Displacement Position of an object relative to its

starting position.

Velocity Rate of change of displacement.

Speed Rate of change of distance.

Acceleration Rate of change of velocity.

Newton's First Law An object continues in uniform motion

in a straight line/ at rest unless a
resultant force acts.

Newton's Second Law The acceleration of an object is

proportional to and in the same
direction as its resultant force.

Newton's Third Law When 2 objects react, the exert equal

and opposite forces on each other.

Linear Momentum The product of mass and velocity.

Impulse Change in momentum.

Law of conservation of Momentum of object in system stays

momentum the same in a closed system.

Work Force X distance moved in direction of

force.

Kinetic Energy The energy an object has due to it's

motion

Change in GPE The energy an object has due to its

position above the Earth.
Elastic Collision KE is conserved and objects bounce
off with the same speed it did before
in opposite directions.

Inelastic Collision Maximum loss of KE, objects stick

together & momentum is still
conserved.

Explosion Objects move away from each other,

internal energy becomes KE.

Efficiency Ratio of work out: energy put in.

Mole Amount of substance that has the

same number of molecules as the
number of of molecules as the number
of atoms in 12g of C-12.

Molar Mass Mass of 1 mole of the substance.

Avogadro's Constant Number of molecules in 1 mole =

6.022 × 10²³

Specific Heat Capacity The energy needed to increase the

temperature of of 1 kilo of an object
by 1K.

Thermal Capacity The energy needed to increase the

temperature of an object by 1K.

Specific Latent Heat Amount of heat needed to change the

state of 1 kilo of a substance WITHOUT
a change in temperature.

Pressure Force per unit area.

Displacement (SHM) Distance away a particle is from its

 equilibrium position.

Amplitude (SHM) Maximum displacement of a particle

from its equilibrium position.

Frequency (SHM) Number of oscillations produced per

second.

Period (SHM) Time taken for a complete oscillation.

Phase Difference (SHM) The fraction of an oscillation that one

wave moves behind another.

Simple Harmonic Motion Motion where the acceleration of an

object is proportional to & in the
opposite direction to displacement. a
= -ω2x

Damping Process where the energy of an

oscillating system decreases with
amplitude by a dissipative force acting
in the opposite direction.

Natural frequency The frequency that a system naturally

oscillates at.

Forced oscillation An oscillation that occurs & stays ,

Where an object is forced to oscillate
by an external force.

Resonance When the frequency of a driving force

matches the natural frequency of
oscillation.

Transverse wave Oscillations are at 90° to direction of

energy transfer/ wave motion.
Longitudinal wave Oscillations are parallel to direction of
energy transfer/ wave motion.

Crest Point on a wave with maximum

positive displacement.

Trough Point on a wave with maximum

negative displacement.

Compression Region (on a wave) where particles are

closer together than they would be in
their equilibrium state.

Rarefaction Region (on a wave) where particles are

further apart than they would be in
their equilibrium state.

Wavelength The shortest distance between 2

points on a wave that are in phase.

Wave speed The speed at which wave fronts pass a

stationary observer.

Intensity The power per unit area received by an

observer from a wave.

Principle of superposition When 2 or more waves of the same

type meet, the total displacement at a
point on a wave is the displacements
of the individual waves added at that
point.

Constructive/destructive Phase difference is 0/ out of phase&

interference path difference is a whole 'n' of
wavelength/ a fraction of it.

Electric potential Work done per unit charge in moving a

difference positive charge from one point in the
(electric) field to another.

Electronvolt The amount of energy an electron

gains by moving through a potential
difference of 1 volt.

Electric current The rate of flow of electrical charge.

Resistance The ratio of voltage across the

material to the current flowing through
it.

Ohm's Law The current through a wire is

proportional to the p.d. across it; as
long as the temperature is constant.

Electromotive force (emf) The power supplied by the supply per

unit current.

Internal resistance Resistance if a source (of power).

Gravitational field The force per unit mass experienced

strength by a small test mass placed in the
field.

Newton's universal law of Any point mass attracts every other

gravitation point mass with a force that is directly
proportional to the product of their
masses and inversely proportional to
their separation².

Electric field strength The force per unit charge experienced

by a small test charge placed in the
field.

Magnetic field strength F=BILsinø

 Direction: 90° to field lines.

Nuclide An atom with a particular nucleus

configuration.

Nucleon A proton or a neutron.

Isotope An element with the same number of

protons but a different number of
neutrons.

Radioactive half life The time taken for the total number of
nuclei (of a radioactive substance) to
halve.

Unified atomic mass The mass of ½ of the nucleus of a C-

12 isotope.

Mass defect The difference in mass between a

nucleus and its separate nucleons.

Binding energy per The total binding energy for the

nucleon nucleus divided by the total number of
nucleons

Binding energy The energy needed to break up a

nucleus into its constituent nucleons.

Degraded energy Energy transferred to surroundings

that can no longer do useful work.

Energy density The mean energy liberated per kg of a

fuel.

Fuel enrichment A process where you increase

percentage of U-235 to make fission
more likely.
Moderator Slows down fast neutrons to increase
the chance of more reactions. (So they
don't pass through the nuclei)

Control rod This absorbs neutrons to control chain

reactions.

Heat exchanger This allows the nuclear reactions to

occur in a place that is sealed off from
the rest of the environment. The
thermal energy is transferred to heat
water, and the steam that is produced
turns the turbines.

Photovoltaic cell Light hits semiconductors & electrons

are released/ moved; creating an
electric field.

Solar heating panel Heat goes through glass pane & is

absorbed by black pipes with running
water in them.

