Physics Vocabulary

Required Terms
Science Terms that all students should know coming into the class:
1) Science: The organized understanding of nature
2) Theory: An explanation of why things happen the way that they do in the world (may or may
not be correct)
3) Law: A statement or equation that can make measurable prediction under certain
circumstances
4) Hypothesis: an educated guess, presumed to be correct, that is measurable and can be
proven false
5) Variable: The factors that change during an experiment
6) Accuracy: how close a measurement is to an accepted value
7) Precision: how close a group of measurements are to each other
8) Qualitative observation: An observation about the quality of something – color, shape, etc.
9) Quantitative observations: An observation about a measurable quality of something –
number, size, mass, etc.
10) Scientific Method: A method of answering theoretical questions. It’s a way of knowing and
a guideline for conducting experiments.

Required terms from Chemistry

11) Atom: The smallest unit of an element that maintains the chemical properties of that
element
12) Proton: An elementary particle with positive change, found in the nucleus of atom
13) Neutron: An elementary particle with no change, found in the nucleus of atom and mass
about equal to a proton.
14) Electron: An elementary particle with negative charge, orbits nucleus
15) Nucleus: Atom’s central region that is made up of protons and neutrons
16) Molecule: A group of atoms held together by chemical forces
17) Ion: A particle that is electrically charged (positive or negative); an atom or molecule or
group that has lost or gained one or more electrons
18) Isotope: Atom with the same atomic number but with different number of neutrons
19) Fission: Splitting apart (i.e. splitting of the atom)
20) Fusion: Combining many into one (two atoms form into one new element)

General Physics Terms

21) Physics is the study of matter and energy and how they interact
22) SI Units: The International System of Units (SI) defines seven units of measure as a basic
set from which all other SI units are derived.
23) Dimensional Analysis: Used to express a physical quantity in any other that measures that
quantity (conversion) (i.e. converting from grams to kilograms)
24) Fundamental Forces:
a. Strong Forces: It is the force that binds protons and neutrons together to form
the nucleus

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b. Electromagnetic Forces: Type of physical interaction that occurs
between electrically charged particles such as protons and electrons
c. Weak Forces: The force that acts between leptons and is involved in the decay of
neutrons responsible for nuclear beta decay
d. Gravity: A force that exists around every object that has mass.

Physics Terms

Relative Motion
25) Motion: All motion is relative to our environment.
26) Relative: With respect to, a comparison to something
27) Relative Motion: Motion of an object is always relative to a reference point

Motion
28) Force (F, N): any push or pull
a. A force is needed to change an objects state of motion
29) Net Force (NF, N): The combination of all forces acting on an object.
30) Weight (F, N): The downward force created by the force of gravity on an object.
31) Friction (f, N): A force that acts between moving materials in contact w/each other.
(friction causes objects to slow down and heat up)
a. Friction affects motion by slowing objects down & heats it up.
b. Friction acts in a direction that is opposed (opposite) to the motion.
32) Mass (m, kg): Mass is amount of material present in the object.
33) Supporting Force (F, N): Upward force that supports the weight of an object
34) Equilibrium: When an object is a rest or motion, with the net force on it being zero, we say
the object is at equilibrium. NF is zero = equilibrium
35) Inertia: Every material object resists change to its current state of motion.
36) Time (t, s): always measured in seconds.
37) Rate: How much something changes per unit time
38) Displacement (X, m): How far (distance) something travels in a given direction
39) Distance (d, m): how far something travels.
40) Speed (v, m/s): (Also called Average Speed): How fast we are moving Average speed is
total distance divided by the total time for any given trip
41) Instantaneous speed: Speed at any one moment or instant in time.
42) Velocity (v, m/s): How fast something is moving in a given direction.
43) Acceleration (a, m/s2): the rate at which the velocity changes over time. It can describe
the increasing and decreasing of speed as well as the changing of direction.
a. Deceleration (a, m/s2) is a decrease in speed (slowing down)

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Free Fall
44) Free falling: Objects only affected by gravity when falling.
45) Acceleration due to gravity (g, m/s2): It is the pull of gravity during free fall
46) Air resistance: type of friction that slows an object down as its move through the air.
47) Terminal velocity: Acceleration of a falling object is zero because friction balances with
the weight. It still has speed.

Newton’s 1st Law: The Law of Inertia

48) Every object at rest will remain at rest or every object in motion will remain in motion in a
straight line at constant speed, unless a force acts on it.

Newton’s 2nd Law:

49) Acceleration is equal to the net force divided by the mass.

