Muhammad Afiq bin Abdul Wahid

PHYSICS DEFINITION & COMPARISON BY CHAPTERS

CHAPTER 1: PHYSICAL QUANTITIES & UNITS

NO. TERM DEFINITION

1 Base quantities Fundamental units that are not consist of combination of any units

2 Derived quantities Unit that are expressed in terms of base units

3 Vector quantity Quantity that has both magnitude and direction

4 Scalar quantity Quantity that has only magnitude but no direction

ESTIMATIONS

1 Acceleration of a family car 2 ms-2

2 Acceleration of free fall on moon

3 Walking speed 1 ms-1

4 Car speed 20 ms-1

5 Sprinter speed 10 ms-1

6 Mass of an orange 100 g

7 Height of room in a house 2m

8 Diameter of a pencil 1 cm

9 Volume of a small bean 0.5 cm3

10 Speed of a jet 200 ms-1

11 Temperature of human body 310 K

12 Diameter of hair 0.5 mm

13 Youngs Modulus of a metal wire 10^11

14 Resistivity of a copper 10^-8

15 Resistivity of an insulator 10^11

16 EMF of a car battery 12 V

17 Current in domestic appliance 13 A

 Muhammad Afiq bin Abdul Wahid

CHAPTER 2: MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES

NO. TERM DEFINITION

1 Systematic error Readings are consistently being either above or below true value

2 Random error Readings are scattered around true value

3 Accuracy The degree to which the values obtained approach true value and
is influenced by size of systematic error

4 Precision The size of the smallest division and is determined by the size of
random error

5 Uncertainty The total range of values within which the measurement is likely to
lie

CHAPTER 3: KINEMATICS

NO. TERM DEFINITION

1 Distance The total length of path covered by a moving object irrespective of

the direction of the motion

2 Displacement The shortest distance an object travels from a reference point in a

specified direction

3 Velocity The rate of change of displacement

4 Speed The rate of change of distance

5 Acceleration The rate of change of velocity

CHAPTER 4: DYNAMICS

NO. TERM DEFINITION

1 Newtons First Law Every body continues in a state of rest, or with uniform velocity,
unless acted on by an external force.

2 Newtons Second Law For a body of a constant mass, the resultant force is proportional
to the rate of change of its momentum.

3 Newtons Third Law When two bodies interact, the forces they exert on each other are
equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.

4 Conservation of In any closed system, the total momentum of the system remains
Momentum constant given there is no external force.

5 Force Rate of change of momentum

6 Momentum The product of its mass and its velocity

 Muhammad Afiq bin Abdul Wahid

7 Weight The force of gravity on a mass of object

8 Elastic collision Total kinetic energy before=after collision

CHAPTER 5: FORCES, DENSITY AND PRESSURE

NO. TERM DEFINITION

1 Torque The product of one of the forces and the perpendicular distance
between forces

2 Centre of gravity The point at which the whole weight of a body seems to act.

3 Couple A pair of equal parallel forces that are opposite in direction in which
the line do not coincide.

4 Moment The product of the force and the perpendicular distance between
the line of the action of the force from the pivot

5 The principle of moments For a body to be in rotational equilibrium, the sum of the
clockwise moment at any point must be = to the sum of the anti
clockwise moment about the same point

6 Density Mass per unit volume

7 Pressure Force acting perpendicularly per unit cross sectional area

CHAPTER 6: WORK, ENERGY AND POWER

NO. TERM DEFINITION

1 Work The product of force and the distance moved in the direction of the
force

2 Principle Conversation of Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be
Energy converted from one form to another.

3 Gravitational Potential Energy stored due to position of a mass in a gravitational field.

Energy

4 Kinetic Energy Energy stored by a mass due to its motion.

5 Elastic Potential Energy Energy stored due to deformation of the object; by either
compressing or stretching.

6 Electrostatic potential Energy stored due to position of a charge in an electric field

energy

**keyword for potential energy: energy stored in ____ due to ______

7 Power Rate of doing work

8 Efficiency Useful energy output per total energy input

 Muhammad Afiq bin Abdul Wahid

CHAPTER 9: DEFORMATION OF SOLID

NO. TERM DEFINITION

1 Hookes Law Applied force is directly proportional to the extension produced

provided that elastic limit is not exceeded.

