Download Einstein`s Miraculous Year

EINSTEIN’S MIRACULOUS YEAR
VOCABULARY
Photoelectric Effect
Atomic Theory
Photoelectric effect – when light hits a metal
Molecule – two or more atoms bonded
surface, an electron is released
together
Matter – anything that has mass and takes up
Brownian motion – the random motion of
space (volume). Energy is not matter.
particles as they spread out in a fluid (like
Metal – elements on the left and center of the
water or air)
periodic table. Metals are shiny, conduct heat
Microscopic – refers to events and substances
and electricity well, and lose electrons easily
at the particle level
Atom – a particle of matter often thought of as
Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity
a small, hard sphere
Vacuum – a container that is empty of
Electron – one of the parts that makes up an
atom. Electrons have a negative (-) charge and
everything, including air!
surround the nucleus.
Gravity – a force of attraction between objects
Light – a form of energy; it is both a particle
Black hole – a region of space where nothing
and a wave
can escape, even light!
Frequency – the number of light waves that
Big Bang theory – a theory that explains the
passes a point in one second (cycles/sec =
beginning of the universe as a large explosion
Hertz)
Atomic theory – the theory that all matter is
Electromagnetic spectrum – A diagram that
made of tiny particles called atoms which are
shows all the different forms of light in order
the smallest unit that can have properties of a
of increasing energy
substance
Intensity (of light) – brightness
Quantum mechanical model of the atom – the
modern view of the atom in which electrons
Threshold frequency – the minimum
are found in 3-D regions instead of rings
frequency needed for the photoelectric effect
to work. Every metal has a minimum
Special relativity – Einstein’s explanation of
frequency.
space and time
Photon – a packet (particle) of light