Metrics & Measurement
This is the standard base unit for measuring length in the metric system.
What is the meter?
This educated guess or prediction about the outcome of an experiment is typically written as an "If... then..." statement.
What is a hypothesis?
This is the measurement of how quickly an object changes its position, often recorded in meters per second (m/s)
What is speed (or velocity)?
In physics, this is the simplest definition for any push or pull exerted on an object.
What is a force?
A rolling bowling ball and a flying arrow both possess this specific type of energy, also known as the "energy of motion."
What is kinetic energy?
Adding this prefix to the word "gram" means you have exactly one thousand (1,000) grams.
What is kilo- (or kilogram)?
In an experiment testing how different amounts of sunlight affect plant growth, the amount of sunlight represents this specific type of variable—the one the scientist intentionally changes.
What is the independent variable (or manipulated variable)?
A car speeding up, slowing down, or turning a corner are all examples of this specific change in velocity over time.
What is acceleration?
This unseen force pulls all objects toward each other, giving objects weight on Earth and keeping the planets in orbit.
What is gravity?
A rollercoaster sitting still at the very top of a tall hill has a maximum amount of this "stored" energy due to its height.
What is potential energy (or gravitational potential energy)?
If a laboratory desk is 150 centimeters long, it is this many meters long.
What is 1.5 meters?
If you are testing which brand of paper towel absorbs the most water, the measured amount of water absorbed is considered this type of variable.
What is the dependent variable (or responding variable)?
If you apply the exact same push to a heavy bowling ball and a light soccer ball, the soccer ball will accelerate differently in this way because it has less mass.
What is faster?
According to Newton’s Third Law, if a skater pushes forward against a wall with a force of 50 Newtons, the wall pushes back on the skater with this exact amount of force.
What is 50 Newtons?
If you look at a graph comparing the kinetic energy of different vehicles traveling at the exact same speed, a large semi-truck will have more kinetic energy than a motorcycle because kinetic energy is directly proportional to this.
What is mass?
This compound unit is the unit of measurement for momentum
What is a kgm/s?
To ensure an experiment is valid when testing how different track surfaces affect the speed of a toy car, the weight of the car and the angle of the starting ramp must all be kept as these.
What are constants (or controlled variables)?
The overall change in an object's motion depends entirely on this, which is the sum of all the combined pushes and pulls acting on the object.
What is the net force?
When designing a protective bumper for a toy car to survive a crash, you are trying to manage the impact forces explained by one of Newton's laws of motion, which states this.
What is every action has an equal and opposite reaction?
In a swinging pendulum model, the bob is unable to move higher than this point because it provides the system with the maximum amount of mechanical energy assuming no additional forces are added.
What is the starting height?
The metric system is perfectly linked together; for instance, a liquid volume of 1 milliliter takes up the exact same amount of space as this solid volume measurement.
What is 1 cubic centimeter (or 1 cm³ / 1 cc)?
In an experiment evaluating a new experimental fertilizer, the group of plants that receives only plain water and no fertilizer serves as this specific group.
What is the control group?
On a graph comparing kinetic energy to speed, if the speed of a go-kart doubles, its kinetic energy does not just double; it increases by this multiplier.
*Hint* Think of the formula
What is four (or it quadruples)?
To plan an investigation proving that motion depends on mass and force, you could measure how far a cart rolls when you double the applied force, while keeping this specific variable completely constant.
What is the mass of the cart?
You can develop a model using a stretched rubber band to show that when this physical property—the measurement between the two ends of the band—changes, the amount of elastic potential energy stored in the system also changes.
What is the distance (or position)?