Physics Equations and Definitions Sheet

01 Units and Measurements

Definitions:
1. The accuracy of a measurement refers to how close it is to the true or accepted value
2. The precision of a group of measurements refers to how close they are to each other
3. Systematic errors
a. E.g. Not accounting for zero error in a measurement
4. Random errors
a. E.g. Variation in diameter of a piece of wire
b. Reduced by repeating a measurement and averaging

All errors are random except for zero error (simply put)
SI Base Units:
- Mass (kg)
- Length (m)
- Time (s)
- Current (A)
 - Temperature (K)
- Amount of a substance (mol)

02 Kinematics

Definitions:
1. Displacement (s) is the distance moved in a specified direction from a reference point
2. Speed is the rate of change in distance travelled with respect to time
3. Velocity (v) is the rate of change of displacement with respect to time
4. Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity with respect to time.

Equations:
1. Average speed = Total d / Total t = x m/s
2. Velocity (v) = Change of s / t = x m/s
a. Average v = Total change in s / Total t = x m/s
3. Acceleration (a) = Change of v / t = x m/s^2
a. Average a = Total change in v / Total t = x m/s^2
4. Acceleration from v/t graph: Gradient
5. Displacement from v/t graph: Area of trapezium or Area under the line
6. When acceleration is constant in both magnitude and direction, average velocity:
Vave = (u+v)/2
7. Suvat
a. No s: v = u + at
b. No u: s = vt - ½at^2
c. No v: s = ut + ½at^2
d. No a: s = ½(v+u)t
e. No t: v^2 = u^2 + 2as

03 Scalars and Vectors

Definitions:
1. Scalars are quantities that are fully described by a magnitude alone
a. E.g. Distance, speed, time, mass, area, volume, work done, power, energy
2. Vectors are quantities that are fully described by both a magnitude and a direction
a. Eg. Displacement, velocity, acceleration, force, momentum
Equations:
1. Forces acting in the same direction: Resultant force = 4.0 (right) + 5.0 (right) = 9.0N to
the right
2. Forces acting in opposite directions: Resultant force = 5.0 (left) - 4.0 (right) = 1.0N to
the left

04 Dynamics

Definitions:
1. Mass is a measure of the inertia of an object, which is the resistance of a body to
change its state of rest or motion
2. A gravitational field is a region in which a mass experiences a force due to gravitational
attraction

Newton’s first law of motion states that

An object at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion will continue in motion at constant
velocity in the absence of a resultant force acting on it.

Newton’s second law of motion states that

The rate of change of momentum of a body is directly proportional to the resultant force acting
on it and the direction of the resultant force is the direction of the change in momentum. // This
basically means force = mass * rate of change of v, which is a. This is because momentum =
mv. Hopefully this makes it easier to remember the law.

Newton’s third law of motion states that

If object A exerts a force on object B, then object B exerts an equal and opposite force on object
A.

// In summary: 1. object will keep moving | 2. F=ma from momentum=mv | 3. equal and opposite

Equations:
1. Resultant force (Fnet) = ma
2. W = mg = x N
3. Density ρ = m/v = x kg/m^3

Terminal Velocity: As a falling object increases in velocity due to gravitational/downward

acceleration, air resistance acting against/in the opposite direction of the object’s acceleration
increases as well, decreasing the net acceleration of the object. Eventually, when the magnitude
of the air resistance is equal to that of the weight of the object, net acceleration becomes 0 and
velocity remains constant. This constant velocity is called terminal velocity.

05 Turning Effect

Definitions:
1. The moment of a force about a point is the product of the force and the perpendicular
distance from the point to the line of action of the force. (Basically “moment = Fd”)
2. Principle of moments: For a body in equilibrium, the algebraic sum of the moments of
all the external forces acting on the body about any axis is equal to zero

Equations:
1. Moment = F x d = x Nm
2. Object is in equilibrium: Sum of clockwise moments = Sum of anticlockwise
moments

06 Work, Energy and Power

Definitions:
1. Principle of conservation of energy: Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It
can be transformed or transferred but the total amount in any isolated system must
remain constant
2. Power is the rate of work done or the rate of energy conversion