Albedo The ratio of reflected: incident

radiation.

Stefan- Boltzmann law Total power radiated ∝ T⁴ OR P=

σAT⁴.

Emissivity The ratio of power emitted by a body

to the power emitted if it was a black
body.

Surface heat capacity The energy needed to raise the

temperature of a unit area of a planet's
surface by 1K.

Enhanced greenhouse Rising global temperatures due to

effect greenhouse gases being put into the
atmosphere because of human
activities

Coefficient of volume The fractional change in volume per

expansion degree change in temperature.

Gravitational potential Work done per unit mass in bringing a

test mass from infinity to that point in
the field.

*Gravitational potential Work done in moving an object from

energy infinity to that point.

Electric potential The work done per unit charge in

bringing a positive test charge from
infinity to that point in the field.

Electric potential energy The work done moving a charge from

infinity to a point in an electric field.

Isochoric Constant volume: no work is done.

Isobaric Constant pressure: Work done is area

under line.

Isothermal Constant temperature: Work done=

area under curve.

Adiabatic No heat transfer: compression/

expansion. Work is done on/ by gas

Standing waves Transfer no energy. They have the

same amplitude and are in phase.
Happens when a wave & its reflection
interfere (or just 2 waves)
One dimensional Happens when a wave reflects back
standing wave from a boundary along the route it
came.

Doppler Effect The change in perceived frequency

because the source or observer is
moving.

Rayleigh criterion 2 points will be resolvable if the first

minimum of the diffraction pattern of
one source overlaps the central
maximum of the diffraction pattern of
the second source.

Polarized light Light with waves that vibrate in 1

plane.

Brewster's angle Happens when the transmitted ray is

90° to the reflected ray. The angle
gives us the angle of incidence needed
for plane-polarized light.

Polariser A device that makes polarized light

from an unpolarised beam.

Analyser A polariser used to detect polarised

light.

Optically active substance A substance that rotates the plane of

polarisation of light that goes through
it.

Stress analysis If polarised white light is shone on

plastic, you can see the stress points
where the coloured lines are.

Magnetic flux A measure of the strength of a

 magnetic field over a given area/
number of field lines.

Magnetic flux linkage The product of the magnetic flux and

the number of turns in a given coil.

Faraday's law The size of an induced emf is

proportional to the rate of change of
flux linkage.

Lenz's law The direction of an induced current is

such that it'll oppose the change
causing it.

de Broglie Hypothesis All particles have a wave like nature.

Electron in a box model An electron has possible wavelengths

like a standing wave on a string so
electrons have discrete energies.

Schrödinger's model This gives the probability of where the

electron could be (probability regions
called orbitals).

Heisenberg uncertainty You can only know 1 from each pair:

principle -momentum & position
-energy & time

Decay constant Probability of decay of a nucleus per

unit time

Radioactive decay law The activity of a radioactive sample ∝

Number of radioactive nuclei present.

Capacitance Charge per unit p.d. that can be stored

on a capacitor.
Quantum efficiency The ratio of the number of
photoelectrons emitted: the number of
photons incident on the pixel.

Magnification The ratio of the length of the image on

the CCD: the length of the object.

Stellar cluster A group of stars that are physically

near each other in space.

Constellation A pattern of stars as seen from Earth

that aren't physically near each other
in space.

Light year The distance that light travels in 1

year.

Luminosity The total power emitted by a star.

Apparent brightness The power received per unit area on

Earth by a star.

Cepheid A slightly unstable star that has a

regular variation in brightness and
luminosity due to a periodic expansion
and contraction in its outer layers.

Red giant -Red

-Comparatively cool
-Large
-Fuse elements other than Hydrogen

Red Supergiant -Red

-Large Mass
-Large Surface Area
-Large Luminosity
-Low Surface Temperature
White Dwarfs -Very Small/ Low Surface Area
-Large Surface Temperature
-White

Visual Binary Stars can be distinguished using a

telescope

Spectroscopic Binary Analysis if its light spectrum shows 2

different classes of stars- the
wavelengths show a periodic splitting
in frequency.

Eclipsing binary Analysis of the brightness of its light

spectrum shows periodic dips. This is
because on star is in the way of the
other.

Parsec A unit of distance that is equal to 3.26

light years

Apparent magnitude How bright a star appears from Earth.

Absolute magnitude The apparent magnitude a star would

have if it was 10 parsecs away.

Critical density The theoretical density of the universe

that would create a flat universe.

Hubble's Law The recessional velocity of a galaxy ∝

its distance away from Earth.

Audible frequencies 2Hz - 20KHz

(Sound) Intensity Amount of energy that a sound wave

brings to a unit area every second.

(Sound) Intensity Level 10 lg (I / I0);

 where I0 = 1.0 × 10-12 Wm-2.

Attenuation Coefficient The probability of a single photon

being absorbed in 1 m of the material-
use defining equation.

Half-value thickness The half-value thickness is that

thickness of material which will reduce
the intensity of the (transmitted) beam
by 50%

Acoustic Impedance The product of of the density of a

substance and the speed of sound in
that substance.

Exposure The total ionized charge produced in

unit mass of air by a particular
radiation. Q=mX.

Absorbed Dose The energy absorbed per unit mass of

tissue. E=mD.

Quality Factor This allows doses of different types of

radiation to be compared for their
biological effects.

Dose Equivalent The amount of energy absorbed

Physical Half-Life The time it takes for the activity of a

sample
to halve.

Biological Half-Life The time it takes the body to naturally

eject half of an ingested sample of a
radioactive isotope.