Scribd
Upload
57 views6 pages

n3 Physics Revision Notes - Dynamics and Space Farr Hs

The document provides an overview of key physics concepts including forces, speed, gravity, friction, air resistance, the structure of the Earth, the solar system, phases of the moon, tides, comets, asteroids, and meteors. It defines key terms and describes how various concepts relate to each other.

Uploaded by

Nkazimulo Mbonani
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
57 views6 pages

n3 Physics Revision Notes - Dynamics and Space Farr Hs

The document provides an overview of key physics concepts including forces, speed, gravity, friction, air resistance, the structure of the Earth, the solar system, phases of the moon, tides, comets, asteroids, and meteors. It defines key terms and describes how various concepts relate to each other.

Uploaded by

Nkazimulo Mbonani
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

National 3 Physics revision notes

Forces
A force can
 change an object’s speed.
 change an object’s direction.
 change an object’s shape.
Forces can be contact forces (pushing, pulling, friction) or non-contact (gravity,
magnetism).

Speed, Distance and Time


distance
We often use the equation speed = when working with forces.
time
The unit we use to measure speed in science is the metre per second (m/s).
speed = ? speed = distance /time
distance = 8 m/s speed = 60/6
time = 26 s speed = 10 metres per second

Gravity
The force of gravity is caused by mass. It is only noticeable for large masses like planets.
On earth, gravity is the same for all objects, and this causes everything to accelerate at
the same rate when dropped.

Friction
Friction happens when one surface slides over another. Friction always pushes against
the moving object. This means that friction always slows down movement.
This can be useful, or it can be a problem depending on the situation.

There are two main reasons we might want to increase friction:


 anywhere we want to slow down movement;
 anywhere we don’t want sliding to happen.
Car brakes are made of a high friction material and tyres are made of rubber to avoid
skidding. Roads are gritted in winter for the same reason.
In motor sports, wider tyres are used to give greater friction for accelerating and
cornering.

National 3 Physics - Page 1 - Forces


National 3 Physics revision notes

Sometimes we want to decrease friction. It takes work to overcome friction, and this
energy is usually thought of as wasted energy. Machines with moving parts could waste
far too much energy for them to be useful if we didn’t control friction. Machines need to
be lubricated to reduce friction. Car engines and bicycle chains would seize up if they
weren’t oiled regularly.
Many sports involve reducing friction as much as possible to allow faster movement.
Examples are skiers waxing their skis and cyclists using low friction bearings in their
wheels.

Air Resistance
Air resistance is the friction between moving objects and the air.
Air resistance is useful if we want to slow an object down. The most obvious example of
this is using parachutes. The bigger the parachute, the greater the air resistance – and so
the slower the object will travel.
Cars are streamlined to reduce air resistance as much as possible. Sports cars are low to
the ground and have curved panels to avoid drag.
Fast-moving athletes such as cyclists and skiers also streamline themselves. They wear
specially designed clothing that is smooth and tight fitting and specially shaped helmets
to reduce air resistance as much as possible.

National 3 Physics - Page 2 - Forces


National 3 Physics revision notes
Structure of the Earth
The Earth has a radius of 6 400 km. Inside, it is
divided into four distinct layers.
Crust: The crust is the rocky layer at the outside of
the earth. It is between 5 and 70 km thick. It is
thinnest under the oceans.
Mantle: This is the thickest of the layers. It is solid,
but it is soft enough to move around.
Outer Core: The outer core is made up of iron and
nickel. It is much denser than the mantle. It is hot,
so the metals are liquid. The movement of the inner
core in the liquid metals causes the earth’s magnetic field.
Inner Core: The inner core is also composed mainly of iron and nickel, but this is in a solid
ball around ¾ the size of the moon and as hot as the surface of the sun.