2 Plastic Deformation The ability of object to change its shape and hence does not return
to its original shape after applied force is removed

3 Elastic Deformation The ability of object to change its shape and hence return to its
original shape after applied force is removed

4 Stress Force per unit original cross sectional area

5 Strain The ratio of extension to its original length

6 Youngs Modulus The ratio of stress over strain given that limit of proportionality is
not exceeded.

7 Elastic Limit The point beyond which material does not return to its original
shape when force applied is removed.

8 Ultimate tensile stress Maximum force per unit original cross sectional area that an
object can support before it breaks

CHAPTER 14: WAVES

NO. TERM DEFINITION

1 Frequency The number of oscillation per unit time of the source

2 Transverse wave Wave in which the vibration of the particles on the wave is normal
to the direction of the propagation of the waves energy.

3 Longitudinal wave Wave in which the vibration of the particles on the wave is parallel
to the direction of the propagation of the waves energy.

4 Polarisation The condition of waves in which particles are made to vibrate in

one direction on a single plane.

5 Doppler Effect The change in frequency observed due to the relative motion
between wave source and observer.

6 Displacement The distance of a point on wave from its undisturbed or rest

position

7 Amplitude The max distance of a point on wave from its undisturbed or rest
position

8 Wavelength The shortest distance between two successive points that are in
phase
 Muhammad Afiq bin Abdul Wahid

9 Period The time for one complete oscillation to occur

10 Intensity The rate of energy transmitted per unit perpendicular area to the
direction of wave propagation

11 Phase difference

12 Speed

CHAPTER 15: SUPERPOSITION

NO. TERM DEFINITION

1 Principle of Superposition When two or more waves meet at a point, the resultant
of Waves displacement is equal to the sum of the individual displacement of
the waves.

2 Coherent Source Waves of same frequency and constant phase difference.

3 Coherence Two or more waves that originates from a source which have
constant phase difference and same frequency and wavelength.

4 Diffraction The spreading or bending of waves when passing through a gap or

rounding an obstacle

5 Node The point with no displacement as a result of destructive

interference

6 Antinode The point with maximum displacement as a result of constructive

interference.

7 Constructive interference When two waves with maximum displacement meet, resulting in a
wave with amplitude of sum of the amplitudes of the individual
waves

8 Destructive interference When two waves with maximum and minimum displacement meet,
resulting in a wave with zero displacement.

9 Condition of interference - same types of waves

- meet at a point
- same direction of polarization

Difference between stationary waves and progressive waves

A Amplitude varies in between two nodes VS Amplitude the same for all points between two nodes

P All points between two adjacent nodes are in phase VS not in phase

E Energy is not transmitted VS energy is transmitted

 Muhammad Afiq bin Abdul Wahid

CHAPTER 17: ELECTRIC FIELDS

NO. TERM DEFINITION

1 Electric field The region of space where a stationary charge experiences force

2 Electric field strength The force per unit positive charge at that point

3 Direction of electric field Direction in which a positive charge would move if it is free to do
so.

CHAPTER 19: CURRENT OF ELECTRICITY

NO. TERM DEFINITION

1 Electric Current The rate of flow of electric charge

2 Ohms Law The current in a conductor is directly proportional to the potential

difference across its ends, provided its temperature and other
physical conditions remain constant.

3 Resistance The ratio of the potential difference across a conductor to the

current flowing through it

4 Potential difference Energy transferred from electrical energy to other forms of energy
per unit charge from one point to another point.

5 Electromotive Force Energy transferred from other forms of electrical energy to

electrical energy per unit charge to move around a complete circuit.

6 Semiconductor Materials which have intermediate electrical conductivity which

varies substantially with temperature

7 Electrical power

Current Electricity VS Static Electricity: There (is / is no) net flow of charge in certain direction

Conductor VS Insulator: Material that (have/doesnt have) mobile charge carriers (electrons and ions)
which will drift to constitute electric current.

CHAPTER 20: DC CIRCUITS

NO. TERM DEFINITION

1 Kirchoffs First Law The sum of the current entering a junction is equal to the sum of
the current leaving it.

2 Kirchoff's Second Law The sum of electromotive force is equal to the sum of potential
difference for any closed loop in a circuit.