Motions, forces & energy Flashcards
(128 cards)
What are rulers used for?
to measure small distances of a few centimeters (cm)
What are measuring cylinders used for?
Measuring cylinders can be used to measure the volume of liquids
By measuring the change in volume, a measuring cylinder can also be used to find the volume of an irregular shape
What are the basic physical quantities?
Mass (symbol:m, si unit:kg), time (symbol: t, si unit: seconds), length (symbol:l, si unit: meter)
What’s the formula of speed?
s=d/t (speed=distance/time)
What is the symbol, formula and si unit for force?
Symbol: F
Formula: mass x acceleration
SI unit: kgm/s^2 or Newtons
What is the symbol, formula and si unit for acceleration?
Symbol: a
Formula: Vf-Vi/time taken
SI unit: m/s^2
What is mass?
Mass is the measurement of the quantity of matter in an object at rest relative to the observer. It is measured using a weighing scale and is measured in grams but answer is put in kg
What is length?
The measurement of the distance between two points
What is volume?
Measurement of the amount of space occupied. Derived from three length measurements. It’s measured using a measuring cylinder or a burette. Measured volume is in milliliters or cm^3
What is time?
A measurement of duration. Measured using a stopwatch in seconds
What is parallax error?
The error because of the incorrect positioning of the eyes while reading a measurement. To measure length properly, your line of sight must be perpendicular to the ruler scale. To measure volume properly, you have to be eye level with the scale and read the bottom of the meniscus
What is zero error?
When you don’t account for the distance before 0 on a measurement instrument.
What is a scalar?
quantity that has magnitude (size) only
What is a vector?
quantity that has magnitude and direction
Name some scalars
distance, speed, time, mass, energy and
temperature
Name some vectors
force, weight, velocity, acceleration, momentum,
electric field strength and gravitational field
strength
What is a simple pendulum?
An object suspended from a fixed point which moves back and forth. One swing of the pendulum is an oscillation
What is a period?
the interval of time it takes for a motion to repeat. The symbol is T
Why are short intervals of time measured in multiples?
An important factor when measuring time intervals is human reaction time (this is unique and constant to each individual-usually 0.1s-0.4s). This can have a significant impact upon measurements when the measurements involved are very short (less than a second). To fix this we measure in multiples and take the average.
What is velocity?
speed in a given direction
What is the average speed formula?
average speed = total distance travelled/
total time taken
What is the acceleration of free fall g for an object near to the surface of the Earth?
9.8 m/s^2 (it is constant)
Describe the motion of objects falling in a uniform gravitational field with air/liquid resistance
When an object falls, initially it accelerates. The resultant force on the object is very large initially, so it accelerates. As the object falls faster, the force of friction acting upon the object increases. Eventually the object falls at a steady speed when the force of friction equals the force of weight acting on it. This is called terminal velocity (when the forces are equal)
What do you need to remember when drawing graphs?
- More than half the page
- Label the axis, title
- Unit for each quantity
- Scale spaced evenly
- Plot point within half square accuracy using crosses
- Join the points with a smooth line
- Line of best fit