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| Kinematics | the science of describing the motion of objects using words, diagrams, numbers, graphs, and equations. Kinematics is a branch of mechanics. The goal of any study of kinematics is to develop sophisticated mental models which serve to describe (and ultimately, explain) the motion of real-world objects. |
| Scalars | quantities which are fully described by a magnitude (or numerical value) alone. |
| Vectors | quantities which are fully described by both a magnitude and a direction. |
| Distance | a scalar quantity which refers to "how much ground an object has covered" during its motion. |
| Displacement | a vector quantity which refers to "how far out of place an object is"; it is the object's overall change in position. |
| Speed | a scalar quantity which refers to "how fast an object is moving," can be thought of as the rate at which an object covers distance. |
| Velocity | a vector quantity which refers to "the rate at which an object changes its position. |
| Acceleration | a vector quantity which is defined as the rate at which an object changes its velocity. An object is accelerating if it is changing its velocity. |
| constant acceleration | velocity changing by a constant amount each second |
| Conservation of momentum | For a collision occurring between object 1 and object 2 in an isolated system, the total momentum of the two objects before the collision is equal to the total momentum of the two objects after the collision. That is, the momentum lost by object 1 is equal to the momentum gained by object 2. |
| Newton's Third Law of Motion | For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. |
| Newton's First Law of Motion | an object in motion stays in motion |
| Newton's Second Law of Motion | the rate of change of momentum is proportional to the imposed force and goes in the direction of the force |
| position | the location of an item |
| force | that which produces or prevents motion; that which can impose a change of velocity on a material |
| mass | a measure of the inertia of that object; the greater the resistance something offers to being set in motion the greater its mass. The amount of matter being a definition for mass is a poor one. |
| magnitude of acceleration due to gravity | the acceleration of a body due to the influence of the pull of gravity alone, usually denoted by 'g' |
| inertia | the reluctance of all matter to change its state of rest or uniform motion; the tendency of all objects to preserve its motion |
| weight | the force exerted on the mass of a body by a gravitational field |
| initial frame of reference | The first way you look at something and its relationship to the problem |
| rate | a certain quantity or amount of one thing considered in relation to a unit of another thing and used as a standard or measure |
| freefall | when the only force acting on an object is gravity |
| significant figures | all the nonzero digits of a number and the zeros that are included between them or that are final zeros and signify accuracy |