Equations:
1. Kinetic energy (Ek) = ½mv^2 = x J
2. GPE (Ep) = mgh = x J
3. Einitial = Efinal
4. Efficiency = Useful energy/Total energy x 100%
5. Work done (W) = Fd
a. Work done at an angle θ: W = (F cosθ)s = x J
6. P = Wd/t = x Watt (W)
7. P = Fv (rate of work done)
07 Wave and Sound

Definitions:
1. The range of audible frequencies for an average human is between 20Hz and 20kHz
a. Sounds above the hearing limit of 20kHz are called ultrasound.
b. Sounds under the hearing limit of 20 Hz are called infrasound,
2. Electromagnetic waves do not require any medium, thus they can propagate through
even vacuum
3. Amplitude is the maximum displacement of the oscillating particle in a wave from the
equilibrium position
4. Period T is the time taken to complete one oscillation of the wave
5. Frequency f is the number of oscillations made by the wave per unit time
6. Wavelength (lambda) is the distance between corresponding points in successive
waveforms, such as two successive crests or two successive troughs.
7. Speed of the wave propagation is defined as the distance travelled by a wave per unit
time
8. Wavefronts are lines that join all the peaks/troughs of a water wave or all identical
points of a water wave.

Equations:
1. Frequency (f) = 1/T
2. v = fλ
3. Speed of sound in air from a to b: v = d/t
4. Speed of sound in air using echo: v = 2 x distance/t

08 EM Spectrum

Definitions:
1. All electromagnetic waves are transverse waves and travel through a vacuum
with the same high speed as of 3.00x10^8m/s, which is the speed of light in
vacuum.
2. Order of EM spectrum from longest to shortest
a. Radio waves
b. Microwaves
c. Infra-red waves
d. Visible light
 e. Ultraviolet rays
f. X-rays
g. Gamma rays
3. Effects of absorbing EM waves
a. All EM waves carry energy
b. An object that absorbs EM waves will increase energy
c. If a body absorbs EM waves, the electrons may damage living cells and
tissues.

09 Lenses

Equations:
M = Linear magnification factor – ratio of the image size (hi) to the object size (ho)
hi = Image size
ho = Object size
v = Image distance from optical center
u = Object distance from optical center

1. M = hi/ho = v/u
2. 1/f = 1/u + 1/v

10 Pressure

Definitions:
1. Pressure is defined as the normal force acting per unit area

Equations:
1. Pressure (Pa)= force (N)/area (m^2) – 1Pa = 1N/m^2
2. Pressure due to a liquid column: p = hρg = x Pa
3. Patm = 1.01x10^5
a. Pwater = 1.3x10^5
 4. Nanometer (assuming liquid is higher on gas side):
Pgas + hρg = Patm
5. Since the applied pressure is transmitted equally throughout the liquid,
ρA = ρB
ForceA/AreaA = ForceB/AreaB
ForceB = ForceA(AreaB/AreaA)

6. P1V1=P2V2

11 Kinetic Model

Definitions:
1. Temperature affects the average speed of particles
2. Volume affects the average distance between particles
3. Pressure affects the average force and frequency of collision with the wall
4. PV = nRT (Not in syllabus)

12 Temperature

Definitions:
1. The ice point is the temperature of pure melting ice at standard atmospheric pressure,
and is assigned a value of 0°C
2. The steam point is the temperature of steam from pure water boiling at standard
atmospheric pressure, and is assigned a value of 100°C

Equations:
1. Kelvin (K) = Celsius + 273.15
2. Thermocouple: E.m.f produced ∝ Temperature difference
3. θ°C = ((Xθ - XL) / (XH - XL)) x (θH - θL) + θL
a. XL is the physical property at lower fixed point θL (usually 0°C)
b. XH is the physical property at upper fixed point θH (usually 100°C)
 c. Xθ is the physical property at the unknown temp θ°C

13 thermal properties of matter

Heat capacity - the amount of thermal energy required to raise temperature by 1K or 1
degree
Specific heat capacity - the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a unit
mass of a substance by 1K or 1 degree