Year 9 & 10 Science: Waves, Materials, Motion, and Energy

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering electromagnetic radiation, chemical materials and composites, kinematics and energy principles, as well as wave optics, acoustics, and thermodynamics.

Bandwidth

The total amount of information or data that can be transmitted along a communication channel over a given period.

Dispersion of Light

The separation of white light into its constituent spectrum of wavelengths or colours when refracted through a medium such as a triangular prism.

Diffraction

The bending and spreading out of waves as they travel through an aperture or around the edge of an obstacle.

Primary Colours of Light

The three fundamental colours of light—red, green, and blue—that cannot be created by mixing other lights and combine to produce white light.

Secondary Colours of Light

Colours produced by combining equal intensities of two primary light colours, specifically cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Compound

A pure substance formed when two or more different chemical elements are chemically bonded together in fixed proportions.

Isotopes

Atoms of the same chemical element that contain identical numbers of protons but differing numbers of neutrons.

Shape Memory Alloy

A metallic alloy, such as Nitinol, capable of recovering its original shape after deformation when subjected to heating or cooling.

Base Metal

The predominant metallic element present in the highest proportion within an alloy.

Stent

A collapsible tube made of a metal alloy and fabric that is surgically inserted into narrowed or blocked arteries to expand and hold them open.

Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP)

A composite material consisting of layers of carbon fibres oriented in different directions and embedded in a polymer matrix to provide high tensile strength and low weight.

pH Scale

A logarithmic numerical scale measuring the relative concentration of hydrogen ions ($H^+$) in an aqueous solution, where values below $7$ are acidic and $7$ is neutral.

Inertia

The inherent tendency of a physical body to resist changes in its state of motion or rest.

Displacement

A vector quantity defining an object's overall change in position relative to its starting point, characterized by both magnitude and direction.

Friction

A contact force that opposes the relative motion between two touching surfaces, dissipating mechanical kinetic energy as thermal energy.

Newton's Third Law of Motion

The law stating that whenever a body applies a force to another body, the second body simultaneously exerts an equal and opposite force back upon the first.

Energy Efficiency

The ratio or percentage of useful energy output delivered by a system compared to the total input energy supplied.

Power

The rate at which work is performed or energy is converted over time, quantified in joules per second ($\text{J/s}$) or watts ($\text{W}$).

Ticker Tape Timer Trace

A paper strip marked with successive dots at fixed time intervals used to determine whether an object travels at a uniform velocity, accelerates, or decelerates.

Conduction

The process of thermal energy transfer between adjacent particles in direct physical contact through kinetic vibrations without bulk movement of the medium.

Convection

The mode of heat transfer in fluids driven by density differences, where heated, less dense fluid rises and cooler, denser fluid descends to form circulation currents.

Thermal Radiation

The transfer of heat via emitted electromagnetic waves, such as infrared waves, that can travel through empty space without requiring a material medium.

Longitudinal Wave

A wave in which the oscillations of particles occur back and forth parallel to the direction of wave travel, forming alternating regions of compression and rarefaction.

Transverse Wave

A wave characterized by particle displacements or field fluctuations occurring perpendicularly to the line of propagation.

Refraction

The alteration in the direction of a wave when entering an optically different medium as a consequence of a change in its propagation speed.

Total Internal Reflection

The complete internal reflection of an optical ray propagating within a denser medium when encountering an interface with a rarer medium at an angle surpassing the critical angle.

Lateral Inversion

The optical phenomenon where an image formed by a plane mirror appears reversed horizontally from left to right compared to the object.

Illuminance

A measurement of total luminous flux incident per unit surface area, expressed in lux ($\text{lux}$).

Convex Lens

An optical lens that curves outward and is thicker at its centre than at the extremities, converging parallel incident rays toward a focal point.