Physics Definitions and Laws/Principles Form 4 & 5

Definitions

Form 4

Chapter 1: Measurement
1. Physical quantity are quantities that can be measured using an instrument.
2. Derived quantity are physical quantities derived from combinations of base
quantities through multiplication or division or both multiplication and division.
3. Scalar quantities are quantities that have magnitude only.
4. Vector quantities are quantities that have both magnitude and direction.
Chapter 2: Force and Motion I
5. One tick, T is the time of two successive dots.
6. Displacement is the shortest distance between the starting point and ending point.
7. Velocity is the rate of change of displacement.
8. Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity.
9. Speed is the rate of change of distance travelled.
10. Gravitational field is a region where a body placed in it will experience a gravitational
force.
11. Gravitational field strength (Force/Mass, m/g) is the force acting on a unit mass (1kg)
of an object placed at the point in the gravitational field.
12. Free fall is when the object is only experiencing gravitational force.
13. Inertia is a tendency of an object to remain at rest or, if moving, the continue its
motion in a straight line at uniform velocity.
14. Momentum is the product of mass and velocity.
15. Force is a vector quantity which is directly proportional to the mass.
16. Impulse, Ft is the of change of momentum.
17. Impulsive force, F is the rate of change of momentum.
Chapter 3: Gravitation
18. Centripetal force is the force towards the centre of the orbit or circle that keeps the
object to rotate about a centre.
19. Geostationary satellite is a satellite that appears to be stationary when view from
earth.
20. Escape velocity is the minimum energy needed to launch a satellite to overcome
force of attraction by the earth.
Chapter 4: Heat
21. Temperature is a measure of the degree of hotness or coldness of a body.
22. Thermal equilibrium is archived when two bodies have the same temperature and
the (rate of heat flow between is the same)/(net heat flow between is zero).
 23. Heat capacity is the heat energy required to raise the temperature of a body by 1 ℃
or 1K.
24. Specific heat capacity is the heat energy required to raise the temperature of a 1kg
body by 1 ℃ or 1K.
25. Specific latent heat of fusion is the heat energy required to melt 1kg of body without
change of temperature.
26. Specific latent heat of vaporisation is the heat energy required to vaporise 1kg of a
liquid without change of temperature.
27. Pressure, P is the force acting on a unit area.
Chapter 5: Waves
28. Vibration/Oscillation is to and fro motion along the same path about an equilibrium
position.
29. One complete oscillation is one time to and fro motion.
30. Period is the time taken for one complete oscillation
31. Frequency is the number of complete oscillations in one second.
32. Amplitude is the maximum displacement of a particle from the equilibrium position.
33. Wavelength is the length between two successive particles that are vibrating in
phase.
34. Wavefront is the imaginary line that joins up all the particles of the medium that are
vibrating in phase.
35. Refraction is the bending/change in direction of waves propagation when it travels
from a medium into another medium of different densities or depth.
36. Diffraction is the spreading out of waves when it pass through a slip or around an
obstacle.
37. Coherent sources are the sources that produce waves with the same frequency and
having constant phase in differences.
Chapter 6: Light and Optics
38. Refractive index is the ratio of sine angle of incidence to the sine of angle of
refraction.
39. Critical angle is an angle when the angle of refraction is 90.
Form 5
Chapter 1: Force and Motion II
1. Balance force is forces that are equal but opposite direction.
2. Resultant force is a single force that represent the vector sum of two or more forces
in magnitude and direction.
3. Resolution of forces is the process of resolving a force into two component which are
perpendicular to each other (vertical and horizontal components).
4. Free body diagram is a diagram that shows all the force acting on a body.
5. Elasticity is the ability of a material to recover its original shape and size after force
acts on it is removed.
 6. Force in equilibrium is when the forces act upon on an object and it remain as
stationary or moving in constant velocity in a straight line // is forces acting on a body
that produce zero resultant force.
7. Force is the push or pull on an object with mass that causes it to change velocity.
8. Elastic potential energy is energy stored due to stretched or compressed.
Chapter 2: Pressure
9. Pressure is the force exerted on a unit area.
10. Atmospheric pressure is the weight of air acting on the surface of earth.
Chapter 3: Electricity
11. Electric force is the force exerted between the electrical charges.
12. Electric field is a region around a charged particle where the charged particle exerts
an electric force on the other charged particle.
13. Electric field strength is the electric force (F) acting on a unit charge (C) at that point
in the electric field.
14. Current is the rate of flow of electric charge.
15. Potential difference//Electromotive force e.m.f. is the energy transferred or work
done by an electrical source to move one unit charge/coulomb in a complete circuit.
16. Resistance of a conductor is the ratio of potential difference across the conductor to
the current flowing through it.
17. Ohmic conductor is a conductor which obeys Ohm’s Law. (Non -Ohmic vice versa)
18. Superconductor is a conductor with zero resistance.
19. Internal resistance is the resistance that caused by the chemical reaction in the cell.
20. Voltage drop is the potential difference or lost of voltage in the cell due to internal
resistance.
21. Power is the rate of energy transferred//work done.
Chapter 4: Electromagnetism
22. Electromagnetic induction is the production of induced current in a conductor when
there is cutting of magnetic flux.
23. Ideal transformer is the transformer that do not experience any power loss during
the process of transforming the voltage.
24. Catapult force is the resultant force between the interaction of magnetic field of
current-carrying conductor and magnetic field of permanent magnet.
Chapter 5: Electronics
1. Thermionic emission is the escape of electron from a heat metal surface.
2. Cathode ray is a stream of fast-moving electrons in a vacuum.
3. Doping is a process of adding small amounts of impurities to increase the
conductivity of a semiconductor.
4. Trivalent atom is atom with 3 valence electrons. (Aluminium, Indium, Gallium, Boron)
5. Pentavalent atom is atom with 5 valence electrons. (Antimony, Arsenic, Nitrogen,
Phosphorus)
 6. Semiconductor is a material with conductivity less than that of a conductor but
better than that of an insulator.
7. Rectification is a process of converting alternating current to direct current.
8. Transistor is a semiconductor device used to transfer a weak signal from a low-
resistance circuit to a high-resistance circuit.
9. Capacitor is used to smooth the output current.
Chapter 6: Nuclear Physics
1. Radioactive decay is a process where a unstable atom decay to become a more stable
atom with release of radioactive radiation (Alpha particle, beta particle and gamma
ray)
2. Half-life is the time taken for the activity of a radioactive substance to decay to half of
its original activity.
3. Nuclear fission is the splitting of heavier nucleus into two or more lighter nuclei by
releasing large amount of energy.
4. Nuclear fusion is combining of two or more lighter nuclei into a heavier nucleus by
releasing large amount of energy.
5. Mass defect is the loss of mass due to radioactive reaction.
Chapter 7: Quantum Physics
1. Black body is an ideal absorber and emitter of electromagnetic radiation.
2. Quantum of energy is a discrete energy packet not a continuous energy.
3. Photon is the discrete packet energy./ Photon is the quantum of light energy.
4. Threshold frequency is the minimum frequency of the incident light which can result
the release of photoelectron on the metal.
5. Work function is the minimum amount of energy required to emit a photoelectron.
Laws/Principles
Form 4

