Physical Science Final Exam Vocabulary Flashcards

Flashcards for Physical Science Final Exam Review focusing on vocabulary from Chapters 11-14.

Displacement

The change in position of an object; a vector quantity.

Vectors

A quantity that has both magnitude and direction.

Speed

The rate at which an object is moving; distance divided by time.

Velocity

The speed of an object in a given direction.

Acceleration

The rate at which velocity changes.

Motion

The action or process of moving or being moved.

Force

A push or pull exerted on an object.

Newton's First Law

An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by a force.

Newton's Second Law

The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on the object, is in the same direction as the net force, and is inversely proportional to the mass of the object.

Newton's Third Law

Whenever one object exerts a force on a second object, the second object exerts an equal and opposite force on the first.

Inertia

The tendency of an object to resist a change in motion.

Projectile Motion

The curved path that an object follows when thrown, launched, or otherwise projected near the surface of Earth.

Centripetal Force

A force that causes an object to move in a circle.

Terminal Velocity

The constant velocity of a falling object when the force of air resistance equals the force of gravity.

Gravity

The force that attracts all objects toward each other.

Friction

The force that opposes the motion of objects that touch as they move past each other.

Sliding Friction

A force that opposes the motion of two surfaces sliding past each other.

Rolling Friction

Friction that occurs when an object rolls over a surface.

Static Friction

The friction force that opposes the start of motion.

Fluid Friction

The friction that occurs as an object moves through a fluid.

Machine

A device that makes work easier by changing the size or direction of a force.

Work

The product of force and distance.

Power

The rate of doing work.

AMA (Actual Mechanical Advantage)

The ratio of the output force to the input force in a machine.

IMA (Ideal Mechanical Advantage)

The mechanical advantage of a machine in the absence of friction.

Efficiency

The percentage of the work input that becomes work output in a machine.

Input Force

The force you exert on a machine.

Output Force

The force exerted by a machine.

Input Distance

The distance the input force acts through.

Output Distance

The distance the output force is exerted through.

1st Class Lever

A lever in which the fulcrum is located between the effort and the load.

2nd Class Lever

A lever in which the load is located between the fulcrum and the effort.

3rd Class Lever

A lever in which the effort is located between the fulcrum and the load.

Compound Machine

A combination of two or more simple machines that operate together.

Fulcrum

The fixed point around which a lever rotates.

Frame of Reference

A system of objects that are not moving with respect to one another.

Relative Motion

Movement in relation to a frame of reference.

Resultant Vector

The sum of two or more vectors.

Instantaneous Speed

The speed measured at a particular instant or moment in time.

Free-Fall

Acceleration due to change in speed.