Physics:Glossary of classical physics

Short description: Common terms used in classical physics

This article is a glossary of classical physics. It is some of the most common terms in classical physics and how they are used.

A

• Acceleration – the rate of change of velocity with respect to time
• Ampère's circuital law – relates a circulating magnetic field to an electric current passing through a loop
• Atom – smallest unit of a chemical element, which is the cause for property of a matter.

B

• Boltzmann constant – a physical constant relating temperature to energy

C

• Chaos theory – the study of processes in nonlinear dynamical systems, such as the Butterfly effect
• Classical mechanics – a set of laws describing the motion of bodies and their aggregations
• Coulomb's Law – the force of attraction or repulsion acting between charged bodies
• Crystal – a regular ordering of atoms, molecules, or ions
• Choke coil – an inductance used in an AC circuit to control current

D

• Determinism – classical physics is largely deterministic
• Dip (δ) – the angle between magnetic meridian and geographical meridian.

E

• Elastic collision – a collision during which no kinetic energy is lost
• Electric current – the flow of electric charge through an object
• Electrical resistance – a measure of the degree to which an object opposes the passage of electric current
• Energy – a measure of being able to do mechanical work
• Electromotive force – the amount of energy gained per unit charge that passes through a device in the opposite direction to the electric field existing across that device
• Eddy currents – changing magnetic flux linked with metal plate produces induced current which flow in closed paths throughout the body of the metal

F

• Force – an external cause for acceleration in a physical system
• Free energy – the maximum energy available to do useful work

G

• Gravity – an attractive force between particles with mass
• Geomagnetism – the branch of physics which deals with the study of earth's magnetic field

H

• Hamiltonian mechanics – a reformulation of Lagrangian mechanics

I

• Ideal gas – a gas consisting of identical particles of negligible volume, with no intermolecular forces
• Inertia – a historical concept of resistance offered by objects to external force when applied

J

• Joule's law – equation for the heat generated by a current flowing in a conductor

K

• Kinetic energy – energy due to motion

L

• Lagrangian – a function describing the equations of motion for a system
• Lagrangian mechanics – an abstract reformulation of classical mechanics
• Light – a form of energy, which causes sensation of sight

M

• Macroscopic – attribute used for objects and processes observable by the naked eye
• Mass – a measure of the amount of matter
• Maxwell's equations – four equations that describe electric and magnetic fields, and their interaction with matter
• Molecule – a group of atoms joined by chemical bonds
• Momentum – the product of mass and velocity
• Magnetic field – the space around a magnet or a current within which its magnetic influence can be detected or experienced

N

• Newton's laws of motion – the three laws of Isaac Newton, published in Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687
• Newtonian mechanics – the first formulation of classical mechanics

O

• Ohm's law – relationship between the current flowing in a conductor and the voltage difference between its ends

P

• Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica – a three-volume work published by Isaac Newton in 1687, introducing his famous three laws of motion
• Potential energy – energy stored when doing work against a force

Q

• Quantum mechanics – the theory that separates classical and modern physics

R

• Resonance – the tendency of a system to absorb more energy at its resonance frequency in a given process

S

• Semiclassical – refers to a combination of classical mechanics and quantum mechanics
• Special theory of relativity – a theory published in 1905 by Albert Einstein that replaced Newton's notions of space and time
• Statistical mechanics – the application of mathematical statistics to the collective motions of large populations of particles

T

• Temperature – the average kinetic energy of molecules
• Thermodynamics – the study of thermal processes in physical systems

U

• Ultraviolet catastrophe – a false prediction made by classical mechanics preceding quantum mechanics

V

• Velocity – the rate of change of position with respect to time.

W

• Wave – a disturbance that propagates in a periodically repeating fashion, often transferring energy
• Work – energy transferred by a force

X

• X-rays – a form of ionizing electromagnetic radiation and magnetical ambiance's

Y

• Young's modulus – a measure of the stiffness of a body or material

See also

• List of basic physics topics