OCR GCSE Physics B key terms

A circuit with one complete path for charge to flow through its components.

A complete conducting route with very low resistance, often created by a fault and capable of producing a dangerously large current.

The digits in a measured or calculated value that communicate its precision, beginning with the first non-zero digit.

A word or symbol placed before a unit to multiply it by a stated power of ten, such as kilo ($10^3$) or milli ($10^{-3}$).

The Sun and the objects held in orbit around it by gravity, including planets and their moons.

A coil made from many turns of insulated wire, which produces a magnetic field when a current flows through it.

A method of detecting underwater objects or measuring depth by sending out sound pulses and detecting their echoes.

A mechanical disturbance that transfers energy through vibrations in a material.

An object or process that emits electromagnetic radiation.

A rapid electrical discharge through the air between regions with different electric potentials.

A model that shows how features are arranged in space.

The energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kg of a substance by 1 °C (or 1 K).

The energy transferred when 1 kg of a substance changes state without a change in temperature, measured in joules per kilogram (J/kg).

The specific latent heat for a change between the solid and liquid states.

The specific latent heat for a change between the liquid and gas states.

A line at a particular wavelength in a spectrum, produced or absorbed by a particular element.

The pattern formed when light is separated into its component wavelengths.

Reflection from a smooth surface in which an incident beam is reflected in a predictable direction.

How quickly an object covers distance, measured in metres per second (m/s).

A pair of conducting half-rings that swaps a rotating coil’s connections to the external circuit every half-turn.

The force needed per metre of extension in the linear part of a spring’s force–extension relationship, measured in N/m.

A way of writing a number as $a\times10^n$, where $1\leq a<10$ and $n$ is an integer.

An imbalance of positive and negative charge that remains on an object rather than flowing continuously around a circuit.

A wave pattern with fixed positions of no vibration and maximum vibration, formed by waves of the same frequency travelling in opposite directions.

A transformer with fewer turns on its secondary coil than on its primary coil, so its secondary potential difference is smaller.

A transformer with more turns on its secondary coil than on its primary coil, so its secondary potential difference is greater.

The total distance travelled between detecting a hazard and becoming stationary; it equals thinking distance plus braking distance.