Glossary of classical physics

This article is a glossary of classical physics. It is some of the most common terms in classical physics and how they are used.

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A

* Acceleration - the rate of change of velocity with respect to time
* Ampère's law - relates a circulating magnetic field to an electric current passing through a loop
* Atom - smallest unit of a chemical element, the limit of classical physics on the small length scales

B

* Boltzmann constant - a physical constant relating temperature to energy

C

* Chaos theory - the study of processes in nonlinear dynamical systems, such as the Butterfly effect
* Classical mechanics - a set of laws describing the motion of bodies and their aggregations
* Coulomb's Law - the force acting between charged bodies
* Crystal - a regular ordering of atoms, molecules, or ions
* Choke coil - an inductance used in an AC circuit to control current

D

* Determinism - classical physics is largely deterministic
* Dip(δ) - the angle which the direction of total intensity of earth's magnetic field makes with a horizontal line in the magnetic meridian at that place.

E

* Elastic collision - a collision, during which no kinetic is lost
* Electric current - the flow of electric charge through an object
* Electrical resistance - a measure of the degree to which an object opposes the passage of electric current
* Energy - a measure of being able to do mechanical work
* Electromotive force - the amount of energy gained per unit charge that passes through a device in the opposite direction to the electric field existing across that device
* Eddy currents - changing magnetic flux linked with metal plate produces induced current which flow in closed paths throughout the body of the metal

F

* Force - an external cause for acceleration in a physical system
* Free energy - the amount of mechanical work that can be extracted from a system

G

* Gravity - an attractive force between particles with mass
* Geomagnetism - the branch of physics which deals with the study of earth's magnetic field

H

* Hamiltonian mechanics - a reformulation of Lagrangian mechanics

I

* Ideal gas - a gas consisting of identical particles of negligible volume, with no intermolecular forces
* Inertia - a historical concept used for describing massive, moving objects

J

* Joule's law - equation for the heat generated by a current flowing in a conductor

K

* Kinetic energy - energy due to motion

L

* Lagrangian - a function describing the equations of motion for a system
* Lagrangian mechanics - an abstract reformulation of classical mechanics
* Light - electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength visible to the human eye

M

* Macroscopic - attribute used for objects and processes observable by the naked eye
* Mass - a measure of the amount of matter
* Maxwell's equations - four equations that describe electric and magnetic fields, and their interaction with matter
* Molecule - a group of atoms koined by chemical bonds
* Momentum - the product of mass and velocity
* Magnetic field - the space around a magnet or a current within which its magnetic influence can be detected or experienced.

N

* Newton's laws of motion - the three laws of Isaac Newton, published in "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" in 1687
* Newtonian mechanics - the first formulation of classical mechanics

O

* Ohm's law - relationship between the current flowing in a conductor and the voltage difference between its ends

P

* "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" - a three-volume work published by Isaac Newton in 1687, introducing his famous three laws of motion
* Potential energy - energy stored when doing work against a force

Q

* Quantum mechanics - the theory that separates classical and modern physics

R

* Resonance - the tendency of a system to absorb more energy at its "resonance frequency" in a given process

S

* Semiclassical - refers to a combination of classical mechanics and quantum mechanics
* Special theory of relativity - a theory published in 1905 by Albert Einstein that replaced Newton's notions of space and time
* Statistical mechanics - the application of mathematical statistics to the collective motions of large populations of particles

T

* Temperature - the average kinetic energy of molecules
* Thermodynamics - the study of thermal processes in physical systems

U

* Ultraviolet catastrophe - a false prediction made by classical mechanics preceding quantum mechanics

V

* Velocity - the rate of change of position with respect to time

W

* Wave - a disturbance that propagates in a periodically repeating fashion, often transferring energy
* Work - energy transferred by a force

X

* X-rays - a form of ionizing electromagnetic radiation

Y

* Young's modulus - a measure of the stiffness of a body or material

See also

* List of basic physics topics