Gravity and Friction

This set of flashcards covers key vocabulary related to gravity, friction, and forces, providing definitions to help understand these scientific concepts.

Contact force

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

Non contact force

A force that one object can apply to another object without touching it.

Gravity and magnetism

Electric forces that are examples of non contact force.

Forces have

Strength and direction

example arrow can be used to show force

Length shows strength of the force and direction shows the direction of the force

How are forces measured?

In units called newtons

Mass

The amount of matter in an object, often measured in kilograms.

How is mass often measured?

Kilograms

Weight

The gravitational force exerted on an object.

Universal gravitation

The law stating that all objects are attracted to one another with a force proportional to their masses and the distance between them.

Strength of a force

The magnitude of an applied push or pull, which can be represented by the length of an arrow.

Direction of a force

Indicated by the direction of the arrow in a force diagram.

Newtons

The units used to measure forces.

Kilograms

The units often used to measure mass.

Attraction between objects

Increases with the mass of the objects and decreases with the distance between them.

Earth's gravitational force

Exerts weight on objects near its surface.

Decrease in gravitational attraction

Occurs when the distance between two objects increases.

Push or pull

Defined as a force acting on an object.

Force diagram

A visual representation showing the strength and direction of forces acting on an object.

Friction

A force that opposes the motion of an object when it comes into contact with another object.

Magnetism

A non contact force that can attract or repel objects.