Vocabulary List

A-F : G-O : P-R : S-Z

Acceleration:

• The rate of change in velocity or direction of an object
• The act of speeding up (or slowing down) ((or changing direction))
• The second derivative of the position function (the derivative of the velocity function)
• A Constant:  Acceleration of gravity (near the surface of the earth), g=9.8m/s2
• Average Acceleration:  change in object’s velocity during a time interval

Altimeter:

• Device which detects and reports altitudes relative to sea-level (or relative to some other user-defined “base”)
• Meter that tells how high it is

Altitude:

• Measure of one’s vertical height above some defined “base”, typically sea-level
• Measured while in planes, helicopters, etc.
• How high above the ground you are

Circumference of a circle:

• The distance around the edge of (perimeter of) a circle
• Pi * Diameter (2*Pi * Radius) of a circle

Constant:

• Unchanging
• A fixed number
• A function whose value does not change regardless of input

Data:

• The information found taking readings or measurements
• Any type of recorded information (typically numeric)

Displacement:

• Change in an object’s position (on a reference frame)
• A vector quantity
• Displacement in x-direction=change in position along the x-axis
• Displacement in y-direction=change in position along the y-axis

Distance:

• Magnitude of displacement

Drag:

• Force of the air that slows you down
• Force of a fluid medium which opposes one’s movement through said medium; proportional to the square of one’s velocity
• Fd = (1/2)*C*ρ*A*|v|2;  C = drag coefficient (property of object), ρ = fluid density, A = largest cross-section of object perpendicular to direction of v; v = velocity of object

Force:

• Unlawful act, excessive behavior (in context of law)
• That which exerts a push or pull
• E.g., gravity (force of), centripetal force
• The effect of producing an acceleration of a mass
• F = m*a (bold for sake of vector quantity)

Friction:

• Force that resists the movement of rubbing two objects together
• Force felt by an object sliding, or attempting to slide, across any surface which opposes the object’s movement across said surface
• Ff = μ*N; μ = frictional coefficient

Function:

• A line, curve, surface, etc. with varying values dependent on input or inputs
• Must pass “vertical line test”
• Set of ordered pairs such that for any element x, there is at most one element y such that x is related to y
• Mapping from a domain set to a range set of points

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