Unit 6: Force and Motion Vocabulary

friction

a force opposes the motion of another object; making the object slow down, or giving it traction to get moving

gravity

A force of attraction between objects that is due to their masses, causes objects to fall towards Earth

mass

the measure of the amount of matter in an object

matter

Anything that has mass and takes up space

weight

is a measure of gravitational force between earth and an object

speed

distance over time

velocity

speed in a given direction

acceleration

change in speed and/or direction of an object's motion

balanced forces

do not change speed or direction

unbalanced forces

do change speed or direction

Inertia

resistance to change in motion, dependent on an objects mass

More mass = more inertia

force

A push or pull exerted on an object, has the ability to change an objects motion

Distance

The length of a path between two points

average speed

total distance divided by total time

instantaneous speed

the speed of an object at one instant of time

net force

The combination of all forces acting on an object

Newton's Second Law

Force = mass x acceleration

Newton's Third Law

For every action force there is an equal and opposite reaction force

Newton's First Law

An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

reference point

A place or object used for comparison to determine if an object is in motion

Deceleration

A decrease in speed

Newton

SI unit for force

kilogram (kg)

the basic SI unit of mass

m/s

SI unit for speed

m/s2

SI unit for acceleration

motion

An object's change in position relative to a reference point.

slope

the steepness of a line on a graph, rise over run

SI units (International System of Units)

the internationally accepted system of units, also known as metric system