Newton’s Laws of Motion Vocabulary
1.
force – a push or pull exerted by one object on another, causing a change in motion
2.
inertia – the tendency of a moving object to keep moving in a straight line or of any object to
resist a change in motion
3.
friction – a force that opposes the motion of one object moving past another
4.
energy – an object’s ability to do work
5.
potential energy – the stored energy of position possessed by an object
6.
kinetic energy – the energy an object has while it’s in motion
7.
speed – how fast an object’s position changes with time
8.
velocity – the speed and direction of a moving object
9.
acceleration – change in velocity with respect to time
10.
balanced forces – forces that cancel each other out when acting together on a single object
11.
unbalanced forces – forces that do not cancel each other out when acting together on a single
object
12.
action – the force one object applies to a second
13.
reaction – the force with which an object responses to an action, as in Newton’s third law of
motion
14.
gravity – the force of attraction between any two objects due to their mass
15.
weight – the force of gravity between Earth and an object
16.
work – the use of force to move an object a certain distance
17.
simple machine – a machine with few moving parts, making it easier to do work
18.
lever – a simple machine made of a rigid bar and a fixed pivot point, called the fulcrum (pliers)
19.
screw – is an inclined plane wrapped in a spiral around a cylinder or cone. Used to hold things like
wood and metal together. (bottom of a light bulb, jar lid, screw)
20.
inclined plane - is a flat, slanted surface that makes it easier to move heavy objects to higher
levels. (loading ramps, slide)
21.
wedge – is an inclined plane that is used as a tool for cutting or separating things. Two inclined
planes back to back. (needles, ax head, knife blades, log splitters)
22.
wheel and axle – when a large diameter wheel rotates in a circle around a smaller diameter axle.
(doorknobs, screwdriver, bicycle wheel)
23.
pulley – is a wheel with a groove in the rim (flag pole)
24.
fulcrum – a pivot point of a lever
25.
resistance arm – the part of a lever the applies force to the load the machine acts against.
26.
effort arm – the part of a lever that applies force to the resistant arm