Physics Word Search

AMPLITUDE – The maximum displacement or distance moved by a point on a vibrating body or wave measured from its equilibrium position, indicating the wave’s strength or intensity.

ATOM – The smallest unit of matter that retains the properties of an element, consisting of a nucleus containing protons and neutrons, surrounded by electrons in orbital shells.

CHARGE – A fundamental property of matter that causes it to experience electromagnetic force. It exists in two types: positive and negative, with like charges repelling and opposite charges attracting.

CIRCUIT – A closed loop pathway through which electric current flows, consisting of a power source, conductors, and typically various components like resistors, capacitors, or switches for controlling electricity.

CONDENSER – A device that stores electrical energy in an electric field, also known as a capacitor, consisting of two conductors separated by an insulating material called a dielectric.

CONDUCTOR – A material that allows electric current or heat to flow through it easily due to the free movement of electrons, such as metals like copper, silver, and aluminum.

ELECTRON – A subatomic particle with negative electric charge that orbits the nucleus of an atom, responsible for chemical bonding, electricity, and magnetism in matter and fundamental to atomic structure.

ENERGY – The capacity to do work or cause change in a system, existing in various forms including kinetic, potential, thermal, electrical, and chemical, and governed by conservation laws.

FORCE – A push or pull acting upon an object, causing it to accelerate, decelerate, or change direction. Measured in newtons, force equals mass times acceleration according to
Newton’s law.

FREQUENCY – The number of complete wave cycles or oscillations that occur per unit of time, typically measured in hertz. Higher frequency means more waves pass a point each second.

FRICTION – The resistance force that opposes motion when two
surfaces slide or attempt to slide against each other, converting kinetic energy into heat and slowing down moving objects.

GRAVITY – The attractive force between objects with mass, causing them to pull toward each other. Earth’s gravity keeps us grounded and governs planetary motion throughout the universe significantly.

HEAT – The transfer of thermal energy from a hotter object to a cooler one through conduction, convection, or radiation, causing temperature changes and molecular motion in materials.

INERTIA – An object’s tendency to resist changes in its state of motion, remaining at rest or continuing at constant velocity unless acted upon by an external force.

KINETIC – Relating to or produced by motion. Kinetic energy is the energy an object possesses due to its movement, calculated as one-half mass times velocity squared.

LASER – A device producing an intense, focused beam of coherent light through stimulated emission of radiation, used in technology, medicine, communications, and scientific research applications extensively.

MAGNETISM – The physical phenomenon where certain materials produce forces of attraction or repulsion on other materials, created by moving electric charges and exhibited by magnets and electromagnetic fields.

MASS – The measure of the amount of matter in an object, determining its resistance to acceleration and the strength of its gravitational attraction to other objects nearby.

MECHANICS – The branch of physics dealing with motion, forces, and energy in physical systems, divided into statics studying objects at rest and dynamics studying objects in motion.

MOMENTUM – The product of an object’s mass and velocity, representing the quantity of motion. Momentum is conserved in closed systems and determines collision outcomes between objects significantly.

NEUTRON – An electrically neutral subatomic particle found in atomic nuclei alongside protons, with slightly greater mass than protons, crucial for nuclear stability and involved in radioactive decay.

PHOTON – A quantum of electromagnetic radiation, essentially a particle of light with no mass, traveling at light speed and carrying energy proportional to its frequency or wavelength.

RADIATION – Energy transmitted through space or matter as waves or particles, including electromagnetic radiation like light and radio waves, or particle radiation from radioactive decay processes.

VELOCITY – The rate of change of an object’s position with respect to time, including both speed and direction of motion. It is a vector quantity measured in meters per second.