Physics101

Forces & Motion

100

The name of the force that pulls all objects downward

Gravity

200

The name for the upward force on an aircraft

Lift

300

The name of the force that counters an aircraft's motion

Drag

400

The name physicists give to the energy of motion

Kinetic energy

500

The name for the maximum speed of a falling object.

Terminal velocity

Light & Waves

100

True or False: it is safe to look at the sun through diffraction glasses

FALSE!!!

200

True or false: red light has a shorter wavelength than blue light.

False.

300

The name for the height of a sound wave, representing how loud it is.

Amplitude

400

The name for how closely-spaced sound waves are, representing the pitch of the sound.

Frequency

500

The name given to the set of colours given off by an element when heated in a tube.

Spectrum

Space

100

The farthest that humans have travelled in space

To the moon

200

Rather than having eyepieces that you can look through, modern telescopes use ____ to capture images of the sky.

Digital cameras

300

This cosmic object sucks in all nearby material, including light, making it invisible. (We can still detect it from its effect on its surroundings.)

Black hole

400

The age of the universe, according to current astrophysical models

13.7 billion years

500

The type of light (range of wavelengths) that the James Webb space telescope observes.

Infrared

Electricity & Thermodynamics

100

What positive and negative charges do when they get close together

Attract

200

What the liquid in a thermometer does when heated

It expands

300

This instrument can be used to detect the presence of static electrical charge

Electroscope

400

The approximate temperature at which liquid nitrogen boils

About -200 degrees Celcius (-195.8 degrees Celcius to be exact)

500

The name of the effect that explains why liquid nitrogen won't hurt if you touch it very quickly.

The Leidenfrost effect

Famous physicists

100

This scientist came up with a set of famous equations, known as Maxwell's equations, which describe the behaviour of electricity and magnetism.

James Clerk Maxwell

200

This scientist was one of the creators of Quantum Theory, which explains how matter operates at the microscopic level. He also has a famous paradox named after him involving a cat.

Erwin Schrodinger

300

According to the famous story, this scientist came up with the theory of gravity when an apple fell on his head.

Isaac Newton

400

This scientist transformed our understanding of space and time when he came up with the theory of special relativity in 1905 and the theory of general relativity in 1915.

Albert Einstein

500

This scientist is the only person to win two Nobel prizes in different subjects (Chemistry and Physics). She coined the term "radioactivity" while she was investigating radioactive elements.

Marie Curie