PHYSICS FORM 4

TERMS AND DEFINITION

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICS
Physical

QUANTITIES that are measurable

quantities
Base quantities

Derived
quantities
Scientific
notation/standar
d form
Prefixes

Scalar quantity

Vector quantity
Error

PHYSICAL QUANTITIES that cannot be defined

in terms of other physical quantities but has its
own definition
PHYSICAL QUANTITIES that are derived from
base quantities by multiplication or division or
both
POWERS of the base number 10 to show a very
large or small number
GROUP OF LETTERS placed at the beginning of
a word to modify its meaning, which act as
multipliers
QUANTITY which has only magnitude or
size(time, temperature, mass, volume,
distance, density, power)
QUANTITY which has both magnitude or size
and direction(force, velocity, displacement,
acceleration, momentum)
DIFFERENCE between actual value of a quantity
and the value obtained in measurement

Systematic
errors

CUMULATIVE ERRORS that can be corrected, if

the errors are known.(zero error, incorrect
calibration of measuring instrument)

Random errors

ERRORS that arise from unknown and

unpredictable variations in condition, and will
produce a different error every time. Random
errors are caused by factors that are beyond
the control of observers.(human limitations,
lack of sensitivity, natural errors, wrong

technique)
Zero Errors

ERROR that arises when the measuring

instrument does not start from exactly zero

Parallax error

ERROR in reading an instrument because the

observers eyes and the pointer are not in a
line perpendicular to the plane of scale

Measurement

PROCESS of determining value of a quantity

using a scientific instrument with a standard
scale

Consistency

ABILITY to register the same reading when a

measurement is repeated(improve eliminates
parallax error, greater care, not detective
instrument)

Accuracy

DEGREE to which a measurement represents

the actual value(improve repeat readings,
avoid parallax/zero error, high accuracy
instrument)

Sensitivity

ABILITY to detect quickly a small change in the

value of a measurement(thermometer thin
wall bulb, narrow capillary)

Inferences

EARLY CONCLUSION that you draw from an

observation or event using information that you
already have on it

Hypothesis

GENERAL STATEMENT that is assumed to be

true regarding the relationship between the
manipulated variable and responding variable

CHAPTER 2: FORCES AND MOTION

Distance
how far a body travels during motion
Displacement
CHANGE IN POSITION of an object from its
initial position in a specified direction
Speed
RATE OF CHANGE of distance
Velocity
RATE OF CHANGE of displacement
Mass
MEASURE of an objects inertia /AMOUNT of
matter in the object
Acceleration
RATE OF CHANGE of velocity
Inertia
PROPERTY of matter that causes it to resist any
change in its motion or state of rest
Momentum
PRODUCT of mass and velocity
Force
pulling or a pushing ACTION on an object
Impulsive force
LARGE FORCE which acts over a very short
time interval / RATE OF CHANGE in momentum
FORCE originated from centre of the Earth that
Gravity
pulls all objects towards the ground
Free fall
FALLING of an object without encountering any
resistance from a height towards the earth with
an acceleration due to gravity
Forces
An object is said to be in a state of equilibrium
inequilibrium
when forces act upon an object and it remains
stationary or moves at a constant velocity
Resultant force
SINGLE FORCE which combines two or more
forces which act on an object
Work
Work is done when a force causes an object to
move in the direction of the force.
Energy
CAPACITY of a system to do work
Gravitational PE
ENERGY STORED in the object because of its
height above the earth surface
Elastic PE
ENERGY STORED in the object as a result of
stretching or compressing it
Kinetic energy
ENERGY possessed by a moving object
Power
RATE at which work is done or energy is
changed and transferred

Efficiency

Elasticity

Spring constant

Elastic limit

PRINCIPLE
Hookes Law

ABILITY of an electrical appliance to transform

energy from one form to another without
producing useless energy or wastage
PROPERTY of an object that enables it to return
to its original shape and dimensions after an
applied force is removed
FORCE needed to extend a spring per unit
length
MAXIMUM STRETCHING FORCE which can be
applied to an elastic material before it ceases
to be elastic

Hookes law states that the force, F applied to a

spring is directly proportional to the springs
extension or compression, x, provided the
elastic limit is not exceeded
Principle of
Principle of conservation of energy states that
conservation of
total energy in an isolated system is neither
energy
increased nor decreased by any transformation.
Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, but it
can be transformed from one kind to another,
and the total amount stays the same.
Principle of
The principle of conservation of momentum
conservation of
states that, in any collision or interaction
momentum
between two or more objects in an isolated
system, the total momentum of the system will
remain constant; that is, the total initial
momentum will equal the total final
momentum.
Newtons first
Newtons first law of motion states that a body
law of motion
will either remain at rest or continue with
constant velocity unless it is acted on by an
external unbalanced force.
Newtons second Newtons second law of motion states that the
law of motion
acceleration a body experiences is directly

Newtons third
law of motion

proportional to the net force acting on it, and

inversely proportional to its mass.
F =ma
Newtons third law of motion states that to
every action there is an equal but opposite
reaction.

