Matter In Motion Flashcards

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to matter in motion, force, and related topics.

Force

A push or pull that changes the motion, size or shape of a body.

Unit of force

Newton (N)

1 Newton

Force exerted by Earth’s gravity on an object that has a mass of 100 gms.

Contact Forces

Forces that require contact (physical touch) between two objects or substances.

Non-contact forces

Forces that do not require contact (physical touch) between two objects or substances.

Buoyant force

The upward force exerted on objects in a fluid.

Elastic Force

Force that acts to pull a stretched object back to its regular shape.

Friction

A force that resists motion in two objects that are moving against each other.

Compressional Force

Force that results from pushing or squeezing an object.

Tensile Force

A force that results from pull exerted on an object.

Shearing Force

Force that distorts material by slippage along a plane parallel to the force, or a force that causes one part of the material to slide past another.

Gravitational Force

Force that pulls all objects towards the center of the Earth and also objects towards each other.

Electromagnetic forces

A very close interaction of electric and magnetic forces, considered as a single force, determines the ways electrically charged particles interact with each other and magnetic fields.

Weak Nuclear Force

Force within the atomic nucleus that makes complex atoms form due to nuclear fusion.

Strong Nuclear Forces

Force that holds the protons and neutrons together in the nucleus.

Nuclear fission

Splitting of the nucleus

Components of Forces

Magnitude (size) and direction

Net force

The total of all forces that act on an object

Unbalanced forces

Necessary to cause a change in motion.

Speed

the rate at which an object moves

 

Instantaneous Speed

Speed of an object at a given instant

Average Speed

Speed of an object over a long period of time in which instantaneous speed may have gone up or down.

Vector Quantities

The quantity which depends on directions.

Scalar Quantities

The quantity that does not depend on directions.

Velocity

Defined as the speed of an object in a particular direction.

Acceleration

Defined as the rate of change of velocity over time.

Positive Acceleration

Acceleration when velocity increases.

Negative Acceleration

Acceleration when velocity decreases.

Projectile Motion

Curved path an object follows when it is thrown or propelled near Earth’s surface.

Centripetal Force

Defined as the force acting on a body that is moving in a circular path that is directed toward the center around which the body moves.

Centrifugal force

The force in the opposite direction, pointing outward from the center of rotation.

Circular motion

The movement of an object along a circular path.