Download Physical Science - Key Terms

Name:____________________________________________________Date:________________________HR________
NJ ASK VOCABULARY (Physical Science)
1. Newton’s 1st Law of Motion: an object at rest will stay at rest and an object in motion will stay in motion with the
same velocity unless acted on by an unbalanced force
2. Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion: the relationship between mass, force, and acceleration is: Force = Mass x Acceleration
3. Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion: for every action force, there is a reaction force equal in strength and opposite in
direction
4. Inertia: the property of an object that resists changes in its motion
5. Force: a push or a pull
6. Mass: the amount of “stuff” (matter) an object contains
7. Volume: The amount of space that an object takes up
8. Speed: the distance an object travels divided by the time it takes
9. Work: a form of energy that comes from force applied over distance
10. Energy: the ability to do work
Different
Types
of
Energy
11. Mechanical Energy: kinetic and potential energy (of lifting, bending, stretching or twisting)
12. Chemical Energy: energy that has been stored in chemical form (fuels, sugars)
13. Heat Energy: a form of energy that is transferred by a difference in temperature
14. Electrical Energy: energy stored in the back-and-forth motion of electrons in electric
utility lines
15. Light Energy: a visible form of radiant energy that moves in waves outward in all directions from its source
16. Sound: the movement of energy through substances in longitudinal (compression/rarefaction) waves
17. Nuclear Energy: the energy stored within the nucleus of an atom; used by nuclear power plants
to produce electricity
18. Wave: a disturbance that transfers energy from one place to another without requiring matter to move the entire
distance
PLEASE DRAW THE DIAGRAM WITH YOUR DEFINITION OF WAVE.
Three
Characteristics
of a Wave
19. Frequency: how often something repeats, expressed in hertz
20. Wavelength: the distance from any point on a wave to the same point on the next cycle of the
wave (crest to crest or trough to trough)
21. Amplitude: a measure of how big the wave is
Name:___________________________________________Date:___________________HR________
NJ ASK VOCABULARY (Physical Science)
1. Radiation: the transfer of heat through space in the form of waves
2. Conduction: the transfer of heat by direct molecular contact
3. Convection: the transfer of energy from place to place by the motion of heated gas or liquid; for
example in Earth’s mantle
4. Reflection: the bouncing back of a wave after it strikes a barrier
5. Refraction: the bending of a wave as it crosses the boundary between two mediums at an angle
other than 90 degrees
6. Absorption: the disappearance of a wave into a medium; when a wave is absorbed, the energy
transferred by the wave is converted into another form of energy
7. Light Ray: an imaginary line that represents a beam of light
8. Electromagnetic spectrum - the continuous band of wave formed by all the electromagnetic
wave together
9. Concave lens: curved inward toward the center, like the inside of a spoon
10. Convex lens: curved outward, like the underside of a spoon
11. Acceleration: the rate of change in velocity
12. Gravity: the force that objects exert on each other because of their mass
13. Velocity: the speed of an object in a certain direction
14. Expansion: the increase in the volume of matter that occurs when matter is heated
15. Contraction: The process of becoming smaller
16. Prism: an optical tool that uses refraction to separate the different wavelengths that make up white
light
17. Friction: a force that resists the motion of objects or surfaces
18. Newton: the metric unit of force, equal to the force needed to make a 1 kg object accelerate at 1
m/s2
19. Potential Energy: stored energy
20. Kinetic Energy: the energy of motion