Physics F4F5 Meaning
Noun
F4 Chapter 1 Measurement
Chapter 2 Force and Motion I
Chapter 3 Gravitation
Meaning
Base Quantities A physical quantity which cannot be derived from
another physical quantity
Derived Quantities A physical quantity which can be described in terms
of base quantities
Accuracy* Degree of closeness of the calue of measurement to
the actual value
Distance Length of route covered by an object
Displacement* Shortest distance between the initial position and the
final position in a specific direction
Speed Rate of change of distance travelled
Velocity Rate of change of displacement
Acceleration Rate of change of velocity
Newton’s First Law of Motion (Inertia) An object will remain at rest or move at uniform
velocity unless acted upon by an external force
Newton’s Second Law of Motion Rate of change of momentum is directly
proportional to the force and acts in the direction of
the applied force
Impulse Change of momentum
Impulse force Rate of change of momentum in a collision or
impact in a short period of time
Newton’s Third Law of Motion Every action there is a reaction of equal magnitude,
but in the opposite direction
Gravitational force(Universal force)* A force which acts between any two bodies in the
universe
Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation Gravitational force between two bodies is directly
proportional to the product of the masses of both
bodies and inversly proportional to the square of the
distance between the centres of the two bodies
Centripetal force 向心力 A force which acts on the body in a direction

Kepler’s First Law (Law of Orbits)
Kepler’s Second Law (Law of Areas)
Kepler’s Third Law (Law of Periods)
Escape Velocity
Chapter 4 Heat Thermal equilibrium 热平衡
Heat capacity (of an object) 热容量
Specific heat capacity (of a substances) 比热 Quantity of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1
容 kg mass of the substance by 1°C
Latent Heat 潜热
Specific Latent Heat 比潜热
Specific Latent Heat of Fusion 比融化潜热 Quantity of heat that is absorbed during melting or
towards the centre of the circle
All planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at
one focus
A line that connects a planet to the Sun sweeps out
equal areas in equal times
The square of the orbital period of any planet is
directly proportional to the cube of the radius of its
orbit
The square of orbital period is directly proportional
to the cube of orbital radius
Minimum velocity needed by an object on the
surface of the Earth to overcome the gravitational
force ad escape to outer space
-When two objects are in thermal contact, the
temperature of the hot object will drop while the
temperature of the cold object will rise until the
temperature of both objects become the same
-Net heat transfer between the two objects becomes
zero
Quantity of heat needed to raise the temperature of
the object by 1°C
Heat that is absorbed during melting and boiling
without change in temperature
Quantity of heat that is absorbed or released during
a change of phase of
1 kg of the substance without any change in its
temperature
the quantity of heat released during freezing of 1 kg
 of the substance without any change in temperature
Specific Latent Heat of Vaporisation 比汽 Quantity of heat that is absorbed during boiling or
化潜热 the quantity of heat released during condensation of
1 kg of the substance without any change in
temperature
Heat required to change 1 kg of liquid to gas
without change of temperature
Boyle’s Law Pressure if inversely proportional to volume for a
fixed mass of gas at constant temperature
Charles’ Law Volume is directly proportional to absolute
temperature for a fixed mass of gas at constant
pressure
Gay-Lussac’s Law Pressure is directly proportional to absolute
temperature of a fixed mass of gas at constant
volume
Chapter 5 Waves Transverse wave 横波 Particles of the medium vibrate in the direction
perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the
wave
Longitudinal wave 纵波 Particles of the medium vibrate in the direction
parallel to the direction of propagation of the wave
External damping 外在减震 Oscillating system loses energy to overcome friction
or air resistance
Internal damping 内部减震 Oscillating system loses energy because of the
stretching and compression of the vibratingparticles
in the system
Refraction of waves Change in direction of propagation of wavescaused
by the change in the velocity of waves
Diffraction of waves 波的衍射 Spreading of waves when the waves propagate
through a slit or side of a barrier
Principle of superposition 叠加原理 When two waves overlap, the resultant displacement
is the sum of the individual displacements of the
two waves

Chapter 6 Light and Optics
F5 Chapter 1 Force and Motion
II
Interference of waves 波的干涉 Superposition of two or more waves from acoherent
sourceof waves
Refraction of light A phenomena which occur due to the change in
velocity of light when travelling through mediums
of different optical densities
Refractive index Ratio of speed of light in vacuum to the speed of
light in medium
Total internal reflection A phenomena which occurs when light travels from
a medium of high optical density to a medium of
low optical density
Incident angle > critical angle
Critical angle Angle ofincidence in the medium of high optical
density when the angle of refraction in the medium
of lower optical density is equal to 90°
Optical centre Point at the centre of the lens
