science Flashcards
Distance
The amount of space between two things
Displacement
Moving something from its place
Speed
the rate at which a object moves
Average speed
calculated by dividing the total distance an object traveled by the total time it took the object to travel the distance (s=d/t)
Instantaneous speed
The speed of an object at one instant of time
Velocity
Speed in a given direction
Force
a push or a pull that can change the motion of an object, measured with a spring scale in Newton.
Acceleration
the rate of change in an object’s speed
Net force
The overall force on an object when all the individual
forces acting on it are added together
Balanced forces:
separate forced on an object that combined do not change the movement of the object
Inertia
the tendency of all objects to resist any change in motion
Newton’s second law of motion
Acceleration of an object depends on the object’s mass and magnitude of the force acting upon it
Friction
The force that one surface exerts on another when the
two surfaces rub against each other
Static friction
- Friction that occurs when two objects are at rest relative to each other
Sliding friction
Sliding friction force opposes the movement between two contact surfaces that slide against each other
Gravity
The force that pulls objects toward each other. Gravity is
the earth’s pulling force that makes things fall and gives
things weight
Air resistance
The fluid friction experienced by objects falling through
the air
Weight
The force of gravity on an object at the surface of a
planet
Centripetal acceleration
the acceleration of an object moving in a circle that is directed
toward the center of the circle
Centripetal force
any force that causes an object to move in a circle
Newton’s third law of motion
Newton’s Law that states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
Momentum
the characteristic of a moving body that is caused by its mass and its motion
