Work, Power, Energy

Potential energy

Potential energy, stored energy that depends

upon the relative position of various parts of a system.
A spring has more potential energy when it is
compressed or stretched. A steel ball has more potential
energy raised above the ground than it has after falling
to the Earth. In the raised position it is capable of doing
more work. Potential energy is a property of a system
and not of an individual body or particle; the system
composed of the Earth and the raised ball, for example,
has more potential energy as the two are farther
separated.

Kinetic energy

Kinetic energy is the energy an object has because of its

motion. Kinetic energy can be transferred between
objects and transformed into other kinds of energy. For
example, a flying squirrel might collide with a stationary
chipmunk. Following the collision, some of the initial
kinetic energy of the squirrel might have been transferred
into the chipmunk or transformed to some other form of
energy.

Amplifier

An amplifier (often loosely called an "amp") is an

electromagnetic or electronic component that boosts an
electric current. If you wear a hearing aid, you'll know it
uses a microphone to pick up sounds from the world
around you and convert them into a fluctuating electric
current (a signal) that constantly changes in strength. A
transistor-based amplifier takes the signal (the input)
and boosts it many times before feeding it into a tiny
loudspeaker placed inside your ear canal so you hear a
much-magnified version of the original sounds (the
output).

Amplitude

Amplitude, in physics, the maximum displacement

or distance moved by a point on a vibrating body
or wave measured from its equilibrium position. It
is equal to one-half the length of the vibration
path. The amplitude of a pendulum is thus one-
half the distance that the bob traverses in moving
from one side to the other. Waves are generated by
vibrating sources, their amplitude being
proportional to the amplitude of the source.
Thermal energy

Thermal energy is the internal energy of an object

due to the kinetic energy of its atoms and/or
molecules. The atoms and/or molecules of a
hotter object have greater kinetic energy than
those of a colder one, in the form of vibrational,
rotational, or, in the case of a gas, translational
motion.
 Light
Diffraction

Diffraction is the slight bending of light as it

passes around the edge of an object. The amount
of bending depends on the relative size of the
wavelength of light to the size of the opening. If
the opening is much larger than the light's
wavelength, the bending will be almost
unnoticeable. However, if the two are closer in
size or equal, the amount of bending is
considerable, and easily seen with the naked eye.

Interference
When two light waves superpose with each other in such
away that the crest of one wave falls on the crest of the
second wave, and trough of one wave falls on the trough of
the second wave, then the resultant wave has larger amplitude
and it is called constructive interference

Dispersion
The dispersion of light is the phenomenon
of splitting of a beam of white light into its
seven constituent colours when passed
through a transparent medium. It was
discovered by Isaac Newton in 1666.
Newton discovered that light is made up of
seven different colours. He passed a beam
of sunlight through a glass prism. The glass
prism split the light into a band of seven
colours on his wall. He called this band of
colours the ‘spectrum’. Thus the spectrum
is a band of seven colours which is
obtained by splitting of white light by a glass prism. The order of colours from the lower end of
spectrum is violet (V), indigo (I), blue (B), green (G), yellow (Y), orange (O), and red (R). The
sequence of the 7 colours so obtained in a spectrum can be remembered by using the acronym
‘VIBGYOR’.
Prism
Prism, in optics, piece of glass or other transparent
material cut with precise angles and plane faces, useful
for analyzing and reflecting light. An ordinary
triangular prism can separate white light into its
constituent colours, called a spectrum. Each colour, or
wavelength, making up the white light is bent, or
refracted, a different amount; the shorter wavelengths
(those toward the violet end of the spectrum) are bent
the most, and the longer wavelengths (those toward the
red end of the spectrum) are bent the least. Prisms of
this kind are used in certain spectroscopes, instruments
for analyzing light and for determining the identity and structure of materials that emit or absorb
light.
Scattering of light

Light scattering is a form of scattering in

which light in the form of propagating
energy is scattered. Light scattering can be
thought of as the deflection of a ray from a
straight path, for example by irregularities
in the propagation medium, particles, or in
the interface between two media. Scattering
of light makes the sky appear blue, makes
clouds white, and turns ... A thin beam of
bright red laser light was shined across the
front of the classroom.
 Sound

Reverberation
A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound or signal is
reflected causing a large number of reflections to build up and
then decay as the sound is absorbed by the surfaces of objects in
the space – which could include furniture, people, and air.

Refraction of sound
Refraction of Sound Waves. Refraction of waves involves a change
in the direction of waves as they pass from one medium to another.
Refraction, or bending of the path of the waves, is accompanied by
a change in speed and wavelength of the waves. ... For example,
sound waves are known to refract when traveling over water.

Pitch
Pitch is a perceptual property of sounds that allows their ordering
on a frequency-related scale, or more commonly, pitch is the
quality that makes it possible to judge sounds as "higher" and
"lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies.

Amplitude
Amplitude is the fluctuation or displacement of a wave from
its mean value. With sound waves, it is the extent to which air
particles are displaced, and this amplitude of sound or sound
amplitude is experienced as the loudness of sound.

Wavelength
Wavelength is one of the more straightforward acoustics concepts to
imagine. It is simply the size of a wave, measured from one peak to the
next. If one imagines a sound wave as something like a water wave,
then the wavelength is simply the distance from the crest of one wave
to the next nearest crest. Thus, if the distance between two peaks is 1
m, then the wavelength is 1 m. There is a direct relation between
wavelength, frequency, and sound speed. Namely, if we know the
frequency (which is the number of wave repetitions per second, often given in Hertz, or Hz) and
the sound speed (which is the speed the wave travels in meters per sec), then we can find the
wavelength using the equation wavelength=speed/frequency.
 Forces and Motion
Displacement
Displacement is the distance travelled in a straight line. It has both a
direction and a size. The velocity of an object is its speed in one particular
direction. The acceleration of an object is calculated from its change in
velocity and the time taken.

Acceleration
The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force
is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force,
in the same direction as the net force, and inversely
proportional to the mass of the object.

Reference point
A reference point is needed to determine the position of
an object. Motion occurs when an object changes its
position relative to a reference point. The motion of an
object depends on the reference point that is chosen.

Contact force
The ground pushes back against you with the same magnitude of force,
propelling you forward. The movement of the human body follows
Newton's laws of motion. The body moves when internal and external
forces act on it. ... When a muscle contracts, it applies an internal pulling
force on a bone, which causes movement.

Non-contact force

A non-contact force is a force which acts on an object without

coming physically in contact with it. The most familiar example of a
non-contact force is gravity, which confers weight. In contrast a
contact force is a force applied to a body by another body that is in
contact with it.