Classical Mechanics
Newton's three laws of motion
1. Inertia (an object stays at rest or in uniform motion unless acted upon by a net force).
2. F=ma (force equals mass times acceleration)
3. Action-Reaction (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.)
The speed of light
What is 3 × 108 m/s?
Force over area
What is pressure?
The scientist who formulated General Relativity
Who is Albert Einstein?
An object's resistance to having its rotational speed or state of motion changed by a torque
What is rotational inertia?
This thought experiment, devised to highlight perceived flaws in quantum mechanics, features an animal that is both dead and alive
What is Schrödinger's cat?
The ACCELERATION of light
What is 0?
The speed that air moves over an aircraft wing compared to the air underneath. (Faster, the same, slower) Hint: think about Bernoulli's principle
What is faster? (or "what is a higher velocity?")
Who invented the experiment that proved the universe was asymmetrical (parity is not conserved)?
Who is Madame Wu?
Torque and its meaning
What is the rotational effect of a force that depends on how strong the force is, how far it acts from the pivot, and the angle at which it is applied?
*Formula: Torque = Fdsin(θ)
The meaning of "quantum" in quantum mechanics
What is the fact that at extremely small scales, phenomena can be separated into discrete packets. (A seemingly continuous force at the quantum level occurs in increments, light reaching your eyes is just a stream of distinct particles)
The four fundamental interactions in physics that govern everything in the universe.
What are gravity, electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force?
The name of the equations that describe how electric and magnetic fields are generated by electric charges and currents
What are Maxwell's equations?
The principle in Lagrangian mechanics that the path that an object takes will always minimize a certain quanitity
What is the Principle of Least Action? or Why is action minimized?
The name for the rate of change of acceleration
What is jerk?
The physical or mathematical principle where multiple overlapping waves, quantum states, or stimuli combine to form a net system.
What is superposition?
This cosmic phenomenon, famously observed during a 1919 solar eclipse, occurs when the curved spacetime around a massive body acts like a giant magnifying glass, bending the path of distant starlight.
What is gravitational lensing?
The name of the law that states that the direction of an induced current or EMF always opposes the change in magnetic flux that created it
What is Lenz's law?
The main creator of the equation relating the angles at which rays are refracted with their incident angles.
hint: If you played last time, or have taken AP physics 2, you should know this.
Who is Willebrord Snellius?
Because the Earth is a rotating reference frame, objects moving across its surface experience this fictitious force that causes projectiles to deflect to the right in the Northern Hemisphere
The Coriolis force/effect
The name of the phenomenon where there is more matter than antimatter in the universe
What is baryon asymmetry?
The reason why the "Twin Paradox" is not a paradox
Why does the traveling twin's acceleration break the symmetry of the paradox?
(or "what is the Lorentz transformation" if you want to brute force the answer using math or spacetime diagram/worldline shift)
This fundamental unit measures fluid pressure and is equal to one kilogram per meter per second squared
What is the Pascal?
This is the only known fundamental particle in the Standard Model that carries a color charge and is its own antiparticle
*hint: Strong nuclear force
What is the gluon?