CHAPTER 3: FORCES AND PRESSURE

Pressure
FORCE acting normally on a unit surface area
Gas pressure
FORCE per unit area exerted by the gas
particles as they collide with the walls of their
container (due to the rate of change of
momentum)
Buoyant force
NET FORCE acting upwards due to the
difference between the forces acting on the
upper surface and the lower surface
PRINCILPE
Law of Flotation

Pascals
Principle
Archimedes
principle

Bernoullis
principle

CHAPTER 4: HEAT
Temperature

Law of floatation states that the weight of an

object floating on the surface of a liquid is
equal to the weight of water displaced by the
object.(weight of object = weight of water
displaced)
Pascals principle states that a pressure applied
to a confined fluid is transmitted uniformly in all
directions throughout the fluid.
Archimedes principle states that the buoyant
force on a body immersed in a fluid is equal to
the weight of the fluid displaced by that
object(buoyant force = weight of water
displaced)
Bernoullis principle states that the pressure of
a moving fluid decreases as the speed of the
fluid increases, and the converse is also true

DEGREE of hotness of an object

Thermometric
property
Thermal
equilibrium
Heat capacity
Specific heat
capacity
Latent heat

Specific latent
heat of fusion
Specific latent
heat of
vapourisation
PRINCIPLE
Boyles Law

Pressure Law

Charles Law

CHAPTER 5: LIGHT

PHYSICAL PROPERTY of a substance which is

sensitive to and varies linearly with the
temperature change
A STATE when heat transfer between the two
objects are equal and the net rate of heat
transfer between the two objects are zero
HEAT ENERGY required to raise its temperature
by 1C or 1 K
HEAT ENERGY required to produce 1C or 1 K
rise in temperature in a mass of 1 kg.
HEAT ABSORBED OR RELEASED when a
substance changes its state without a change
in temperature is called the latent heat of the
substance.
HEAT ENERGY required to change 1 kg of a
substance from solid state to liquid state,
without a change in temperature
HEAT ENERGY required to change 1 kg of a
substance from liquid state to gaseous state,
without a change in temperature

Boyles Law states that the pressure of a fixed

mass of gas is inversely proportional to its
volume provided the temperature of the gas is
kept constant(PV = k)
The pressure law states that the pressure of a
fixed mass of gas is directly proportional to its
absolute temperature (in Kelvin), provided the
volume of the gas is kept constant(P/T = k)
Charles law states that the volume of a fixed
mass of gas is directly proportional to its
absolute temperature (in Kelvin), provided the
pressure of the gas is kept constant(V/T = k)

Refraction

Apparent depth,
d

Real depth, D
Total internal
reflection

Critical angle

Power of lens

PHENOMENON where the direction of light is

changed when it crosses the boundary between
two materials of different optical densities as a
result of a change in the velocity of light.
DISTANCE of the image from the surface of
water (or the boundary between the two
mediums involved)
DISTANCE of the object from the surface of the
water (or the boundary between the two
mediums involved)
TOTAL REFLECTION of a beam of light at the
boundary of two mediums, when the angle of
incidence in the optically denser medium
exceeds a specific critical angle
GREATEST ANGLE OF INCIDENCE in the optically
denser medium for which the angle of
refraction, r = 90
MEASURE OF ITS ABILITY to converge or diverge
an incident beam of light

PRINCIPLE
Laws of Reflection the angle of incidence, i, is equal to the angle of
reflection, r (i = r)
the incident ray, normal and reflected ray will all
lie in the same plane

Law of Refraction The incident ray and the refracted ray are on the
opposite sides of the normal at the point of
incidence, all three lie in the same plane
Obey Snells law
Snells Law
The value of sin i / sin r is a constant.
IMAGE CHARACTERISTICS
Virtual - an image which cannot be projected (focused) onto a
screen
Real - an image which can be projected (focused) onto a screen

Laterally inverted - an image which left and right are

interchanged
Upright - an image which in vertical position
Diminished - image formed is smaller than the object
Magnified - image formed is larger than the object