Vocabulary Flashcards
Acceleration
a change in velocity
Centripetal Force
the force, acting upon a body moving along a curved path, that is directed toward the center of curvature of the path and constrains the body to the path.
Coefficient
a number that is constant for a given substance, body, or process under certain specified conditions, serving as a measure of one of its properties: coefficient of friction.
Conservation (Law)
a principle that states that a certain physical property (i.e., a measurable quantity) does not change in the course of time within an isolated physical system
Derive
a rate of change, which is the slope of a graph in geometric terms
Displacement
a vector quantity that refers to “how far out of place an object is”;
it is the object’s overall change in position.
Distance
a scalar quantity that refers to “how much ground an object has covered” during its motion.
Elastic
the tendency of solid objects and materials to return to their original shape after the external forces (load) causing a deformation are removed
Equilibrium
when linear and angular accelerations are both zero relative to an inertial frame of reference
Field
a property of space that is detectable by the forces it exerts
Force
the push or pull on an object with a specific magnitude and direction; can be represented by vectors or expressed as a multiple of a standard force
Freefall
a situation in which the only force acting on an object is gravity
Friction
the force that opposes relative motion or attempts at motion between systems in contact
Fulcrum
the point on which a lever rests or is supported and on which it pivots
Impulse
effect of applying a force on a system for a time interval; this time interval is usually small, but does not have to be
Inelastic
collision that does not conserve kinetic energy
Inertia
the ability of an object to resist changes in its motion
Instantaneous
happening very quickly, in a single moment
Justify
to show or prove that it is reasonable or necessary.
Kinetic Energy
the energy of motion, one-half an object’s mass times the square of its speed
Linear
to go in a straight line
Mechanical Energy
the sum of the kinetic and potential energies
Magnitude
length of a vector
Net Force
the sum of all the forces acting on an object
Normal
the perpendicular that is drawn to the reflecting surface
Oscillation
single fluctuation of a quantity, or repeated and regular fluctuations of a quantity, between two extreme values around an equilibrium or average value
Photogate
a timing device that measures times of the changes in the state of an infrared beam that is blocked by a flag of known length, as well as the times the beam is unblocked.
Potential Energy
the function of position, the energy possessed by an object relative to the system considered
Projectile Motion
the motion of an object subject only to the acceleration of gravity
Resultant
the vector sum of two or more vectors
Scalar
a number, synonymous with a scalar quantity in physics
Sketch
a drawing of an area or an object mainly based on memory and not to scale
Speed
a scalar quantity that refers to “how fast an object is moving; can be thought of as the rate at which an object covers distance
System
object or collection of objects whose motion is currently under investigation; however, your system is defined at the start of the problem, you must keep that definition for the entire problem
Tangent
a line that touches the curve or a circle at a point
Tension
pulling force that acts along a stretched flexible connector, such as a rope or cable
Terminal Velocity
the constant velocity achieved by a falling object, which occurs when the weight of the object is balanced by the upward drag force
Torque
cross product of a force and a lever arm to a given axis
Vector
mathematical object with magnitude and direction
Velocity
a vector quantity that refers to “the rate at which an object changes its position.
Work
done when a force acts on something that undergoes a displacement from one position to another
Weight
force (w) due to gravity acting on an object of mass (m)
