Forces and Motion Vocabulary List
Inertia-The tendency of things to keep traveling in the same direction at the same speed, unless
something stops them
Gravity-The force that attracts objects towards another object. On earth, gravity pulls us towards the
center of the earth.
Friction-A force that acts in an opposite direction to movement. The more friction something has, the
harder it is to move.
Mass-The measure of an amount of atoms (matter) in something
Motion-The act of something moving, a change in position.
Force-A push or a pull. Force is what causes motion.
Matter-Anything that has mass and takes up space.
Axis-An imaginary line around which an object rotates.
Distance-The space between two things
Traveling-Moving from one position to another
Acceleration- A change in velocity
Velocity- The measure of the speed and the direction of a specific object
Newton’s First Law-An object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in
motion, unless acted on by an opposing force.
Newton’s Second Law-The greater the amount of mass an object has, the more force is needed to move
it
Newton’s Third Law-Every action has an equal and opposite reaction