Solar System
The Earth is a planet orbiting a star that we call the sun. We are part of a solar system.
We have a moon orbiting around us. Understanding our place in space means we need
to understand these words.
 Star: A huge ball of gas undergoing nuclear fusion to give out heat and light.
 Sun: Another word for star.
 Planet: A massive object that orbits a star. It must be large enough that its gravity
pulls it into a ball.
 Moon: A natural object that orbits a planet.
 Solar System: A sun and all the planets, comets, asteroids and other objects
orbiting it.

Our Sun has eight planets orbiting it. Mercury is closest. We are the third planet. Jupiter
is the largest of the eight. This is the order of the planets:
1. Mercury
2. Venus
3. Earth
4. Mars
5. Jupiter
6. Saturn
7. Uranus
8. Neptune
National 3 Physics - Page 3 - Forces
National 3 Physics revision notes
Day & Night
We have day and night on Earth because the planet spins. It takes 24 hours for the earth
to spin once on its axis. In these 24 hours, we will face the sun for some of the time
(daytime) and away from it some of the time (night).

Year
A year is the time it takes for the Earth to orbit the sun. It takes us 365 days to go around
the sun once.

Seasons
Earth has 4 seasons – spring, summer, autumn, winter. This is because the Earth is tilted
compared to the sun.
Sometimes, the northern hemisphere is tilted N
away from the sun. This is what we call
winter. The rays of heat and light hit at an
angle, so they are spread out over a big area. S Earth
This makes them less intense. sun

6 months later, the Earth is half way around its N


orbit. Its tilt is now towards the sun. We call this
summer. The rays of heat and light hit almost
vertically, so they are concentrated on a small area. Earth
S
This makes them more intense.
sun

The Moon
The moon is a solid ball of rock that orbits the Earth. It is around 400, 000 km above the
surface of the Earth. It is much smaller than the Earth. Its gravity is only 1/6 of Earth’s.
It takes the moon 28 days to orbit the earth. It also takes the moon 28 days to spin, so
we only ever see one side of it. The moon ALWAYS looks the same to us!

National 3 Physics - Page 4 - Forces


National 3 Physics revision notes
Phases of the Moon
Over the course of the 28 days, we don’t always see a full moon. The different shapes we
see are known as the phases of the moon.
We see the moon because the sun’s light reflects off of it. Depending on the position of
the sun and the moon, we’ll only see a small bit of it.

It takes 14 days to go from no moon to full moon, and another 14 to go from full back to
new. When the moon is getting bigger (first half of the cycle) we say it is waxing. When it
is getting smaller we say it is waning.
We call this 28-day cycle a lunar month. There are 13 of these in a year.

National 3 Physics - Page 5 - Forces


National 3 Physics revision notes
Tides
Tides are mainly caused by the pull of the moon’s gravity.
The moon pulls the water on the surface of Earth towards it. This causes a bulge under
the moon, and flatter areas where water has moved away. There is another bulge at the
other side of the planet too.
As the moon orbits the Earth, it drags the
bulge of water with it. This means the high
tide and low tide move around the planet.
When it is high tide in Scotland, it will be
low tide in America. The time between
tides is 6 hours.
The sun’s gravity also affects the water
and tides, but to a much smaller degree.
When the moon and sun pull in the same
direction, we get higher tides than usual.
When they pull at 90 degrees to each
other, we get the smallest effect.

Comets
Comets are huge balls of ice and dust. They are often called giant snowballs. They orbit
the sun, but in an elliptical orbit.
When they get close to the sun, the heat causes part of the comet to melt. Huge plumes
of dust and gas called a tail are visible from the earth. The tail always points away from
the sun.

Asteroids
Asteroids are large rocky or metallic objects orbiting the sun. They are not large enough
to be called dwarf planets. There are huge areas of our solar system filled with asteroid
fields.

Meteors
Objects from space that enter our atmosphere are called meteors. They often burn up
due to friction with the atmosphere. People often call them shooting stars. If any part of
the meteor survives the journey to the ground it is called a meteorite

National 3 Physics - Page 6 - Forces

You might also like