Pressure

Pressure is the ratio of force to the surface area over which it is exerted. Though solids exert pressure, the most interesting examples of pressure involve fluids—that is, gases and liquids—and in particular water and air.

Elasticity

Unlike fluids, solids do not respond to outside force by flowing or easily compressing. The term elasticity refers to the manner in which solids respond to stress, or the application of force over a given unit area.

Mechanical Advantage and Simple Machines

When the term machine is mentioned, most people think of complex items such as an automobile, but, in fact, a machine is any device that transmits or modifies force or torque for a specific purpose. Typically, a machine increases either the force of the person operating it—an aspect quantified in terms of mechanical advantage—or it changes the distance or direction across which that force can be operated.

Energy

As with many concepts in physics, energy—along with the related ideas of work and power—has a meaning much more specific, and in some ways quite different, from its everyday connotation. According to the language of physics, a person who strains without success to pull a rock out of the ground has done no work, whereas a child playing on a playground produces a great deal of work.

Gas Laws

Gases respond more dramatically to temperature and pressure than do the other three basic types of matter (liquids, solids and plasma). For gases, temperature and pressure are closely related to volume, and this allows us to predict their behavior under certain conditions.

Molecular Dynamics

Physicists study matter and motion, or matter in motion. These forms of matter may be large, or they may be far too small to be seen by the most high-powered microscopes available.

Structure of Matter

The physical realm is made up of matter. On Earth, matter appears in three clearly defined forms—solid, liquid, and gas—whose visible and perceptible structure is a function of behavior that takes place at the molecular level.

Thermodynamics

Thermodynamics is the study of the relationships between heat, work, and energy. Though rooted in physics, it has a clear application to chemistry, biology, and other sciences: in a sense, physical life itself can be described as a continual thermodynamic cycle of transformations between heat and energy.

Heat

Heat is a form of energy—specifically, the energy that flows between two bodies because of differences in temperature. Therefore, the scientific definition of heat is different from, and more precise than, the everyday meaning.

Temperature

Temperature is one of those aspects of the everyday world that seems rather abstract when viewed from the standpoint of physics. In scientific terms, it is not simply a measure of hot and cold, but an indicator of molecular motion and energy flow.

Thermal Expansion

Most materials are subject to thermal expansion: a tendency to expand when heated, and to contract when cooled. For this reason, bridges are built with metal expansion joints, so that they can expand and contract without causing faults in the overall structure of the bridge.

Wave Motion

Wave motion is activity that carries energy from one place to another without actually moving any matter. Studies of wave motion are most commonly associated with sound or radio transmissions, and, indeed, these are among the most common forms of wave activity experienced in daily life.

Oscillation

When a particle experiences repeated movement about a position of stable equilibrium, or balance, it is said to be in harmonic motion, and if this motion is repeated at regular intervals, it is called periodic motion. Oscillation is a type of harmonic motion, typically periodic, in one or more dimensions.

Frequency

Everywhere in daily life, there are frequencies of sound and electromagnetic waves, constantly changing and creating the features of the visible and audible world familiar to everyone. Some aspects of frequency can only be perceived indirectly, yet people are conscious of them without even thinking about it: a favorite radio station, for instance, may have a frequency of 99.7 MHz, and fans of that station knows that every time they turn the FM dial to that position, the station's signal will be there.

Resonance

Though people seldom witness it directly, the entire world is in a state of motion, and where solid objects are concerned, this motion is manifested as vibration. When the vibrations produced by one object come into alignment with those of another, this is called resonance.

Interference

When two or more waves interact and combine, they interfere with one another. But interference is not necessarily bad: waves may interfere constructively, resulting in a wave larger than the original waves.

Diffraction

Diffraction is the bending of waves around obstacles, or the spreading of waves by passing them through an aperture, or opening. Any type of energy that travels in a wave is capable of diffraction, and the diffraction of sound and light waves produces a number of effects.

Doppler Effect

Almost everyone has experienced the Doppler effect, though perhaps without knowing what causes it. For example, if one is standing on a street corner and an ambulance approaches with its siren blaring, the sound of the siren steadily gains in pitch as it comes closer.

Acoustics

The area of physics known as acoustics is devoted to the study of the production, transmission, and reception of sound. Thus, wherever sound is produced and transmitted, it will have an effect somewhere, even if there is no one present to hear it.