the ruler, Vernier callipers or micrometer to measure the object’s dimensions (width, height, length, radius) – the apparatus will depend on the size of the object
3. Repeat these measurements and take an average of these readings before calculating the density
How do you measure the density of an irregularly shaped solid?
- Irregular Shape: Measure mass(m)using a balance. Measure volume(V)by displacement
Method 1:Immerse the object in a measuring cylinder filled with water, record the initial and final water levels to find volume.
Method 2:Displacement Can. Fill the can till the spout. Immerse object and find the volume of water displaced. That volume of water is the volume of the object.
How to know whether an object floats using density data?
If an object’s average density is less than that of the surrounding fluid, it will float.
- If the object isdenserthan the fluid, it willsink
- If the object isless densethan the fluid, it willfloat
- If the force ofupthruston an object is:
- equalto the object’sweight, then the object willfloat
- less thanthe object’sweight, then the object willsink
How do you find the density of a liquid?
Take the measuring cylinder and measure its mass, in grams, as accurately as possible.
Take the measuring cylinder off the balance and add the liquid carefully. Put the measuring cylinder back on the balance. Measure and record the new mass (cylinder plus water), in grams. Pick a volume of water and do mass/volume
What are the four types of motions?
- Stationery (not moving)
- Constant speed/velocity (same velocity)
- Acceleration (increasing velocity)
- Deceleration (decreasing velocity)
What do the different line types on a distance time graph mean?
- Horizontal line (object is stationary or nor moving or zero speed)
- Diagonal straight line (constant velocity)
- Curving up (Increasing velocity or acceleration)
- Curving down (decreasing velocity or deceleration)
- Diagonal straight line downwards (constant velocity in the opposite direction)
What do the different line types on a speed time graph mean?
- Horizontal line on time axis (stationary, not moving or zero speed)
- Horizontal line above time axis (constant speed)
- Diagonal straight line (constant acceleration)
- Diagonal straight line downwards (deceleration)
- Curving (the acceleration isn’t constant)
What is newton’s first law?
An object either remains at rest or continues in a straight line at constant speed unless acted on by a resultant force
- This means that no force is required to maintain constant velocity if no external forces act on the object.
What is a force?
A push or a pull that acts on an object due to the interaction with another object
How do forces affect things?
- Changes in speed: forces can cause bodies to speed up or slow down
- Changes in direction: forces can cause bodies to change their direction of travel
- Changes in shape: forces can cause bodies to stretch, compress, or deform
What is a resultant force and what does it determine?
A resultant force is a single force that describes all of the forces operating on a body. It determines the direction in which the object will move as a result of all of the forces and the magnitude of the final force experienced by the object
What is a balanced force?
the forces have combined in such a way that they cancel each other out and no resultant force acts on the body
What is an unbalanced force?
the forces have combined in such a way that they do not cancel out completely and there is a resultant force on the object
What is Newton’s second law?
The acceleration of an object is proportional to the resultant force acting on it and inversely proportional to the object’s mass
- a resultant force may change the velocity of an object by changing its direction of motion or its speed (when F=ma is used)
How does a resultant force change the velocity of an object?
A resultant force may change the
velocity of an object by changing its direction of
motion or its speed
What is circular motion?
An object moving with constant speed in a circle, the velocity isn’t constant as its direction is constantly changing
What is the centripetal force?
The direction of the force is towards the centre
What happens in circular motion when the mass increases, but velocity and radius stay constant
Centripetal force increases
What happens in circular motion when the velocity increases, but mass and radius stay constant
Centripetal force is directly proportional to velocity squared
What happens in circular motion when the radius increases, but mass and velocity stay constant
Centripetal force decreases
What is solid friction?
the force between two
surfaces that may impede motion and produce heating
What does friction act on?
object moving through a liquid and object moving through gas