EXAM GUIDELINES

FORCES AND VECTORS

● Resultant vector: the vector sum of two or more vectors
● Resultant force: a single force that has the same magnitude as two or more forces acting
together

NEWTON'S LAWS OF MOTION

● Normal force (𝑁): the force or the component of a force which a surface exerts on an
object in contact with it, and which is perpendicular to the surface
● Frictional force (𝑓): the force that opposes the motion of an object and which acts parallel
to the surface
● Static frictional force (𝑓 ): the force that opposes the tendency of motion of a stationary
𝑠
object relative to a surface
● Kinetic frictional force
(𝑓𝑘): the force that opposes the motion of a moving object relative
to a surface
● Frictional force is:
○ Proportional to Normal force
○ Independent of the area of contact
○ Independent of the velocity of motion
NOTE:
● Force a, F, applied to body parallel to the surface does not cause the body to move
then, F is equal in magnitude to the static frictional force
𝑚𝑎𝑥
● The static frictional force is a maximum (𝑓𝑠 )just before the object starts to
move across the surface
𝑚𝑎𝑥
● If the applied force exceeds (𝑓𝑠 ) a resultants net force accelerates the object

● Newton's first law of motion: A body will remain in its state of rest or motion at constant
velocity unless a non-zero resultant/net force acts on it
● Newton's second law of motion: When a resultant/net force acts on an object, the object
will accelerate in the direction of the force at an acceleration directly proportional to the
force and inversely proportional to the mass of the object
● Newton's third law of motion: When object A exerts a force on object B, object B
SIMULTANEOUSLY exerts an oppositely directed force of equal magnitude on object A
NEWTON’S LAW OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION
● Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation: Each particle in the universe attracts every other
particle with a gravitational force that is directly proportional to the product of their
masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centres
● Inertia
: the resistance of an object to any change in its state of motion
● Weight: the gravitational force, in newton (N), exerted by the Earth on an object

ELECTRIC CIRCUITS
Terminal potential difference and emf
● Potential difference: the energy transferred per unit electric charge flowing through it.
● emf:
the maximum energy provided by a battery per unit charge passing through it. (It is
equal to the potential difference measured across the terminals of a battery when no
charges are flowing in the circuit.)
● Terminal potential difference: the voltage measured across the terminals of a battery when
charges are flowing in the circuit.
Current
:
● Current the rate of flow of charge. (the same as coulomb per second).
● One coulomb is defined as the charge transferred in a conductor in one second if the
current is one ampere.
Resistance
:
● Resistance the ratio of the potential difference across a resistor to the current in the
resistor.
● Factors that affect the resistance of a given material, i.e. temperature, length and
thickness.
Ohms’s law
● Ohms law: the potential difference across a conductor is directly proportional to the
current in the conductor at constant temperature
Power, energy
● Power: the rate at which work is done
ELECTROSTATICS
● Coulomb's law: the magnitude of the electrostatic force exerted by one point charge (Q1
on another point charge Q2) is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of
the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance (r) between them.
● Electric field
: a region in space in which an electric charge experiences a force. The
direction of the electric field at a point is the direction that a positive test charge would
move if placed at that point
● Electric field at a point: the electric field strength at a point is the electrostatic force
experienced per unit positive charge placed at that point
Doppler Effect
● Doppler effect: the change in frequency (or pitch) of the sound detected by a listener,
because the sound source and the listener have different velocities relative to the medium
of sound propagation.
● applications of the Doppler effect:
○ nbb

GEOMETRICAL OPTICS
● Refractive index: the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum (c) to the speed of light in a
material (v)
● Optical density: a measure of the refracting power of a medium
● Normal: The line, which is perpendicular to the plane of the surface
● Angle of incidence: The angle between the normal to a surface and the incident light ray
● Angle of refraction: The angle between the normal to a surface and the refracted light ray
● Snell’s law: The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence in one medium to the sine of the
angle of refraction in the other medium is constant
● Critical angle: the angle of incidence in the optically denser medium for which the angle of
refraction in the optically less dense medium is 90°
● Refraction: the change in direction of a light ray due to a change in speed when light
travels from one medium into the other of different optical density
● Law of reflection: When light is reflected the angle of incidence is always equal to the
angle of reflection
● Angle of reflection: The angle between the normal to a reflecting surface and the reflected
light ray

2D AND 3D WAVEFRONTS
● Wavefront: an imaginary line joining points on a wave that are in phase
● Huygen’s principle: Every point of a wave front serves as a point source of spherical,
secondary waves that move forward with the same speed as the wave
● Diffraction: the ability of a wave to spread out in wave fronts as the wave passes through
a small aperture or around a sharp edge

ELECTROMAGNETISM
● Faraday’s law: The magnitude of the induced emf across the ends of a conductor is directly
proportional to the rate of change in the magnetic flux linkage with the conductor