LIST OF DEFINITION FOR SPM PHYSICS

FORM 4

CHAPTER 1: MEASUREMENT
No Term Definition
1 Physical quantity Quantity that can be measured.
2 Base quantity Physical quantity which cannot be derived from another physical quantity.
3 Derived quantity Physical quantity derived from base quantity by multiplication or division or both.
4 Scalar quantities Physical quantities that have magnitude only
5 Vector quantities Physical quantities that have both magnitude and direction.

CHAPTER 2: FORCE AND MOTION I

6 Linear motion Motion in a straight line.
7 Distance Length of route covered by an object.
8 Displacement Shortest distance between the initial position and the final position in a specific direction.
9 Speed Rate of change of distance travelled.
10 Velocity Rate of change of displacement.
11 Acceleration Rate of change of velocity.
12 Average speed Rate of change of total distance.
13 Average velocity Rate of change of total displacement.
14 One tick The time interval between two adjacent dots.
15 Free fall Motion of the object is affected only by gravitational force.
16 Gravitational acceleration The acceleration of a free falling object caused by gravitational force.
17 Inertia Tendency of an object to remain at rest or, if moving, to continue its motion in a straight line at uniform velocity.
18 Newton’s First Law An object will remain at rest or move at uniform velocity unless acted upon by an external force.
19 Momentum The product of mass and velocity.
20 Principle of Conservation of The total momentum before collision is equal to the total momentum after collision if no external force is acting on it.
Momentum
21 Force A push or a pull.
22 Newton’s Second Law of The rate of change of momentum is directly proportional to the force and acts in the direction of the applied force.
Motion
23 Impulse A change in momentum
24 Impulsive force The rate of change of momentum in a collision or impact in a short period of time.
25 Newton’s Third Law of Motion For every action there is a reaction of equal magnitude, but in the opposite direction.
26 Weight Gravitational pull acting on an object towards the centre of Earth.
27 Gravitational field Force acting per unit mass caused by gravitational pull.
strength
CHAPTER 3: GRAVITATION
28 Gravitational force Force of attraction between any two bodies in the universe.
29 Newton’s Universal Law of The gravitational force between two bodies is directly proportional to the product of the masses of both bodies and
Gravitation inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the centres of the two bodies.
30 Centripetal force For a body in circular motion, a force acts on the body in a direction towards the centre of
the circle.
31 Kepler’s First Law All planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one focus (Law of Orbits).
32 Kepler’s Second Law A line that connects a planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times (Law of Areas).
33 Kepler’s Third Law Th e square of the orbital period of any planet is directly proportional to the cube of the radius of its orbit (Law of
Periods).
34 Escape velocity Minimum velocity needed by an object on the surface of the Earth to overcome the gravitational force and escape to
outer space.

CHAPTER 4: HEAT
35 Heat A form of energy.
36 Temperature Degree of hotness of a substance.
37 Thermal equilibrium Net heat transfer between the two objects in thermal contact becomes zero.

38 Thermometric property A physical property which can be measured which changes with temperature.
(such as length of column of liquid)
39 Calibration A process of making a scale of reading on a thermometer.
40 Heat capacity The quantity of heat needed to raise the temperature of the object by 1°C.
41 Specific heat capacity The quantity of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kg mass of the substance by 1°C.
42 Latent heat Heat that is absorbed during melting and boiling without change in temperature.
43 Specific latent heat The quantity of heat, Q that is absorbed or released during a change of phase of 1 kg of the substance without any
change in its temperature.
44 Specific latent heat of fusion The quantity of heat, Q that is absorbed during melting or the quantity of heat released during freezing of 1 kg of the
substance without any change in temperature.
45 Specific latent heat of The quantity of heat, Q that is absorbed during boiling or the quantity of heat released during condensation of 1 kg of
vaporisation the substance without any change in temperature.
46 Boyle’s Law Pressure is inversely proportional to volume for a fixed mass of gas at constant temperature.
47 Charles’ Law Volume is directly proportional to absolute temperature for a fixed mass of gas at constant pressure.
48 Gay-Lussac’s Law Pressure is directly proportional to absolute temperature of a fixed mass of gas at constant volume.
49 Absolute zero The lowest possible temperature.
CHAPTER 5: WAVES
50 Progressive wave Wave profile which propagates with time along the direction of propagation of the wave.
51 Stationary wave Wave profile which does not propagate with time.
52 Transverse wave Particles of the medium vibrate in the direction perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the wave.
53 Longitudinal wave Particles of the medium vibrate in the direction parallel to the direction of propagation of the wave.
54 Amplitude Maximum displacement of a particle from its equilibrium position.
55 Period The time taken by a particle to make one complete oscillation.
56 Frequency Number of complete oscillations made by a particle in one second.
57 Wavelength Distance between two consecutive points in phase.
58 Wave speed Distance travelled per second by a wave profile.
59 Damping The reduction in amplitude in an oscillating system due to loss of energy.
60 Natural frequency Frequency of a system which oscillates freely without the action of external forces.
61 Resonance When an oscillating system driven at its natural frequency by a periodic force.
62 Wavefront An imaginary line which the vibration of every point on it are in phase and at the same distance from the source of a
wave.
63 Refraction of waves Bending of waves when the waves propagate from one medium to another due to the change in the velocity.
64 Diffraction of waves Spreading of waves when the waves propagate through a slit or side of a barrier.
65 Interference of waves Superposition of two or more waves from a coherent source of waves.
66 Principle of superposition When two waves overlap, the resultant displacement is the sum of the individual displacements of the two waves.
67 Coherent Waves that have same frequency and constant phase difference.
68 Real depth Distance between an object in an optical medium and the surface of the optical medium facing the observer.
69 Apparent depth Distance between the image of an object in an optical medium and the surface of the optical medium facing the
observer.
70 Electromagnetic waves Propagating waves with electric field and magnetic field oscillate perpendicular to each other.