Newton’s 3rd Law (Simplified):

50) To every action force there is always an equal and opposing reaction force.

Graphing
51) Y-axis: Dependent variable depends on the independent variable and is measured by the
experimenter. (vertical axis)
52) X-axis: Independent variable, on controlled by the experimenter directly (Horizontal axis)
53) Slope: the change in y-axis divided by the change in the x-axis.
54) Title: Purpose of graph
55) Origin: Where the X & Y axis intersects
56) Linear: Straight line (i.e. shape of line)

Vectors:
57) Linear Motion: Straight-line motion, such as horizontal or vertical
58) Non-linear Motion: Motion along a curved path.
59) Scalar: A physical measurement that does not contains directional information.
a. Ex: Distance & speed
60) Vector: A physical measurement that contains directional information
a. Ex: Velocity & acceleration
61) Resultants: The adding or subtraction of two or more vectors.
62) Components: one of the vectors that make a resultant
63) Resolution: The process of finding the components of a resultant.

Projectile Motion & Pressure

64) Projectile: an object that is projected or shot forward.
a. A force is applied for a short time at the beginning (not continuous)
65) Pressure (P, Pa): When the amount of force applied is measure with the applied area

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Friction
66) Friction (f, N): A force that acts between moving materials in contact w/each other.
a. Friction affects motion by slowing objects down & heats it up.
b. Friction acts in a direction that is opposed (opposite) to the motion.
67) Pulling Force (Fp, N): Force needed to move or maintain the motion of an object
68) Weight (Fw, N): Force pulling down on an object (action force)
69) Normal Force (Fn, N): Force reacting to the weight of an object (reaction force)
70) Static Friction Force (fs, N): force needed to start an object in motion
71) Kinetic Friction Force (fk, N): force needed to maintain the motion an object
72) Coefficient of Friction (μs or μk, None): value that shows the relationship between
the force of friction between two objects and the normal force between the
objects

Momentum
73) Momentum (p, kg m/s): inertia in motion (i.e. the strength of an object’s motion).
74) Impulse (I, Ns): A force applied in a given amount of time will starts a body in motion or
stops it (Impulse causes a change in momentum.)
75) Law of Conservation of Momentum: In the absence of an external force, the momentum of
a system remains unchanged during a collision.
76) Elastic collision: When objects collide & bounce off of each other without changing shape
or sticking together.
77) Inelastic collision: When objects collide and stick together and/or change in shape

Energy
78) Energy (E, J): The ability to do work.
79) Electrical Energy: The flow of electrons
80) Chemical Energy: The breaking of bonds between molecules
81) Nuclear Energy: Splitting of the atom
82) Radiant Energy: Electromagnetic radiation produced by vibrating atoms
83) Thermal Energy: The flow of energy from hot to cold temperatures
84) Mechanical Energy: The energy due to the position or movement of an object.
85) Potential Energy (PE, J): The energy of position (height), stored energy.
86) Kinetic Energy (KE, J): Energy due the motion
87) Work (W, J): Work is the energy we put into or take out of a system (W = Fxd)
a. Positive (+) work – adds energy to a system
b. Negative (-) work – removes energy from a system
88) Power (P, Watt): the rate at which work is done or energy is transferred (how fast does
the work get done)
89) Law of Conservation of energy: Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can be
transformed from one form into another, but the total amount of energy never changes.
90) Pendulum: An object that is suspended from a fixed location by a thin wire or string that
swings back and forth due to gravity.
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Simple Machines
91) Machine: a device used to multiply forces or change direction of forces. A machine is any
device that makes work easier.
a. The concept that underlies every machine is the conservation of energy.
92) Lever: rigid bar resting on a pivot, used to help move a heavy or firmly fixed load with one
end when force is applied to the other.
93) Pulley: It is made with a rope, belt or chain wrapped around a grooved wheel. A pulley works
two ways. It can change the direction of a force or it can change the amount of force.
94) Incline plane: It is a flat surface whose endpoints are at different heights. The distance
travels increases but the amount of force used decreases.
95) Wheel and Axle: It’s a lever that rotates in a circle around a center point or fulcrum. The
larger wheel (or outside) rotates around the smaller wheel (axle).
96) Wedge: Separates or push things apart.
97) Screw: It’s a cylinder with an inclined plane wrapped around it. It’s used to fasten, push
lift or cut.
98) Compound machines: Consist of two or more simple machines linked.
99) Mechanical Advantage: The benefit of using machines over muscles power.

