- 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.AlphanumericTOC
align=center
nobreak=
numbers=
externallinks=
references=
top=|A
*
Acceleration - the rate of change of velocity with respect to time
*Ampère's law - relates a circulating magnetic field to an electric current passing through a loop
*Atom - smallest unit of achemical element , the limit of classical physics on the small length scalesB
*
Boltzmann constant - a physical constant relating temperature to energyC
*
Chaos theory - the study of processes innonlinear dynamical system s, such as theButterfly effect
*Classical mechanics - a set of laws describing the motion of bodies and their aggregations
*Coulomb's Law - the force acting between charged bodies
*Crystal - a regular ordering of atoms, molecules, or ions
*Choke coil - an inductance used in an AC circuit to control currentD
* Determinism - classical physics is largely deterministic
*Dip(δ) - the angle which the direction of total intensity of earth's magnetic field makes with a horizontal line in the magnetic meridian at that place.E
*
Elastic collision - a collision, during which no kinetic 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 metalF
*
Force - an external cause foracceleration in a physical system
* Free energy - the amount of mechanical work that can be extracted from a systemG
*
Gravity - an attractive force between particles with mass
*Geomagnetism - the branch of physics which deals with the study of earth's magnetic fieldH
*
Hamiltonian mechanics - a reformulation of Lagrangian mechanicsI
*
Ideal gas - a gas consisting of identical particles of negligible volume, with no intermolecular forces
*Inertia - a historical concept used for describing massive, moving objectsJ
*
Joule's law - equation for the heat generated by a current flowing in a conductorK
*
Kinetic energy - energy due to motionL
*
Lagrangian - a function describing the equations of motion for a system
*Lagrangian mechanics - an abstract reformulation of classical mechanics
*Light - electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength visible to the human eyeM
*
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 koined bychemical bond s
*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 ofIsaac Newton , published in "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" in 1687
*Newtonian mechanics - the first formulation of classical mechanicsO
*
Ohm's law - relationship between the current flowing in a conductor and the voltage difference between its endsP
* "
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica " - a three-volume work published byIsaac Newton in 1687, introducing his famous three laws of motion
*Potential energy - energy stored when doing work against a forceQ
*
Quantum mechanics - the theory that separates classical and modern physicsR
*
Resonance - the tendency of a system to absorb more energy at its "resonance frequency" in a given processS
*
Semiclassical - refers to a combination ofclassical mechanics andquantum mechanics
*Special theory of relativity - a theory published in 1905 byAlbert 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 particlesT
*
Temperature - the average kinetic energy of molecules
*Thermodynamics - the study of thermal processes in physical systemsU
*
Ultraviolet catastrophe - a false prediction made by classical mechanics precedingquantum mechanics V
*
Velocity - the rate of change of position with respect to timeW
*
Wave - a disturbance that propagates in a periodically repeating fashion, often transferring energy
* Work - energy transferred by a forceX
*
X-ray s - a form of ionizing electromagnetic radiationY
*
Young's modulus - a measure of the stiffness of a body or materialSee also
*
List of basic physics topics
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.