Forces and Motion

These flashcards cover essential vocabulary related to forces and motion, including definitions of different types of forces and laws governing motion.

force

A push or pull that acts on an object.

newton

The force that causes a 1 kg mass to accelerate at a rate of 1 meter per second each second.

net force

The overall force acting on an object after all the forces are combined.

friction

A force that opposes the motion of objects that touch as they move past each other.

static friction

The friction force that acts on objects that are not moving.

sliding friction

A force that opposes the direction of motion of an object as it slides over a surface.

rolling friction

The friction force that acts on rolling objects.

fluid friction

Opposes the motion of an object through a fluid.

air resistance

Fluid friction acting on an object moving through the air.

gravity

A force that acts between any two masses.

terminal velocity

Constant velocity of a falling object under the influence of gravity.

projectile motion

The motion of a falling object after it is given an initial forward velocity.

inertia

The tendency of an object to resist a change in its motion.

mass

A measure of the amount of matter an object contains.

weight

The force of gravity on an object.

momentum

The product of an object’s mass and its velocity.

law of conservation of momentum

If no net force acts on a system, then the total momentum of the system does not change.

electromagnetic force

Associated with charged particles.

strong nuclear force

A powerful force of attraction that acts only on the neutrons and protons in the nucleus, holding them together.

weak nuclear force

An attractive force that acts only over a short range.

gravitational force

An attractive force that acts between any two masses.

centripetal force

A center-directed force that continuously changes the direction of an object to move it around the center.