Circular Motion, Gravity & Rotation

100) Axis: A straight line around which rotation takes place.
101) Rotation (or Spin): When an object turns about an internal axis, that is, an axis located
within the body of the object.
102) Revolution (Revolve): When an object turns about an external axis
103) Tangential Speed: The speed of something along a circular path. Motion is always tangent
to the circle
104) Rotational Speed (angular speed): Number of rotations per unit time.
105) Centripetal Force: Any force that is directed at a right angle to the path of a moving
object and that tends to produce circular motion.
a. Centripetal = center seeking or toward the center.
b. Center-directed force
106) Centrifugal force: An apparent outward force on a rotating or revolving body. Due to the
tendency of a moving body to move in a straight-line path.
a. Centrifugal – center fleeing or away from the center.
b. Centrifugal-force effect is attributed not to any real force but to inertia – the
tendency of the moving body to follow a straight-line path.
107) Center of Gravity (mass): a point on an object that is located at the object’s average
position of weight.
108) Torque: The product of force and the lever arm.
a. Torque tends to produce rotational acceleration.

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b. Torques produces rotation.
c. Torque = force () x lever arm
109) Rotational Inertia: The resistance of an object to change in its rotational motion.
110) Angular Momentum: Inertia of rotation
a. Angular momentum = rotational inertia x rotational velocity

Heat, Density, Temperature, Gases

111) Temperature (T, ˚C or K): a measurement of the average kinetic energy of the molecular
actively of an object.
112) Heat (Q, J) is energy in transit from a body of higher energy (temperature) to one of
lower energy (temperature).
113) Specific Heat Capacity (c, J/g ˚C): A measurement of substances for storing internal
energy.
114) Density (p, g/cm3 or g/ml or kg/m3): It’s a measure of how much matter is squeezed into
a given space.
115) Fluid: Anything that flows, like liquids and gases.
116) Buoyancy: The apparent loss of weight of an object immersed in a fluid.
117) Buoyant force (BF, N): An upward force created by buoyancy, opposite of gravity
118) Bernoulli’s Principle (Simple form): The speed of a fluid influences the pressure of the
surrounding fluid.

Wave
119) Waves: an oscillation accompanied by a transfer of energy traveling through a medium or
space.
120) Medium: The material that the wave travels through
121) Electromagnetic Waves: A form of energy which moves through space (no medium) as
waves.
122) Mechanical waves: Wave motion requiring a material medium (has mass)
123) Sine Wave: A special type of curve which pictorially represents a wave.
124) Source of Wave: Object or thing that generates the initial wave energy
125) Vibration: A wiggle in time
126) Wave: A wiggle in space and time
127) Wave Pulse: A single disturbance of a wave
128) Frequency (f, Hz): How often a vibration repeats itself in a given amount of time (Hertz
(Hz) vibration per second)
129) Period (T, s): Time to complete one cycle (start to end)
130) Simple Harmonic Motion: The back and forth vibratory motion of a swinging pendulum
131) Transverse waves: Particles of the wave vibrate at right angle (side to side, perpendicular)
to the direction of the wave.
132) Longitudinal Waves: The motion of the medium is in the same direction (parallel) in which a
wave travels.

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133) Standing Wave: A stationary wave pattern formed in a medium when two sets of waves
pass through each other in opposite directions.
134) Wavelength (, m): The distance between successive identical parts of the wave
135) Crest: A high point of a wave.
136) Trough: A low point of a wave.
137) Rest/Home Position: Position of medium when no wave is traveling through.
138) Amplitude (A, m): The maximum displacement from the rest position, shows the energy
carried by the wave
139) Interference: When two or more waves overlap, creating a pattern
140) Constructive Interference: When two waves collide and add together, forming larger
amplitude
141) Destructive Interference: When two waves collide and cancel each other out, forming
smaller amplitude
142) Node: Stationary point in a standing wave created by destructive interference
143) Antinodes: A Point in the wave with maximum amplitude created by Constructive
interference
144) Compression: Condensed region of the medium through which a longitudinal wave travels.
145) Rarefaction: Region in which the particles are more spread out in a longitudinal wave.
146) Doppler Effect: The change in frequency due to motion of the source or receiver.
147) Bow waves: Traveling at same speed as the wave speed, the crests overlap at the leading
edge, forming a ‘V’ shape.
148) Shock Wave: Three dimensional bow wave, in shape of cones.

