| Question |
Answer |
| speed |
how far an object will travel in a certain amount of time |
| velocity |
how far and in what direction an object will travel |
| acceleration |
change in velocity |
| acceleration of gravity |
acceleration of a falling object in m per sec |
| momentum |
product of mass times velocity |
| force |
change applied to an object's momentum |
| net force |
overall force acting on an object |
| angular momentum |
circular momentum |
| torque |
twisting force that can change an objects angular momentum |
| mass |
amount of matter |
| weight |
force that a scale measures |
| free-fall |
falling without resistance |
| weightlessness |
in a state of free-fall |
| Newton's First Law |
An object moves at constant velocity if there is no net force acting upon it |
| Newton's Second Law |
Force = mass x acceleration (F=ma) |
| Newton's Third Law |
For any action, there is an equal and opposite reaction |
| conservation of momentum |
total momentum of interacting objects cannot change |
| conservation of angular momentum |
as long as there is no external torque, the total angular momentum of interacting objects cannot change |
| conservation of energy |
energy cannot appear out of nowhere or disappear into nothing |
| kinetic energy |
energy of motion |
| radiative energy |
energy carried by light |
| potential energy |
stored energy |
| thermal energy |
collective kinetic energy moving within a substance |
| temperature |
measures average kinetic energy of particles |
| gravitational potential energy |
how much mass an object has and how far it can fall |
| mass-energy |
energy contained in mass itself (E=mc^2) |
| law of gravitation |
Fg = GM1M2/d^2 |
| bound orbit |
ellipse |
| unbound orbits |
ellipse, parabola, hyperbola |
| gravitational encounter |
when two objects pass close enough to exchange orbital energy |
| escape velocity |
amount of energy needed by an object to clear a gravitational field of orbit |
| tidal force |
difference in gravitational forces that causes two tidal bulges |
| tidal friction |
tidal forces stretching the earth |
| synchronous rotation |
moon always shows the same face to Earth because of tidal friction |