Glossary of 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