Glossary for Academic Decathlon “Science”

Alternating current - a current where the definition of the current switches back and forth opposed to direct current)

Ampere's law- an equation relating the electric current passing through a closed loop to the strength of the magnetic field pointing along that loop

Amplitude - the maximum amount a wave oscillates, a.k.a. the intensity of the wave

Aton- the building block of matter; contains a nucleus with protons and neutrons, which is surrounded by electrons

Battery- a device that maintains a constant voltage that allows current to Keep flowing

Cathode ray tube- a device that accelerates electrons
and then magnetically deflects them onto different parts of a Screen to create an image

Conductor- a-type of material that allows electric charge to flow freely through it; opposite of on
insulator

Coulombs Law- an equation describing the electric force between objects with electric charge

Dielectric - material inserted in a capacitor to allow the capacitor to store more charge by reducing the electric field within it

Electric Breakdown- occurs when the voltage becomes too high for the dielectric to resist current flow within the capacitor, and the capacitor becomes discharged in a temporary big burst of current through the capacitor

Diode - an element of an electric circuit that only allows current to flow through it through one direction ; often used to convert alternating current to direct
current

Direct current - a current where current flows in one direction (as opposed to alternating current)

Electric Charge - a fundamental quantity of particles determines how much the particles experiences electric, and magnetic forces

Electric circuit - a closed loop, typically with wire, that
allows the continuous flow of current

Electric current - the amount of charge flow, measures in amps (coulombs per sec)

Electric dipole - a configuration of charge with positive* and negative
charge sepereted by a short distance

Electric field - a vector field created by a charged particle ; tells other charges how to interact with it and points in two direction in which a charge will be accelerated at that position

Electric field Flux- amount of electric field passing through some area

Electric Force - Know as Coulomb's Law

Electric polarization- refers to the separate of positive* and negative charges within a neutral object; allows the object to feel electric forces

Electric potential - the amount of energy per charge

Electric potential energy - the energy associated with an objects position in an electric field; con be converted into kinetic Energy

Electromagnetic force - the fundamentel force that gives rise to both the Electric and magnetic forces