Glossary of Classical Physics

Glossary of Classical Physics
This 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 (d) – 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