Chapter 1: Measurement (non)

Chapter 2: Force and Motion I

1. Newton’s first law of motion states that an object will remain it state, either at rest
or, if moving, moving in a constant velocity unless it is acted upon any external
forces.
2. Newton’s second law of motion states that the rate of change of momentum is
directly proportional to the force and acts in the direction of applied force.
3. Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is a reaction of equal
magnitude, but in opposite direction.
Chapter 3: Gravitation
4. Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation states that the force of attraction is directly
proportional to the product of masses of two bodies and inversely proportional to
the square of distance between the two bodies.
5. Kepler’s First Law states that all the planet move in elliptical orbits with the sun at
one of the two focal point.
6. Kepler’s Second Law states that an imaginary line that joining the sun sweep out
equal areas in equal time intervals.
7. Kepler’s Third Law states that the square of period of orbit is directly proportional to
the cube of radius of orbit.
Chapter 4: Heat
8. Boyle’s Law states that the pressure is inversely proportional to the volume for a
fixed mass of gas at constant temperature.
9. Charles’s Law states that the volume is directly proportional to the absolute
temperature for a fixed mass of gas at constant pressure.
10. Gay-Lussac’s Law states that the pressure is directly proportional to the absolute
temperature at a fixed mass of gas at constant volume.
Chapter 5: Waves

1. Principle of superposition states that when two wave meet at a point in a medium,
the resultant amplitude is equal to the vector sum of their individual amplitude.

Chapter 6: Light and Optics

2. Snell’s Law states that refractive index is the ratio of sine of angle of incidence to the
sine of angle of refraction.
Form 5
Chapter 1: Force and Motion II
1. Hooke’s Law states that the extension of a spring is directly proportional to the force
applied on the spring provided the elastic limit of the spring is not exceeded.
2. Principle of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created or
destroyed// no external force acting on the body.
Chapter 2: Pressure
3. Pascal’s principle states that a pressure exerted on a fluid is transmitted to all part of
the fluid uniformly.
4. Archimedes’ principle states that a material that is fully or partially submerged in
fluid, the buoyant force is equal to the weight of fluid displaced.
5. Bernoulli’s principle states that the speed increases, the pressure decreases.
Chapter 4: Electromagnetism
6. Faraday’s Law states the magnitude of the induced current is directly proportional to
the rate of cutting of magnetic flux
7. Lenz’s Law states that the direction of flow of induced current is oppose to the
change of magnetic flux that causes it.
8. Principle of electromagnetism states that the induced current emf is produced in a
conductor when there is cutting or changing of magnetic flux.