Physics Vocabulary

Linear Motion

• Motion in a straight line

• Two-dimensional motion

• Displacement

• Acceleration

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

Vector

• Having magnitude

• Having magnitude and direction

• Another word for scalar

• An instant of time

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-4

NGSS.HS-PS3-5

Displacement

• How far you have traveled in a straight line

• The location of an object

• The independent path taken by an object

• How far you are from where you started as measured by a straight line

Velocity

• How fast an object is moving

• How fast and in what direction an object is moving

• A type of acceleration

• The position of an object

Acceleration

• Speeding up

• Slowing down

• Speeding up and slowing down

• Speeding up, slowing down and changing direction

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

Magnitude

• Size

• Direction

• Position

• Resultant

Parabola

• A math term - we don't use this is physics!

• The y-component

• The curved shape of a projectile's path

• The x-component

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-1

NGSS.HS-PS2-4

Resultant

• The sum of two or more vectors added together

• The product of two or more vectors added together

• The curved shape of a projectile's trajectory

• How we find acceleration

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS2-2

Force

• The way objects interact

• a push or pull

• can only happen on Earth

• measured in kilograms

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-1

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

Inertia

• The tendency of an object to resist acceleration

• The tendency of an object of speed up

• The tendency of an object to slow down

• The tendency of an object to have momentum

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2