IB Physics HL Study Guide

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and definitions relevant to IB Physics HL concepts.

Fundamental SI units

The basic units from which all other units are derived, including time (seconds), displacement (meters), mass (kilograms), temperature (kelvin), amount of substance (mole), and current (ampere).

Significant figures

Digits in a number that contribute to its precision, including all non-zero digits, any zeros between significant digits, and trailing zeros in a decimal number.

Newton's First Law

An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by a net external force.

Velocity

The rate of change of displacement, a vector quantity that includes both speed and direction.

Momentum

The product of an object's mass and its velocity, a vector quantity that indicates the motion of an object.

Kinetic energy

The energy an object possesses due to its motion, calculated as Ek = 1/2 mv² where m is mass and v is velocity.

Work

The energy transferred by a force acting over a distance, calculated as W = Fd cos(θ), where F is force, d is distance, and θ is the angle between the force and displacement.

Electric Field

The region around a charged particle in which a force would be exerted on other charged particles.

Coulomb's Law

The law that describes the electrostatic force between two charged objects, defined as F = k (|q1 * q2| / r²), where k is Coulomb's constant.

Gravitational Field Strength

The force per unit mass experienced by a small test mass placed in a gravitational field, calculated as g = F/m.

Fission

A nuclear reaction in which a heavy nucleus splits into smaller nuclei, releasing energy.

Fusion

A nuclear reaction in which two light nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, releasing energy.

Photoelectric Effect

The phenomenon wherein electrons are emitted from a material when it is exposed to light of certain frequencies.

Thermal Energy Transfer

The flow of thermal energy due to temperature differences, occurring via conduction, convection, and radiation.

Wavelength

The distance between successive crests (or troughs) of a wave.

Doppler Effect

The change in frequency or wavelength of a wave in relation to an observer moving relative to the source of the wave.

Voltage

The electric potential difference between two points; it represents the work done per unit charge to move a charge between those points.

Resistance

The opposition to the flow of electric current, proportional to the potential difference and inversely proportional to the current, defined by Ohm's Law: R = V/I.