Physics Vocab Chapters 1-9

Front 1

Authority

Back 1

An accepted source of expert information or advice

Front 2

Intuition

Back 2

The act of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition

Front 3

Reason

Back 3

The capacity for logical, rational, and analytical thought--intelligence

Front 4

Sensory Data

Back 4

Knowledge obtained through the senses

Front 5

Hypothesis

Back 5

A tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested for further investigation.

Front 6

Theory

Back 6

A set of statements devised to explain a group of facts, esp. if it has been repeatedly tested/widely accepted; used to make predictions about natural phenomena.

Front 7

Law

Back 7

A well-tested theory, so firm as to be unquestioned by science

Front 8

Model

Back 8

A schematic description of a system, theory, or phenomenon that accounts for its known or inferred properties and may be used for further study of its characteristics

Front 9

Existence

Back 9

The fact or state of having actual or real being

Front 10

Causality

Back 10

Cause must always precede the effect

Front 11

Time Symmetry

Back 11

The laws of the universe do not change with time

Front 12

Principle of Noncontradiction

Back 12

Of two contadictory proportions, both cannot be true

Front 13

Occam's Razor

Back 13

Simpler explanations are more likely to be true than complex ones

Front 14

Position Symmetry

Back 14

The laws of the universe are not different in a different location

Front 15

Interaction

Back 15

Amy of four fundamental ways in which elementary particles and bodies can influence each other.

Front 16

Force

Back 16

A push or pull on an object

Front 17

Strong Nuclear Interaction

Back 17

The interaction between nucleons that gives rise to the strong force

Front 18

Electromagnetic Interaction

Back 18

The interaction between charged objects that gives rise to the electromagnetic force

Front 19

Weak Nuclear Interaction

Back 19

The interaction between nucleons that gives rise to the weak force

Front 20

Gravity

Back 20

The interaction between anything with mass that gives rise to the gravitational force

Front 21

Atomic Nuclei

Back 21

The positively charged central region of an atom, composed of protons and neutrons

Front 22

Proton

Back 22

A composite, strongly interactive particle made up of three quarks. Positive electric charge; part of the nucleus

Front 23

Neutron

Back 23

A composite, strongly-interacting particle made up of three quarks, but which carries no net electric charge

Front 24

Nucleon

Back 24

A generic name for either a proton or a neutron

Front 25

Quark

Back 25

the elementary particles of which protons and neutrons consist. Each consists of three quarks.

Front 26

Radioactive

Back 26

A term referring to atoms whose nuclei can spontaneously change under the influence of the weak nuclear force

Front 27

Electron

Back 27

An elementary particle in atoms having a negative charge. Located outside atomic nuclei

Front 28

Element

Back 28

A substance composed of atoms that have an identical number of protons in each nucleus; cannot be reduced by chemical means

Front 29

Atom

Back 29

The fundamental unit of an element

Front 30

Molecule

Back 30

A microscopic structure usually made up of more than one atom.

Front 31

Solar System

Back 31

The sun and all planet, comets, asteroids, and other bodies that orbit about it under the pull of gravity.

Front 32

State of Uniform Motion

Back 32

The condition of an object when no unbalanced forces act upon it.

Front 33

Velocity

Back 33

The speed in a particular direction of a moving body

Front 34

Acceleration

Back 34

Rate of change of velocity per unit time, or changer of velocity divided by the time required for the change

Front 35

Centripetal

Back 35

Toward a center

Front 36

Force

Back 36

A push or pull

Front 37

Net Force

Back 37

The sum of all forces present on a body

Front 38

Unbalanced forces

Back 38

The portion of the total force that is unopposed by other forces and so will cause an acceleration; net force is not zero

Front 39

Mass

Back 39

The characteristic of a body which determines how much it accelerates when a force is applied

Front 40

Weight

Back 40

A measure of the force of gravity pulling on an object

Front 41

g

Back 41

The symbol representing the acceleration caused by gravity.

Front 42

weight

Back 42

the force of gravity on an object

Front 43

The Law of Gravity

Back 43

Expressed by the mathematical formula F=GmM/d^2 that describes the strength of the force of gravity between their centers by the distance d.

Front 44

Gravitational Constant

Back 44

A number relating the strength of the gravitational force to the masses being attracted and their distance apart

Front 45

General Theory of Relativity

Back 45

Albert Einstein's description of gravity that was published in 1915. This theory explains the relationship between the geometry of space and the flow of time in our Universe

Front 46

Electric Force Law

Back 46

The mathematical formula F=kqQ/d^2 that describes the strength of the force between two objects of charge Q and q separated between their centers by the distance d.

Front 47

Electric Force Constant

Back 47

A number relating the strength of the electric force to the charges involved and their distance apart.

Front 48

Electron

Back 48

The basic negative charge-carrying particle in an atom

Front 49

Coulomb

Back 49

The unit of measurement for charge

Front 50

Proton

Back 50

The basic positive charge-carrying particle in an atom

Front 51

Neutron

Back 51

A neutral particle found in the nuclei of atoms

Front 52

Insulator

Back 52

A material that does not permit electrons to flow through it

Front 53

Conductor

Back 53

A material that allows elections to flow through it

Front 54

Electric Current

Back 54

Electric charges flowing through a conductor

Front 55

Direct Current

Back 55

A steady flow of electrons in one direction, typically through a wire.

