Forces and Motion Vocabulary

These flashcards cover essential vocabulary related to forces and motion, including definitions to help with understanding key concepts.

reference point

The starting point you choose to describe the location, or position, of an object.

position

An object’s distance and direction from a reference point.

motion

The process of changing position.

displacement

The difference between the initial, or starting, position and the final position.

speed

A measure of the distance an object travels in a given amount of time.

velocity

The speed and the direction of a moving object.

acceleration

A measure of the change in velocity during a period of time.

vector

A quantity that has both magnitude and direction.

Newton’s first law of motion

An object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion unless a force acts on the object.

Newton’s second law of motion

Law that states that the acceleration of an object is equal to the net force exerted on the object divided by the object’s mass.

Newton’s third law of motion

When an object applies a force on another object, the second object applies a force of the same strength on the first object but in the opposite direction.

force

A push or a pull on an object.

contact force

A push or a pull on one object by another object that is touching it.

friction

Contact force that resists the sliding motion of two surfaces that are touching.

free-body diagram

A simple model to understand what will happen to an object due to a force.

net force

The combination of all the forces acting on an object.

force pair

The forces two objects apply to each other.

normal force

The force that pushes perpendicular to the object’s surface.

elastic collision

When colliding objects bounce off each other.

noncontact force

A force that one object applies to another object without touching it.

gravity

An attractive force that exists between all objects that have mass.

field

A region of space that has a physical quantity (such as a force) at every point.

weight

The gravitational force exerted on an object.