Astronomy 4

Speed

How far an object will go in a certain amount of time (m/h)

Velocity

both speed and direction (m/h due north)

Acceleration

Change in velocity

Acceleration of gravity

Acceleration of a falling object (g) (9.8)

Momentum

Product of its mass and velocity. Momentum = mass x velocity

Force

The way to change an objects momentum

Angular momentum

Circling momentum, any object that is spinning or moving along a curved path has angular momentum. = (m x v x r)

Mass

Amount of matter in your body

Weight

the force that a scale measure when you stand on it, weight depends on both mass and force

Torque

The type of force that can change an objects angular momentum

Net force

Overall force, the combined effect of all the individual forces put together.

Free-fall

falling without any resistance to slow you down

Weightless

when fee fall causes you to have no weight

Newton's First Law

An object moves at constant velocity if there is no net force acting upon it.

Newton's Second Law

Force = Mass x Acceleration (F= ma)

Newton's Third Law

For any force, there is always an equal and opposite reaction force.

Conservation of momentum

the total momentum of interacting objects cannot change as long as no external force is acting on them, their total momentum is conserved.

Conservation of angular momentum

As long as there is no external torque, the total angular momentum of a set of interacting objects cannot change. An individual object can only change its angular momentum by transferring some angular momentum to or from another object.

Conservation of energy

energy cannot appear out of nowhere or disappear into nothingness. Objects can jain or lose energy only by exchanging energy with other objects.

Kinetic Energy

Energy of motion. (1/2 mv^2)

Radiative Energy

Energy carried by light.

Potential Energy

Stored Energy, which can later be converted into kinetic or radiative energy.

Joule

The standard unit of energy

Thermal Energy

Most important subcategory of kinetic energy. the collective kinetic energy of the many individual particles moving randomly within a substance.

temperature

the average kinetic energy of the particles.

Kelvin temperature scale

Scale used to measures temperature in science. Never uses negative temperatures. Coldest is 0 K

Gravitational Potential Energy

depends on an objects mass and how far it can fall as a result of gravity. An object has more GPE when it is higher and less when it is lower.

mass- energy

second form of potential energy- the energy contained in mass itself.

universal law of gravitation (Newton)

- Every mass attracts every other mass through the force called gravity
- The strength of the gravitational force attracting any two objects is directly proportional to the product of their masses.
- The strength of gravity between two objects decreases w

inverse square law

doubling a distance between two objects weakens the force of gravity by a factor of 2^2 or 4.

Gravitational constant

G = 6.67 x 10 ^-11

Bound orbits

Orbits in which an object goes around another object over and over again.

Unbound orbits

paths that bring an object close to another object just once.

Center of mass

the point at which two objects would balance if they were somehow connected

Newton's version of Kepler's third law

Allows us to measure orbital period and distance in units which we wish.

Gravitational encounter

one way in which two objects can exchange orbital energy. they pass near enough so that each can feel the effect of the other's gravity.

tidal force

A difference in attraction that creates a "stretching force" that stretches the entire Earth to create two tidal bulges, one facing the moon and one opposite the moon

tidal friction

When tidal forces stretch Earth itself, the process creates friction.

Synchronous rotation

the moon always shows the same face to Earth