Dynamics and Kinematics Practice Flashcards

These vocabulary flashcards cover key concepts from Unit 3 Dynamics and Kinematics, including fundamental forces, Newton's laws, and motion descriptors.

Dynamics

The branch of mechanics dealing with the study of force and its effect on motion.

Force (F)

A vector quantity that changes or tends to change the state of rest or uniform motion of a body (including starting, stopping, speeding up, slowing down, or changing direction).

Normal Force

A perpendicular force exerted by a surface to prevent objects from passing through each other.

Thrust

A perpendicular propelling force acting in the direction of motion, such as that provided by a rocket engine.

Friction

A force resisting relative motion between sliding/rolling surfaces or fluid layers that acts opposite to the direction of motion.

Tension

A pulling force transmitted through a string, rope, cable, or spring, which is elastic only during extension.

Elastic Force

The force exerted by a stretched or compressed object to resist deformation.

Gravitational Force

An attractive force between any two objects with mass; as a fundamental force, it is the weakest with an infinite range.

Electrostatic Force

The attraction or repulsion between electric charges.

Magnetic Force

The attraction or repulsion between magnetic poles.

Strong Nuclear Force

The strongest fundamental force (relative strength of $1$) with a short range; it uses Pions to keep protons packed in the nucleus.

Electromagnetic Force

A fundamental force with infinite range and Photons as exchange particles; it acts between charges and is the origin of friction, tension, and contact forces.

Weak Nuclear Force

A short-range fundamental force mediated by Vector Bosons that facilitates radioactive decay.

System Diagram (SD)

A visual drawing showing all objects within a system.

Free Body Diagram (FBD)

A schematic drawing of a single object showing vector arrows for all external forces acting upon it.

Net Force

The vector sum of all forces acting on an object.

Dr. Abdus Salam

The Pakistani Physicist who, with Steven Weinberg and Sheldon Glashow, unified the electromagnetic and weak nuclear forces in the late 1960s.

Electroweak Force

The force resulting from the unification of the electromagnetic and weak nuclear forces.

Balanced Forces

Forces that result in no change in the state of motion.

Unbalanced Forces

Forces that produce acceleration in the direction of the net force.

Newton's First Law of Motion

The law stating that in the absence of a net external force, an object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion continues with constant velocity in a straight line.

Inertia

The natural tendency of an object to resist changes in its state of rest or uniform motion.

Mass

The quantitative measure of inertia, where greater mass indicates greater resistance to changes in motion.

Newton's Second Law of Motion

Statement that an unbalanced net force on a mass produces an acceleration that is directly proportional to the force and inversely proportional to the mass.

01 Newton

The amount of force required to produce an acceleration of $1\,m/s^2$ in a mass of $1\,kg$.

Newton's Third Law of Motion

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

Weight (W)

A vector quantity representing the gravitational force acting on a mass, pointing toward the center of the Earth.

Gravitational Field Strength

The force per unit mass acting on an object, valued at approximately $9.81\,N/kg$ at the Earth's surface.

Momentum

The vector quantity defined as the product of an object's mass and its velocity.

Impulse ($J$)

The vector product of net force and the time interval during which it acts; it is equal to the area under a Force-Time graph.

Isolated System

A collection of bodies that interact with each other but have no net external force acting on them.

Law of Conservation of Momentum

The total linear momentum of an isolated system remains constant before and after any interaction.

Rest

A state where a body's position does not change with respect to its surroundings as time passes.

Motion

A state where a body's position changes with respect to its surroundings as time passes.

Distance

The total length of the path traveled by an object, which is a scalar quantity.

Displacement

The shortest straight-line distance between the initial and final positions of an object, which is a vector quantity.

Speed

A scalar quantity defined as the distance traveled per unit time, calculated as $\frac{\text{Distance}}{\text{Time}}$.

Velocity

A vector quantity defined as the displacement per unit time in a specified direction.

Acceleration

The rate of change of velocity with time, calculated using the formula $a = \frac{v-u}{t}$.

Uniform Acceleration

A condition where velocity changes by equal amounts in equal intervals of time.