Principal axis Straight line through the optical centre of a lens and
the centre of curvature of both surfaces of the lens
Axis of lens Straight line through the optical centre and
perpendicular to the principal axis
Focal point Point located at the principal axis of a lens
Object distance Distance between object and optical centre of a lens
Image distance Distance between image and optical centre of a lens
Focal length Distance between focal point and optical centre of a
lens
Real Image A image which formed on the screen
Linear magnification 线性放大 Ratio of image height to object height
Resultant force The single force that represents the vector sum of
two or more forces acting on an object
Free body diagram of an object Diagram that shows all the forces acting on that
object only
Resolution of forces The process of resolving a force into two
 compounds
Equilibrium of forces 力平衡 When the forces acting on it produce a zero
resultant force
Elasticity The property of material that enables an object to
reture to its original shape and size after the force
apllied on it is removed
Hooke’s law The extension of spring is directly proportional to
the force applied on the spring provided the elastic
limit of the spring is not exceeded
Chapter 2 Pressure Pressure Force per unit area / ratio of force to unit area
Atmospheric pressure Pressure due to the weight of the layer of air acting
on the surface of the earth
Pascal’s principle Pressure applied on an enclosed fluid is transmitted
uniformly in all directions in the fluid
Archimedes’ principle An object which is partially or fully immersed in a
fluid will experience a buoyant force equal to the
weigh of fluid displaced
Buoyant force 浮力 Force acting upwards on an object immersed in a
liquid when there is pressure difference between the
lower surface and upper surface of the object
Bernoulli’s principle When the velocity of a fluid increases, the pressure
in the fluid decreases and vice versa
Chapter 3 Electricity Electric field The region aroung a charged particle where any
electric charge in the region will experience an
electric force
Electric field strength The electric force acting on a unit positive charge
placed at the point
Current The rate of charge flow in a conductor
Potential difference The word done in moving one coulomb of charge
from one point to another
Resistivity of a conductor A measure of a conductor’s ability to oppose the
flow of electric current
 Superconductors
Critical temperature
Electromotive force
Internal resistance
Chapter 4 Electromagnetism Catapult field 弹射场
Electromagnetic induction 电磁感应
Faraday’s law
Lenz’s law
Ideal transformer
Chapter 5 Electronics Thermionic emission 热电子发射
Cathode rays 阴极射线
Semiconductor diode 半导体二极管
Rectification
Full-wave retification
Materials that conduct electricity without any
resistance
The temperature when the resistivity of a
superconductor becomes zero
The energy transferred or work done by an electrical
source to move one coulomb of charge in a
complete circuit
The resistance caused by electrolyte in the dry cell
Resultant magnetic field produced by the interaction
between the magnetic field from a current-carrying
conductor and the magnetic field from a permanent
magnet
Production of an induced e.m.f. in a conductor when
there is relative motion between the conductor and a
magnetic field or when the conductor is in a
changing magnetic field
The magnitude of induced e.m.f. is directly
proportional to the rate of cutting of magnetic flow
The induced current always flows in a direction that
opposes the change of magnetic flux that causes it
Transformer that does not experience any loss of
energy
The emission of free electrons from a heated metal
surface
Beams of electrons moving at high speed in a
vacuum
Electronic component which allows electric current
to flow in one direction only
The process of converting an alternating current into
a direct current
A process where both halves of every cycle of an
alternating current is made to flow in the same
 direction
Chapter 6 Nuclear Physics Alpha decay A helium nucleus which consist of two protons and
two neutrons
Beta decay A fast-moving electron
Gamma decay High-frequency electromagnetic wave
Half life The time taken for a sample of radioactive nuclei to
decay to half of its initial number
Nuclear energy Atomic energy, released during nuclear reactions
such as radioactive decay, nuclear fission and
nuclear fusion
Nuclear fission 核裂变 Nuclear reaction when a heavy nucleus splits into
two or more lighter nuclei while releasing a large
amount of energy
Nuclear fusion 核聚变 Nuclear reaction in which small and light nuclei
fuse to form a heavier nucleus while releasing a
large amount of energy
Mass defect 质量缺陷 Loss of mass when the total mass of the decay
products is always less than the total mass of the
radioactive nucleus
Chapter 7 Quantum Physics Black body 黑体 An idealised body that is able to absorb all
electromagnetic radiation that falls on it
Quantum of energy 能量量子 Discrete energy packet and not a continuous energy
Photoelectric effect 光电效应 Phenomenon when a metal surface is illuminated by
a beam of light at a certain frequency, electrons can
be emitted from the metal
Threshold frequency 临界频率 The minimum frequency required for a light photon
to produce photoelectric effect on a metal
Work function 功函数 The minimum energy required for a photoelectron
to be emitted from a metal surface