Key
Terms and Concepts for Acceleration and
Momentum
to accompany The Cartoon guide to Physics - CD
return to class notes page
Terms:
- External force
- Impulse
- Internal Force
- Momentum
- Momentum Conservation
- Collision
- Elastic Collision
- Angular Momentum
- Angular velocity
- Lever Arm
- Precession
- Rotational Inertia
- Rotational Motion
- Torque
- Uniform Circular Motion
Concepts
Motion and Speed
- Motion is defined as a change in position, so what is
speed? How fast that change takes place. Or, the time it takes
to cahnge postion.
- When speed has direction it then has velocity.
- Any change
in velocity is called acceleration, whether it be fowards or backwards,
or even
sideways. To calculate
acceleration we simply use the equation a= Æv/t or change in
velocity over time.
- Most times when speak of average speed or velocity rather
than instantenous speed.
- to calculate speed we use the equation v=d/t.
Newton's laws
- 1st - inertia an object wants to keep doing what it is
doing unless something acts upon it to change the forces
- 2nd F= ma
- 3rd action
/ reaction
Force is a vector
- having both magnitude and direction
- total force is zero or balanced unless something is
moving
- net force is the sum of all the forces in a situation
Tension
- weighing of an object with a spring scale
Frictional Forces
- variable dependant on velocity and mass
- the force that resists motion
Air friction also called air resistance
- terminal velocity the balanced force between air molecule's
friction and gravity
Momentum
- is realted to F=ma the equation is p=mv which means
something that is massive (big) that is moving fast has alot of
momentum - think about stopping a train!!
- momentum can be transfered from one item to another, such
as in a cue ball in pool
- a collision is when two objects hit one another and
exchange momentum