CHAPTER 6: LIGHT AND OPTICS

71 Refraction of light Bending of light when it travels though mediums of different optical density due to the change in velocity of light.
72 Refractive index Ratio of speed of light in vacuum to the speed of light in medium.
Critical angle Angle of incidence in the medium of high optical density when the angle of refraction in the medium of lower optical
density is 900.
73 Total internal reflection Complete reflection of light at the boundary of two medium where the angle of incident exceeds the critical angle of
the medium.
74 Focal length Distance between focal point and optical centre of a lens
75 Linear magnification Ratio of image height to the object height.
76 Real image Image that can be formed on the screen.
77 Virtual image Image that cannot be formed on the screen.
FORM 5

CHAPTER 6: FORCE AND MOTION II

No Term Definition
1 Resultant force The single force that represents the vector sum of two or more forces acting on an object.
2 Resolution of forces The process of resolving a force into two components.
3 Forces in equilibrium The forces acting on an object produce a zero resultant force.
4 Elasticity The property of material that enables an object to return to its original shape and size after the force applied on it is
removed.
5 Hooke’s law The extension of a spring is directly proportional to the force applied on the spring provided the elastic limit of the
spring is not exceeded.
6 Elastic limit The maximum force that can be applied to a spring such that the spring will be able to be restored to its original
length when the force is removed.
7 Spring constant Ratio of the force applied on a spring to the extension of the spring.

CHAPTER 2: PRESSURE
8 Pressure Force per unit area.
9 Atmospheric pressure Pressure due to the weight of the layer of air acting on the surface of the earth.
10 Pascal's principle Pressure applied on an enclosed fluid is transmitted uniformly in all directions in the fluid.
11 Buoyant force Force acting upwards on an object immersed in a liquid when there is pressure difference between the lower surface
and upper surface of the object.
12 Archimedes' principle An object which is partially or fully immersed in a fluid will experience a buoyant force equal to the weight of fluid
displaced.
13 Bernoulli's principle When the velocity of a fluid increases, the pressure in the fluid decreases and vice versa

CHAPTER 3: ELECTRICITY
14 Electric field The region around a charged particle where any electric charge in the region will experience an electric force.
15 Electric field strength The electric force acting on a unit positive charge placed at the point.
16 Current Rate of flow of charge.
17 Potential difference Work done in moving one coulomb of charge from one point to another.
18 Resistance Potential difference per unit current.
19 Resistivity A measure of a conductor’s ability to oppose the flow of electric current.
20 Electromotive force Energy transferred or work done by an electrical source to move one coulomb of charge in a complete circuit.
21 Internal resistance Resistance caused by electrolyte in the dry cell.
22 240 V, 32 W 32 J of energy is consumed in one second when connected to 240 V power supply.
CHAPTER 4: ELECTROMAGNETISM
23 Catapult field A resultant magnetic field produced by the interaction between the magnetic field from a current-carrying conductor
and the magnetic field from a permanent magnet.
24 Electromagnetic induction Production of an induced e.m.f. in a conductor when there is relative motion between the conductor and a magnetic
field or when the conductor is in a changing magnetic field.
25 Faraday's law The magnitude of induced e.m.f. is directly proportional to the rate of cutting of magnetic flux.
26 Lenz's law The induced current always flows in a direction that opposes the change of magnetic flux that causes it.
27 Ideal transformer A transformer that does not experience any loss of energy and the efficiency is 100%.
28 Efficiency

CHAPTER 5: ELECTRONICS
29 Thermionic emission The emission of free electrons from a heated metal surface.
30 Cathode rays Beams of electrons moving at high speed in a vacuum.
31 Semiconductor Materials which have a conductivity between conductors and insulators.
32 Rectification The process of converting an alternating current into a direct current.
33 Transistor An electronic component that has three terminals, namely emitter, base and collector.

CHAPTER 6: RADIOACITIVITY
34 Radioactive decay A process in which an unstable nucleus becomes more stable by emitting radioactive radiation.
35 Radioisotope Unstable isotope that releases radiation to become more stable.
36 Alpha particle Helium nucleus.
37 Beta particle Fast moving electron.
38 Gamma rays High frequency electromagnetic wave.
39 Half-life Time taken for a sample of radioactive nuclei to decay to half of its initial number.
40 Nuclear energy Atomic energy released during nuclear reactions such as radioactive decay, nuclear fission and nuclear fusion.
41 Nuclear fission Nuclear reaction when a heavy nucleus splits into two or more lighter nuclei while releasing a large amount of energy.
42 Nuclear fusion Nuclear reaction when small and light nuclei fuse to form a heavier nucleus while releasing a large amount of energy.
43 Mass defect Loss of mass in a nuclear reaction or radioactive decay.

CHAPTER 7: QUANTUM PHYSICS

44 Black body An idealised body that is able to absorb all electromagnetic radiation that falls on it.
45 Quantum of energy Discrete energy packet and not a continuous energy.
46 Photon Light energy exists in the form of an energy packet.
47 Photoelectric effect A phenomenon when a metal surface is illuminated by a beam of light at a certain frequency, electrons can be
emitted from the metal.
48 Threshold frequency Minimum frequency required to produce photoelectric effect on a metal.
49 Work function The minimum energy required for a photoelectron to be emitted from a metal surface.