A Level Physics / Mechanics (copy)

Velocity, displacement, acceleration, force, e.t.c.

Speed, distance, temperature, mass, time, ,e.t.c.

Using the total distance travelled, and the total time taken:

Draw a tangent at any point of the line, then use it to find the a value for both distance and time, and use these in:

The distance moved in a particular direction from a point.

By finding the area under the line.

• Accelerate

The force that acts perpendicular to the point of contact of a body and the surface it's resting on.

A force that opposes motion due to the contact between two surfaces.

• The body on which forces act

The product of the force and the perpendicular distance of its line of action from the point/axis.

W = F x d:

The rate of change of distance, and a scalar quantity; measured in meters per second.

The rate of change of distance, and a vector quantity; measured in meters per second.

The rate of change of velocity, and a vector quantity; measured in meters per second squared.

A stationary object.

An object moving at a constant speed.

An object that is accelerating (positive gradient)/decelerating (negative gradient).

The acceleration of the object.

An object moving at a constant velocity.

An object that is accelerating at a constant rate.

An object with changing acceleration.

By setting the value for velocity to 0, and assuming the acceleration is due to gravity, unless stated otherwise.

Using a light gate at the bottom of a ramp, start a toy car/trolley rolling down, then the velocity will be found by the light gate when it breaks the two light beams shining between the gate.

Using an ball placed on a trapdoor a known distance from a second trapdoor, and recording the time it takes from the moment the first trapdoor is released to the moment the ball lands on the second trapdoor. Then rearrange and use S = ut + 1/2 (at*2) to find the value for acceleration/g.

An object that is thrown at an angle to the horizontal, so therefore moves in both the horizontal and vertical planes.

The air resistance.

Nothing, as there are no forces acting on the horizontal component; it stays the same.

It is affected by gravity, so will change in accordance with the value for g.

By finding the time taken to reach the maximum height of the projectile, then doubling it. This value can then be used to find the total distance if the velocity of the horizontal component is known.

By using the horizontal and vertical components of motion in Pythagoras' theorem.

The total distance travelled from when the driver sees the hazard requiring them to stop to when the vehicle stops; it is the sum of the thinking and braking distances.

The total distance travelled from when the driver sees the hazard requiring them to stop to when the driver acknowledges that they must stop and applies the brakes.

The total distance travelled from when the driver applies the brakes to when the vehicle stops.

• Initial speed of the vehicle

• Initial speed of the vehicle

It is proportionate to the initial speed, as thinking distance is calculated by multiplying the initial speed of the vehicle by the driver's reaction time.

It is proportionate to the square of the initial speed.

The object accelerates.

A unit of force; one newton is the force that will give a mass of one Kilogram an acceleration of one meter per second squared.

The force of gravity that acts on an object; found by multiplying the mass of an object by the acceleration due to gravity: F = Ma.

The force that acts within a stretched cable or rope.

Linear motion; motion acting in a single, straight line.

The motion of an object that is moving in two dimensions, that is caused by the application of a constant resultant force.

It will accelerate.

Air resistance.

• The density of the fluid

As the object falls, its velocity increases. This in turn increases the drag force acting on the object, which causes its acceleration to decrease. This continues to occur until the drag force is equal to the object's weight, at which point it has reached a constant terminal velocity.

By releasing a ball bearing from rest into a measuring cylinder full of water whilst starting a timer, then marking the position of the ball bearing after each second on the tube, we know that the ball bearing has reached its terminal velocity once the distance travelled between each interval is the same.

The turning effect of a force about an axis or pivot; the magnitude of the force multiplied by the perpendicular distance from the force to the pivot, so its unit is newton meters.

It will be zero, as the moment is found by multiplying the force by the distance from the pivot, so when the distance is zero the moment is zero.

A pair of forces that have equal magnitude and act in opposite directions, and are applied to an object in parallel with one another. They combine to produce a rotational force about the central pivot point, rather than a translational movement.

The product of the magnitude of one of the forces and the perpendicular distance separating the two forces; this is equal to the total moment of the couple.

As there is no resultant force, the moment will be zero.

For a body to be in equilibrium, the sum of the clockwise moments at a point must equal the sum of the anticlockwise moments at that same point.

The point of an object through which all of its weight appears to act.

The object will move in a straight line, with no rotational movement.

• The object is suspended from a point, along with a ball bearing on a string, then the line it creates from that point is drawn onto the object

The mass per unit volume of a substance; it is found by dividing an objects mass by its volume, and is represented by ρ.

• Weigh the object on a balance to find its mass

• Weigh the object on a balance to find its mass

The normal (acts perpendicular to an objects surface) force exerted on a surface per unit cross-sectional area, measured in pascals; found by dividing the force exerted on the object by its cross-sectional area, which gives newtons per meter squared.

Due to the weight of the fluid above it, as the fluid particles collide with the object's surface.

In all directions.

The upwards force that acts on an object when it is either partially or fully submerged in a fluid. This is because the pressure acting on the base of the object is greater than that acting on the top of it.

The upthrust exerted on a body immersed in fluid, whether partially or fully submerged, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces.

A transfer of energy occurs, the magnitude of which depends on the force required and the distance that the object moves as a result of this force. This transfer of energy is work done.

A transfer of energy that occurs due to the requirement of a force to provide motion; the product of the magnitude of the force and the distance moved by the object in the direction of the force.

Work done is measured in joules; one joule of work is done when a force of one newton moves an object one meter in the direction of the force.

Kinetic energy, Gravitational potential energy, Elastic potential energy, Electric potential energy, Sound energy, Internal energy, Electromagnetic energy, Nuclear energy, and Chemical energy.

The energy associated with the motion of an object with mass; measured in joules, with SI base unit Kilogram Meters squared per second squared (KgM2s-2)

The energy stored by an object at a point in a gravitational field.

The energy stored as a result of a reversible change in an object's shape.

The energy of charges due to their position in an electric field.

The energy of a mechanical wave due to the movement of atoms.

The sum of the randomly distributed kinetic and potential energies of the molecules in a substance.

The energy from electromagnetic waves, stored within oscillating fields.

The energy stored in nuclei, released when particles in nuclei rearrange.

The energy contained in chemical bonds, released when atoms rearrange.

In a closed system, energy cannot be created or destroyed; the energy that was present before the transferal is always equal to the energy that is present after the transferal.

The work done.

As the carriage moves up a hill, the kinetic energy starts to transfer to the gravitational potential energy store, which in turn transfers back to kinetic energy once it travels back down the hill. As the maximum kinetic energy equals the maximum gravitational potential energy, we can set the two equations equal to each other, and from this we can prove that an objects mass has no bearing on its final speed, which shows that acceleration due to free fall is the same for all objects.