Topic 1: Measurements and Uncertaintie
Accuracy - An indication of how close a measurement is to the accepted value (a
measure of correctness).
Precision - An indication of the agreement among a number of measurements
made in the same way (a measure of exactness).
Random Uncertainty - An uncertainty produced by unknown and unpredictable
variations in the experimental situation, such as temperature uctuations and
estimations when reading instruments. (A ects the precision of results - Can
be reduced by taking repeated trials but not eliminated – shows up as error
bars on a graph)
Systematic Error - An error associated with a particular instrument or
experimental technique that causes the measured value to be o by the same
amount each time. (A ects the accuracy of results - Can be eliminated by xing
source of error – shows up as non-zero y-intercept on a graph)
Vector – a quantity with both a magnitude and a direction
Scalar – a quantity with magnitude only
Topic 2: Mechanic
Displacement - distance traveled in a particular direction (change in position)
Velocity - rate of change of displacement
Speed - rate of change of distance
Acceleration - rate of change of velocity
Newton’s First Law of Motion – An object at rest remains at rest and an object in
motion remains in motion at a constant speed in a straight line unless acted on
by an unbalanced force.
Newton’s Second Law of Motion – An unbalanced force will cause an object to
accelerate in the direction of the net force. The acceleration of the object is
proportional to the net force and inversely proportional to its mass. (Fnet = ma or
Fnet = Δ p/Δ t (net force = rate of change of momentum))
Newton’s Third Law of Motion - When two bodies A and B interact (push or pull),
the force that A exerts on B is equal and opposite to the force that B exerts on
A.
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Law of Conservation of Linear Momentum - The total momentum of an isolated
system (no external forces) remains constant.
Work done - The product of a force on an object and the displacement of the
object in the direction of the force.
Principle of Conservation of Energy – Energy can be neither created nor
destroyed but only transformed from one form to another.
Elastic Collision – a collision in which kinetic energy is conserved
Power - The rate at which work is done or the rate at which energy is transferred.
E ciency - The ratio of the useful energy (or power or work) output to the total
energy (or power or work) input.
Topic 3: Thermal Physic
Temperature – The property that determines the direction of thermal energy
transfer between two objects.
Internal Energy of a substance - The total potential energy and random kinetic
energy of the molecules of the substance.
Heat - Energy transferred between two substances in thermal contact due a
temperature di erence.
Speci c Heat Capacity - energy required per unit mass to raise the temperature
of a substance by 1K
Speci c Latent Heat - energy per unit mass absorbed or released during a phase
change
Pressure – force per unit area acting on a surface
Topic 4: Oscillations and Wave
Displacement (for waves) – distance a particle moves in a particular direction
from its mean (equilibrium) position
Amplitude – maximum displacement from the mean position
Frequency – number of oscillations per unit time
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Period – time taken for one complete oscillation
Phase Di erence – di erence in phase between two points
Simple Harmonic Motion – motion that takes place when the acceleration of an
object is proportional to its displacement from its equilibrium position and is
always directed toward its equilibrium position
Transverse Wave – wave in which the direction of motion of the energy transfer is
perpendicular to the direction of motion of the particles of the medium
Longitudinal Wave – wave in which the direction of motion of the energy transfer
is parallel to the direction of motion of the particles of the medium
Wavelength - shortest distance along the wave between two points in phase with
one another
Intensity – power received per unit area (NOTE: for a wave, its intensity is
proportional to the square of its amplitude)
Principle of Superposition – When two waves meet, the resultant displacement is
the vector sum of the displacements of the component waves.
Node - locations of constant complete destructive interference on a standing wave
Antinode - locations of maximum constructive interference on a standing wave
Polarised Light – light in which the electric eld vector vibrates in one plane only
Topic 5: Electricity and Magnetis
Current – Rate of ow of charge
Ideal Ammeter - an ammeter with zero resistance
Ideal Voltmeter - a voltmeter with in nite resistance
Kirchho ’s 1st Law - The sum of currents owing into a junction is equal to the
sum of currents owing out of that same junction.
Kirchho ’s 2nd Law - The sum of the emfs in any closed loop is equivalent to the
sum of the potential di erences in that loop
Resistance - ratio of potential di erence applied to a device to the current through
the device (R = V/I)
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Ohm’s Law – The current is proportional to the potential di erence providing the
temperature is constant.
Electromotive Force - total energy per unit charge made available by the chemical
reaction in the battery
Electric Field Strength (E) - Electric force per positive unit test charge (E = F/q)
Topic 6: Circular Motion and Gravitatio
Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation – The force between two objects is
directly proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance between them.
