click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Physics (Unit 1)
revision for mid year exam
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Wave | > transmission of energy through periodic oscillations, w/o a net transfer of matter. |
| Mechanical Wave | > waves or oscillation of physical matter. eg. water, seismic, sound waves |
| Electromagnetic Wave | > oscillations of the electromagnetic and magnetic fields, commonly referred to as light. |
| Transeverse Wave | > perpendicular to the direction of the wave propagation. eg. electromagnetic waves, water waves |
| Longitudinal Wave | > parallel to the direction of wave propagation. eg. sound waves, P waves in earthquake. |
| Properties of wave | > amplitude, wavelength, period, frequency. |
| Electromagnetic radiation | > the sun emits electromagnetic radiation across a wide range of frequencies. |
| Electromagnetic spectrum | > when a charge accelerates, changes velocity, it produces electromagnetic radiation. |
| Black body | > an object that radiates energy but does not reflect it. eg. the SUN. |
| Diffraction | > spreading out of a wave due to passing through a gap or around an object. |
| Dispersion of white light | > The seperation of light into component colours due to refraction (different frequencies refract by different amounts.) |
| Mirages | > light refrcts & totally internall reflects to create mirages. - light move fast = hotter air - light move slow = cold air |
| Optical fibres | > utilise total internal reflection to make use of light for communication. - inner cladding has a higher refractive index compared to the outer cladding in order for total internal reflection. |
| Refraction | > a change in direction of a wave at a boundary due to a change in speed. |
| Refractive index | > a measure of the relative speed of light through a medium compared to a vaccuum. - greater refractive index = slower light will travel. |
| Snell's Law | > mathematical relationship between the angle of the incident and refractive ray when measured to the normal. n1 sin(θ1) = n2 sin(θ2) and n1v1 = n2v2 |
| Total internal reflection | > occurs when the angle of incidence predicts a refracted angle greater than 90 degrees. |
| Critical angle | > the angle of incidence at which the refracted angle is 90° - beyond this angle, total internal reflection occurs. |
| Temperature | > the measure of averaget translational kinetic energy of particles within a substance. |
| Heat | > transfer of thermal energy. |
| Conduction | > transfer of heat through collision. |
| Convection | > transfer of heat through mixing of fluids. |
| Radiation | > transfer of heat due to emission and absorption of electromagnetic radiation. |
| Specific Heat Capacity | > the amount of energy (Joules), you need to heat up 1 kilogram of a substance by 1 degree. - change in temp. |
| Latent heat | > energy required to change the state of 1 kg of a material without a change in temperature. - change in phase. |
| Kelvin and Celsius | > Kelvin = Celsius + 273.15 > Celsius = Kelvin - 273.15 |
| Wien's Law | > temperature of a black body increases = the wavelength of greatest emitted intensity decreases. - hotter star = peak wavelength decreases = frequency increases = colour change |
| Effect of temperature on emitted energy | > hotter objects emit more radiation at all wavelengths BUT proportions differ. - higher frequency radiation = more energetic. |
| Half life | > the time it takes for half of a radioactive sample to decay. |
| Alpha decay | > unstable nucleus decays into a more stable nucleus by emitting an alpha particle (basically just a helium atom). |
| Beta minus decay | > unstable nucleus decays into a more stable nucleus by transforming a neutron into a proton and an antineutrino. |
| Beta plus decay | > unstable nucleus decays into a more stable nucleus by transforming a proton into a neutron and emitting a positron and a neutrino. |
| Gamma decay | > process by which an excited nucleus decays into a more stable nucleus by emitting energy in the form of gamma rays. |
| Conservation of mass/energy in Nuclear Physics | > anything with mass has an inherent energy proportional to its mass. this relationship reveals that there is a tremendous amount of energy contained in small amounts of mass. this also means that when energy is added, its mass increases. - E = mc^2 |
| Mass defect | > the difference in mass between a nucleus and its constituent nucleons. |
| Fusion | > forcing several smaller nuclei together to form a single larger nucleus. - the reactant nucleus must be forced together where the strong force overcomes the electrostatic forces, very high temps, immense pressure. |
| Fission | > splitting a single nucleus into several smaller nuclei. |
| Quark | |
| Nucleons | |
| Strong force | |
| Weak force | |
| Absorbed dose | |
| Effective dose | |
| Equivalent dose | |
| Ionising impact | |
| Tissue weighting factor | |
| Binding energy | |
| Control rod | |
| Neutron moderators | |
| Neutron multiplication factor | |
| Criticality | |
| Subcriticality | |
| Supercriticality | |
| Fissile | |
| Voltage | |
| Current | |
| Resistance | |
| Charge | |
| Electric PotentialEnergy | |
| Ohm's Law | |
| Voltage divide | |
| Diode | |
| LED (light emitting diode) | |
| Potentiometer | |
| Transducer | |
| Thermistor | |
| LDR (light dependent resistor) | |
| Variable resistor | |
| Ohmic devices | |
| Non-ohmic devices | |
| Power(formulas) | |
| Watt | |
| kW (kilo Watt) | |
| kWh (kilo Watt hour) | |
| Direct Current (DC) | |
| Alternating Current (AC) | |
| Fuses | |
| Circuit Breakers | |
| Residual current devices (RCD) | |
| Earth wire |