Physics key terms

A method of finding an object’s volume from the volume of water it pushes aside when fully submerged.

The unit of power; $1\ \text{W}=1\ \text{J/s}$.

The unit of power; one watt means one joule of energy transferred per second.

A disturbance that transfers energy from one place to another without carrying the medium along with it.

A line joining points on a wave that are at the same stage of their oscillation.

A line joining points on a wave that are at the same stage of an oscillation; ripple-tank wavefronts appear as parallel bright or dark lines.

The distance from one point on a wave to the corresponding point on the next wave, such as crest to crest.

The spread of emitted radiation intensity across different wavelengths.

The movement or progression of a disturbance that transfers energy from one place to another.

The distance a wave travels per second through a medium, measured in metres per second (m/s).

The distance travelled by a wave per unit time, including a direction; its magnitude is measured in metres per second (m/s).

The force acting on an object due to gravity, measured in newtons (N).

The hot, dense core left after a red giant loses its outer layers.

A mixture of the different colours of visible light, from violet at the shortest visible wavelengths to red at the longest.

The transfer of energy when a force causes an object or boundary to move through a distance.

Energy transferred when a force moves an object through a distance in the direction of that force.

Energy transferred when a force causes an object to move through a distance.

High-frequency electromagnetic radiation that can pass through some materials and is absorbed more strongly by others.

A sensitive instrument that detects small currents and shows their direction using deflections on either side of zero.