This is
the vocabulary list for Unit 1, which we study in the first term.
We suggest that you translate each of these vital Physics words into your own language. If the translation is not sensible, check that you have found the Physics meaning. This meaning may be different from the everyday meaning. We have tried to include most of the more unusual words that are used in the first term.
Displacement
Velocity
Acceleration
Uniform (as in ‘uniformly accelerated’)
Dimension (as in ‘one dimension’)
Linear
Projectile
Independent (as in 'the speed is independent of the mass')
Gradient (of a graph)
Intercept (of a graph)
Body (as in ‘a body in free fall’)
Vertical
Horizontal
Component (as in ‘part’, but also as in ‘vertical component’)
Equilibrium
Tension (as in ‘tension in a string’)
Unit (as in ‘the unit of force is N’)
Perpendicular
Power (as in rate of energy transfer)
Clockwise and anticlockwise
Parallel
Density
Mass
Volume
Solid, liquid, gas
Resultant (as in ‘resultant force’)
Momentum
Impulse (as in ‘impulse equals change of momentum’)
Experimental investigation
Constant
Transfer (as in ‘energy transfer’)
Average
Acts (as in ‘the place where a force acts’)
Motion
Kinetic energy
Gravitational potential energy
Surface
Conservation (as in ‘ the law of conservation of energy’)
Qualitative and quantitative (Numerical)
Decay (as in 'Radioactive decay')
Emission
Stable and unstable
Disintegration
Nucleon number and proton number
Neutron
Alpha particle
Beta particle
Gamma ray
Background radiation
Ionising
Random
Penetration
Range
Source
Exponential
Nucleus
Electron
Graph
Scattering
Structure
High (as in 'high energy')
Equation
Balancing (as in 'balancing an equation')
Relative (as in 'relative size')
Constant
(If you actually think
that this list has been any use to you, please let
us know. Then we will make a list for the other Units of the A-level
syllabus)