Conservation Laws
This fundamental quantity is conserved in all physical and chemical processes, even when it changes form.
What is Energy? — total energy remains constant (law of conservation of energy).
This region surrounds a mass and represents its gravitational influence.
What is a gravitational field?
This type of energy conversion occurs in an electric generator.
What is mechanical to electrical?
This property of light is the same for all observers.
What is the speed of light in a vacuum (3 × 10⁸ m/s)?
This constant relates a photon’s energy to its frequency.
What is Planck’s constant (h = 6.626 × 10⁻³⁴ J s)?
This quantity is conserved in every collision, explosion, or recoil event.
What is Momentum? — total momentum before = total momentum after ( ∑p₍before₎ = ∑p₍after₎ ).
This is the direction electric field lines point around a positive charge.
What is away from the charge?
A changing magnetic flux through a coil induces this.
What is an electromotive force (EMF)?
This term describes an observer moving at constant velocity without external forces.
What is an inertial frame of reference?
This experiment revealed the wave nature of light through interference.
What is Young’s double-slit experiment?
DAILY DOUBLE!
This conservation law ensures that the you can't have more electrons flowing into a junction than out of it.
What is Conservation of charge? — total charge remains constant.
This field is produced by a moving electric charge.
What is a magnetic field?
This is why transformers only work with AC.
What is AC produces a changing magnetic flux? - DC does not.
This is why observers in relative motion disagree on simultaneity.
What is time and space are relative for different frames?
This model unifies all known fundamental particles and forces (except gravity).
What is the Standard Model of Particle Physics?
According to Lenz’s Law, an induced current flows in this direction relative to the change that produced it.
What is the direction that opposes the change in magnetic flux? - consistent with the conservation of energy.
This force keeps an object moving in a circular path.
What is the centripetal force?
When a current-carrying wire is placed in a magnetic field, what happens?
It experiences a magnetic force ( F = B I l sin θ ).
This is why muons from the upper atmosphere reach Earth’s surface before decaying.
What is depending on your frame of reference, either (1) Time dilation slows their internal clock or (2) Length contraction compresses the thickness of the atmosphere?
Accept either.
These are the six particles that can make up baryons and mesons.
What are up, down, top, bottom, charm, and strange quarks?
In particle interactions, these two quantities must remain constant and are checked in every Feynman diagram.
What are Lepton number and baryon number? — both conserved in particle interactions.
Also accept charge.
Magnetic field lines point this direction inside a solenoid.
What is from South to North?
They wrap around from North to South on the OUTSIDE.
This principle explains why electromagnetic induction cannot produce free, limitless energy.
What is the law of conservation of energy?
The twin paradox suggests two twins should remain the same age, even when one goes on a relativistic journey away and back. This is why the Earth twin ages more.
What is the symmetry of time dilation is broken when the travelling twin accelerates and decelerates (travels in a non-inertial frame)?
A photoelectron will have this much energy if the incident photon has a frequency equal to the threshold frequency
What is zero?