Sound Waves
149) Sound: the transfer of energy caused by any vibrating material.
150) Pitch: Frequency of sound wave
151) Forced Vibration: When an object is made to vibrate
152) Natural Frequency: Material vibrates at its own special set of frequencies.
153) The three components out hearing sound are source, medium & receiver

Light
154) Light: produced when atoms and electrons vibrating (accelerating) at more a million times
each second.
155) Photons (c, m/s): Massless bundles of EM energy that we see as light
156) Radiation: Energy moving through space as invisible waves (i.e. EM wave)
157) Non-ionizing radiation: lower energy levels
158) Ionizing Radiation: Higher energy levels
a. Alpha particles: Fast moving helium nucleus
b. Beta particles: Fast moving electrons
c. Neutrons: Fast moving neutron carry a photon
d. Gamma & X-rays: fast moving energy
159) Types of Materials:

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a. Transparent materials: Allow light to pass through in a straight line.
b. Opaque materials: The light is absorbed without reemission, thus no light travels
through them. (Ex: Wood, stone, people.)
160) Shadow: Formed where light rays cannot reach.
161) Umbra: Total shadow, total absence of light.
162) Penumbra: Partial shadow, a partial blocking of light.

Color
163) Rods (cells): Sensitive to light or no light, which we see is black and white
164) Cones (cells): Sensitive to certain colors of light. There are three different color
sensitive cones: one sensitive to red, one to green and one to blue.
165) Incandescent Light Bulb: light is produced with a wire filament heated to a high
temperature by an electric current passing through it (10% efficient)
166) CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb): Electrons that are bound to mercury atoms are
excited to states where they will radiate ultraviolet light as they return to a lower energy
level; this emitted ultraviolet light is converted into visible light as it strikes the
fluorescent coating on the bulb.
167) LED Light Bulb: A light-emitting diode (LED) is a two-lead semiconductor light source. It
emits light when activated. When voltage is applied, electrons recombine, releasing energy
in the form of photons.
168) Halogen Light Bulb: Incandescent lamp that has a small amount of a halogen gas such
as iodine or bromine added. The combination of the halogen gas and the tungsten filament
produces a halogen cycle chemical reaction which re-deposits evaporated tungsten back
onto the filament.
169) Lux Meter: Measures the amount of energy produced by a light source 1 lux = 1 lumens / m2
170) Colored addition: Light coming directly from light producing sources (sun, light bulb).
a. The primary colors for color addition are Blue, Red & Green
171) Colored subtraction: Light is reflected off of a surface before traveling to our eyes.
a. Primary colors of color Subtraction are Magenta, yellow, and cyan

Reflection and Refraction

172) Reflection: The bouncing back of particles or waves that strikes the boundary between two
media.
173) Totally reflected: All reflected, none is transmitted
174) Partially reflected: Some transmitted and some reflected
175) Law of Reflection: The angle made by the incident ray and the normal, called the angle of
incidence, is equal to the angle made by the reflected ray and the normal, called the angle
of reflection.
176) Mirrors:
a. Object: where the light rays start
b. Image: where the light rays appear to start
c. Virtual image: Light rays do not actually start there.

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d. Flat Mirrors: Image is same size, left to right reversed
e. Convex: mirror that curves outward (Image is smaller)
f. Concave: mirror that curves inward (Image is larger)
177) Diffuse Reflection: When light is incident on a rough surface and is reflected in many
different directions.
178) Refraction: The change in direction of a wave as it crosses the boundary between two
media in which the wave travels at different speeds.
179) Atmosphere Refraction: The speed up of the part of the wave nearest the ground, due to
hot air near ground and cooler air above, produces a gradual bending of the light rays.
180) Dispersion (in a Prism): The separation of light into colors arranged according to their
frequency
181) Total Internal Reflection: Beam of light cannot enter air from the glass (water), and is
only reflected. (ex: Fiber Optics, polar bears, swimming pool.)

