Physics key terms

Energy transfer by an electric current doing work on a device.

A physical property of matter that can be positive or negative and causes electrical forces between objects.

The flow of electrical charge; its size is the rate at which charge passes a point in a circuit.

A region around a charged object in which another charged object experiences a force.

The direction of the force that would act on a positive test charge placed at a point in an electric field.

A line used to represent the direction and relative strength of an electric field.

The strength of an electric field at a particular position, indicated qualitatively by how closely spaced its field lines are.

A push or pull experienced by an electric charge because it is in an electric field.

The proportion of a country's electricity generated using each energy resource.

A device that uses the force on a current-carrying coil in a magnetic field to produce rotation.

The harmful passage of electric current through the body.

A solenoid containing an iron core, which produces a stronger magnetic field when current flows.

The production of a potential difference across a conductor because the magnetic field around it changes.

A transverse wave that transfers energy and can travel through a vacuum; radio waves, microwaves and infrared are types of electromagnetic radiation.

The continuous range of electromagnetic waves, grouped according to wavelength and frequency.

A wave made of oscillating electric and magnetic fields that can travel through a vacuum and transfer energy.

A negatively charged subatomic particle that can be transferred from one material to another.

The arrangement of an atom's electrons in its electron shells.

The path at a particular distance from the nucleus used to represent an electron's energy level in the atomic model.

Another name for an energy level: a set distance from the nucleus at which electrons orbit.

The movement of electrons from one material to another.

A non-contact push or pull acting between electric charges.

The rearrangement of electrons within an object caused by the electric field of a nearby charged object, without the objects needing to touch.

An attractive or repulsive interaction involving electric charges.

A device that uses electrostatic attraction to remove smoke and other particles from a gas.

The force that pushes like electric charges apart; it acts between positively charged nuclei.

A device that gives fine liquid droplets the same electric charge so that electrostatic forces control their movement.