Gravitational Field Strength – gravitational force per unit mass on a point mass
Topic 7: Atomic, Nuclear and Particle Physic
Isotope - nuclei with the same number of protons (Z) but di erent number of
neutrons (N)
Nucleon – a proton or neutron
Radioactive Decay – when an unstable nucleus emits a particle (alpha, beta,
gamma) (NOTE: Radioactive decay is both a random and a spontaneous
process.) (NOTE: The rate of radioactive decay decreases exponentially with time.)
Radioactive Half-life – the time taken for the activity of a sample to decrease to ½
its initial value
Mass Defect – di erence between the mass of the nucleus and the sum of the
masses of its individual nucleons
Binding Energy – energy released when a nuclide is assembled from its individual
components
Binding Energy per Nucleon - energy released per nucleon when a nuclide is
assembled from its individual components
Nuclear Fission - a heavy nucleus splits into two smaller nuclei of roughly equal
mass
Nuclear Fusion - two light nuclei join to form a heavier nuclei
Hadron - particle a ected by the strong and weak force.
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Baryon - part of the hard family and contains three quarks
Meson - part of the hadron family and contains two quarks: one quark and one
anti-quark
Topic 8: Energy Productio
Speci c Energy - energy per unit mass of a fuel
Energy density - energy per unit volume of a fuel
Moderator – Most neutrons released in ssion are fast neutrons, so a moderator is
used to reduce their kinetic energy.
Control Rods – are used to remove any excess neutrons to ensure the ssion
reaction continues safely
Heat Exchanger – This allows the nuclear reactions to occur in a place that is
sealed o from the rest of the environment.
Photovoltaic Cell – converts a portion of the solar radiation directly into a potential
di erence using a semiconductor
Solar Heater Panel – captures thermal energy and heats water running through a
pipe in the panel.
Albedo – fraction of the total incoming solar radiation received by a planet that is
re ected back out into space
Emissivity – ratio of power emitted by an object to the power emitted by a black-
body at the same temperature.
Solar Constant - the rate at which energy reaches the earth's surface from the
sun, usually taken to be 1,388 watts per square metre.
Intensity - power transferred per unit area
Topic 9: Wave Phenomena (HL only
Simple Harmonic Motion – motion that takes place when the acceleration of an
object is proportional to its displacement from its equilibrium position and is
always directed toward its equilibrium position
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Di raction - the process by which a system of waves is spread out as a result of
passing through a narrow aperture
Rayleigh Criterion - when the rst di raction minimum of the image of one source
point coincides with the maximum of another
Doppler E ect - increase (or decrease) in the frequency of waves as the source
and observer move towards (or away from) each other.
Topic 10: Fields (HL only
Gravitational Potential Energy - the work done in moving a mass from in nity to a
point in space
Gravitational Potential – the work done per unit mass in moving a mass from
in nity to a point in space
Electric Potential Energy- energy that a charge has due to its position in an
electric eld
Electric Potential - work done per unit charge moving a small positive test charge
in from in nity to a point in an electric eld.
Equipotential Surface – every point on it has the same potential
Escape Speed – minimum speed of a rocket needed to escape the gravitational
attraction of a planet
Topic 11: Electromagnetic Induction (HL only
Magnetic Flux - product of the magnetic eld strength and a cross-sectional area
and the cosine of the angle between the magnetic eld and the normal to the
area
Magnetic Flux Linkage – product of the magnetic ux through a single coil and
the total number of coils
Faraday’s Law - The emf induced by a time changing magnetic eld is
proportional to the rate of change of the ux linkage.
Lenz’s Law - The direction of an induced emf is such that it produces a magnetic
eld whose direction opposes the change in magnetic eld that produced it.
Capacitance – ratio of charge stored in a device to the potential di erence across
the device
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Time Constant - the time required to discharge the capacitor through a resistor
resistor to 36.8% of its initial charge voltage.
Topic 12: Nuclear and Quantum Physics (HL only
Photon - quanta of energy and momentum
Threshold Frequency - minimum frequency of light needed to eject electrons from
a metal surface
Work Function - minimum energy needed to eject electrons from the surface of a
metal
Schrödinger Wavefunction – the square of the amplitude of the wavefunction
gives the probability of nding an electron at a particular point.
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle – position-momentum or time-energy) cannot
be known precisely at the same time
Decay Constant - probability of decay of a particular nuclei per unit time
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