Lenses
182) Lens: A piece of glass has just the right shape that it bends parallel rays of light so that
they cross and form an image.
183) Converging lens: Converge to a single point (Thicker in middle)
184) Diverging lens: Diverge light (wider beam) (Thicker in middle, thick on ends)

Diffraction and Interference

185) Huygens’ Principle: Wave fronts are made up of tinier wave fronts
186) Light waves spreading out from a point source maybe regarded as overlapping of tiny
secondary wavelets, and that every point on any wave front regarded as anew point source
of secondary waves.
187) Diffraction: Any bending of wave by means other than reflection or refraction

Electrostatics
188) Electrostatics: The study of electric charges at rest (Electricity at rest)
189) Conservation of Charge: Electrical charge cannot be created or destroyed; it is
transferred from one location to another.
190) Electrical forces: A force that one electric charge exerts on another.
191) Electric Charge (q, C): Electric charge is measured in coulombs
a. The attracting and repelling behavior of protons and electrons leads to a property
called electrical charge.
192) Coulomb’s Law: The amount electrical force between particles related to the distance
between the electric charges.
193) Conductors: Materials in which electrons can flow easily
194) Insulators: Materials in which electrons cannot flow easily
195) Charging by friction: When two or more materials rub against each other and one of the
materials strips the electrons off of the other

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196) Charging by contact: Transfer of electrons from one material to another by simply
touching (The electrons flow from one material to another)
197) Charging by Induction: The charging of an object without direct contact. The electrons
are rearranged on a material creating a charge side of the material.
198) Electrical polarized: The rearrangement of the positions of charge within the atoms and
molecules themselves. One side of the atom is induced to be slightly more positive (or
negative) than the opposite side.

Electric Fields
199) Electric Field: A force field that fills the space around every electric charge or group of
charges
200) Electric Potential Energy: Charge objects can have potential energy by virtue of its
location in an electric field.
201) Electric potential: Electric potential energy per charge is called
202) Capacitor: A device used to store charge in a circuit.

Current
203) Electric current (I, A (amp): The flow of electric charge.
204) Voltage (V, v (volt)): an “electric pressure” that produces a flow of charge or current.
205) Electric resistance (R, Ω): The slowing down of current because of conductors
206) Ohm’s Law: The relationship between current, voltage, and resistance.
207) Direct current (dc): electrical flow occurs in one direction
208) Alternating current (ac): electrical flow switches direction

Electric Circuits
209) Circuit: A complete path from the positive terminal at the top of a battery to the negative
terminal at the bottom of the battery.
210) Battery: A group of electric cell that provides a potential difference
211) Series circuit: forms a single pathway for electron flow between the terminals of the
battery.
212) Parallel circuit: there are multiple pathways that allow separate paths for electrons to
flow.

Magnetism
213) Magnetic poles: region of magnetic forces.
214) Magnetic Field : The force field the surrounds the space around a magnetic
215) Electromagnet: A current-carrying coil of wire with many loops.

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Sources of Error:
216) Human error (a mistake) occurs when you, the experimenter, make a mistake. Examples
would be when you set up your experiment incorrectly, when you misread an instrument
(ruler), or when you make a mistake in a calculation.
a. Summary: Mistakes by humans that humans can prevent if they are careful.

217) Systematic error is an error inherent in the experimental set up which causes the results
to be skewed in the same direction every time, i.e., always too large or always too small.
a. Summary: Mistakes created by equipment and cannot be prevented

218) All experiments have random error, which occurs because no measurement can be made
with infinite precision. Random errors will cause a series of measurements to be sometimes
too large and sometimes too small. An example of random error could be when making
timings with a stopwatch. Sometimes you may stop the watch too soon, sometimes too
late.
a. Summary: Mistakes by humans that humans that humans cannot prevent because
we are not capable of finite measurements

Metric System
219) The metric system is a measurement method based on the powers of 10.
220) Base units could be grams, liters, meters, seconds, Newton, etc.

221) Metric Prefixes

Prefix Symbol Magnitude Meaning (multiply by)
 Tera- T 1012 1 000 000 000 000 (Trillion)
 Giga- G 109 1 000 000 000 (billion)
 Mega- M 106 1 000 000 (Million)
 kilo- k 103 1000 (1000x) Thousand times larger
 hecto- h 102 100 (100x)
 deka- da 10 10 (10x )
 Base unit - 1 1
 deci- d 10-1 0.1 (1/10)
 centi- c 10-2 0.01 (1/100) hundred times larger
 milli- m 10-3 0.001 (1/1000) Thousand time smaller
 micro- u (mu) 10-6 0.000 001 (1/million)
 nano- n 10-9 0.000 000 001 (1 /billion)
 pico- p 10-12 0.000 000 000 001 (1/trillion)

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222) Metric Conversion Ladder – Fill in the missing squares with the proper metric prefix.

kilo
Hecto Meter, Liter, gram
Deca
Base
Unit
Deci
Centi
Milli

Moving towards the right (down), move the decimal point to the right (i.e. multiply)
Moving towards the left (up), move the decimal point to the left (i.e. divide)

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