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Position & motion
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| REFERENCE POINT | the starting point you choose to describe the location, or position, of an object. |
| POSITION | an object's distance and direction from a reference point. |
| MOTION | the process of changing positions. |
| DISPLACEMENT | the difference between the initial or starting position, and the final position. |
| SPEED | a measure of the distance an object travels in a given amount of time. |
| VELOCITY | the speed and direction of an moving object. |
| VECTOR | a quantity that has both magnitude and direction. |
| ACCELERATION | a measure of the change in velocity during a period of time. |
| FORCE | a push or pull on an object. |
| CONTACT FORCE | a push or pull on one object by another object that is touching it. |
| NEWTON'S 2ND LAW | acceleration of an object's equals the net force divided by the objects mass. |
| FRICTION | a force that resists the sliding motion of two surfaces that are touching. |
| FREE-BODY DIAGRAM | a simple model to understand systems of objects with any amount of applied forces. |
| NET FORCE | the sum of all forces acting on an object. |
| NEWTON'S 1ST LAW | an object in motion will stay in motion, and an object at rest will stay at rest. |
| NEWTON'S 3RD LAW | when an object applies force on another object, the second object applies a force of the same strength on the first object but the force is in the opposite direction. |
| FORCE PAIR | the forces two objects apply to each other. |
| NORMAL FORCE | the force that pushes perpendicular to the object's surface. |
| ELASTIC COLLISION | when colliding objects bounce off each other. |
| INELASTIC COLLISION | a collision in which the total kinetic energy of the colliding objects is not conserved, though momentum is conserved. |
| NON-CONTACT FORCE | a force that one object applies to another object without touching it. |
| GRAVITY | an attractive force that exists between all objects that have mass. |
| FIELD | a region of space that has a physical quantity (such as a force) at every point. |
| WEIGHT | the gravitational force exerted on an object. |
| INERTIA | the fundamental resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest, directly proportional to its mass. |