Front 56

Alternating Current

Back 56

A current of electrons thats changes direction of flow

Front 57

Ferromagnetism

Back 57

Metal alloys that are attracted to magnets or are capable of being transformed into permanent magnets.

Front 58

Field

Back 58

Physical quantity existing at every point in space. Some fields arise from sources and may be thought of as the "influence" of these sources

Front 59

Field Lines

Back 59

Lines coming from an object representing the strength of the force. The denser the lines, the stronger the force.

Front 60

Domain

Back 60

A small section in a magnet where the magnetic fprce from all the atoms add together

Front 61

Earth's poles

Back 61

The magnetic pole near Earth's geographic North Pole is actually a south magnetic pole, because it attracts a compass magnet's north pole.

Front 62

Curie Temperature

Back 62

The temperature above which a metal is no longer magnetized. The Curie temperature is unique for different types metals.

Front 63

Electromagnetic Induction

Back 63

A changing magnetic field produces an electric field at right angles to the magnetic field.

Front 64

Contact Force

Back 64

The force arising between objects when they touch. Contact forces are a repulsion caused by the electromagnetic interaction.

Front 65

Freefall

Back 65

The act of always falling under the pure influence of gravity

Front 66

Centripetal Force

Back 66

A force sideways to the motion of an object. Causes objects to turn toward the center of a circle.

Front 67

Fictitious "Force"

Back 67

An effect in which the tendency to move in a straight line at constant speed, by the First Law, is interpreted an as (apparent) force. Perceived within, or in association with, accelerating objects.

Front 68

Fluid

Back 68

Anything that flows. This refers to gases such as air and liquids such as water.

Front 69

Pressure

Back 69

The force on an object divided by the area over which the force is applied

Front 70

Buoyant Force

Back 70

A force pushing upward on object immersed in a fluid.

Front 71

Density

Back 71

An object's mass divided by its volume

Front 72

Convection

Back 72

Circulation in a fluid caused by temperature and density differences.

Front 73

Relativity

Back 73

The idea that motion is only defined relative to other objects, which may have their own motion. There is no such thing as "absolute" motion measured against objects that are absolutely at rest.

Front 74

Inertial Frame of Reference

Back 74

A perspective that is experiencing no acceleration.

Front 75

Non-inertial Frame of Reference

Back 75

A perspective that is undergoing an acceleration

Front 76

Galilean Relativity

Back 76

The notion that a final speed vector can be computed by directly adding all individual velocity vectors together according to the rules of Euclidean geometry.

Front 77

Special Theory of Relativity

Back 77

The theory of how objects in inertial frames of reference behave at high speeds

Front 78

Gedanken Experiment

Back 78

A situation of logic contrived to illustrate a particular effect

Front 79

Time Dilation

Back 79

The slowing of a clock as its speed approaches the speed of light as measured by an observer not moving with the clock

Front 80

Length Contraction

Back 80

The shortening of an object along its direction of motion as its speed of light, as measured by an observe not moving with the object.

Front 81

Event

Back 81

A happening that occurs at a particular point in space and at a definite time.

Front 82

Conserved Quantity

Back 82

Unchanging in time. A quantity is "conserved" if the amount of that quantity does not change in time, even though processes may be changing its form.

Front 83

Atomic Mass Number

Back 83

The total number of protons + neutrons in the nucleus of an atom

Front 84

Linear Momentum

Back 84

An object's mass times its velocity. Measures the amount of motion in a straight line.

Front 85

Angular Momentum

Back 85

a quantity that measures the amount of rotational motion an object has.

Front 86

Potential Energy

Back 86

Energy that depends on the position of an object or on the positions of an object's constituent parts.

Front 87

Kinetic Energy

Back 87

The form of energy associated with motion. =1/2 x mass x speed^2

Front 88

Gravitational Potential Energy

Back 88

The energy stored in an object that has the potential to fall. =weight x height

Front 89

Electrical Potential Energy

Back 89

The form of energy associated with the relative postions of charged objects,

Front 90

Work

Back 90

The technical name given to the process by which energy is transferred to or from an object by an agent that exerts force on the object and the object moves along the direction of the force.

Front 91

Internal Energy

Back 91

A name given to energy hidden within matter but manifest by the temperature of the matter, the shape of the matter, the physical state of the matter, the chemical composition of the mater, etc.

Front 92

Thermal Energy

Back 92

Total kinetic energy of random motion of molecules in a material.

Front 93

Perpetual Motion Machine

Back 93

something that keeps moving forever without any energy being added

Front 94

Conduction

Back 94

The transmission of an electric charge or heat through a conducting medium without perceptible motion of the medium itself.

Front 95

Convection

Back 95

the process by which energy is moved from one place to another by being stored in matter as internal energy, then moving the matter from one place to another.

Front 96

Radiation

Back 96

The process by which energy is moved from one place to another in the form of light or related forms such as X-rays, etc.

Front 97

Chemical Potential Energy

Back 97

The form of internal energy associated with the physical and chemical states of matter. This is the type of energy stored in a car battery.

Front 98

Elastic Potential Energy

Back 98

The form of internal energy associated with stretching or compressing material.

Front 99

Nuclear Potential Energy

Back 99

The energy stored in the nucleus of an atom.

Front 100

Rest Mass

Back 100

Mass of an object when it is at rest relative to the observer.