Physics Vocab 1

Dependent Variable

A variable in an experiment that measures or observes something. It relies on the Independent Variable.

Displacement

A vector quantity that describes the overall change in position from the beginning to end. It includes both magnitude and direction.

Distance

A scalar quantity that represents the total path traveled by an object. It only has magnitude.

Independent Variable

A variable that is manually changed. It is not affected by other variables.

Magnitude

The size of a quantity, without regard to its direction.

Position

The location of an object in space relative to a reference point.

Speed

A scalar quantity which is the rate which an object covers distance.

Scalar

A physical quantity that has only magnitude and no direction, like distance and speed.

Vector

A physical quantity that has both magnitude and direction. Examples include displacement and velocity.

Velocity

A vector quantity that is the rate at which an object's position changes. It is the ratio of displacement to the time taken.