Vijay Shankar Sharma
Textbook physics terms. Not a BFUT reinterpretation. 371 terms. Textbook meanings only.
15 terms. Page 1 of 1.
particle · intermediate
A composite particle made of quarks held together by the strong nuclear force, mediated by gluons. Hadrons are divided into two families: baryons, made of three quarks, such as protons and neutrons, and mesons, made of one quark and one antiquark. Because quarks cannot be isolated individually, all observed strongly interacting particles are hadrons rather than free quarks.
nuclear · intro
The time required for half of the radioactive nuclei in a sample to decay, a characteristic value for each specific radioactive isotope that remains constant regardless of the sample's size or age. After one half-life, half the original material remains; after two half-lives, one quarter remains, and so on, following exponential decay. Half-lives range from fractions of a second to billions of years, depending on the isotope.
thermo · intro
The transfer of thermal energy between systems or objects due to a temperature difference between them, flowing spontaneously from a hotter object to a cooler one until thermal equilibrium is reached. Heat is not a property that an object possesses, unlike internal energy, but rather energy in transit, measured in joules or, in older units, calories. Heat can be transferred by conduction, convection, or radiation.
thermo · intro
The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of an object or substance by one degree, which depends on both the amount of material present and the material's specific heat. A substance with a high heat capacity, such as water, absorbs a large amount of heat with only a modest temperature rise, which is why large bodies of water moderate nearby climates. Heat capacity is distinguished from specific heat, which is heat capacity per unit mass.
quantum · intermediate
Also called: uncertainty principle
A fundamental principle of quantum mechanics, formulated by Werner Heisenberg in 1927, stating that certain pairs of physical properties, such as position and momentum, cannot both be measured or known to arbitrary precision simultaneously. The more precisely one property is determined, the less precisely the other can be known, a limit set by Planck's constant rather than by imperfect measurement tools. This is a fundamental feature of quantum reality, not merely a practical limitation.
nuclear · intro
The second lightest and second most abundant element in the universe, with an atomic nucleus containing two protons. Most of the helium in the universe was formed within the first few minutes after the hot early phase of cosmic expansion, during a process called primordial nucleosynthesis, with additional helium continuously produced by nuclear fusion inside stars. Helium is chemically inert and remains a gas at all but the most extreme low temperatures.
waves · intro
The SI unit of frequency, defined as one cycle per second, used to measure how often a repeating event, such as a wave oscillation or a rotating object, occurs. Named after German physicist Heinrich Hertz, who first demonstrated the existence of radio waves, the unit applies to phenomena as varied as sound pitch, alternating current, computer processor speeds, and the vibration frequency of atoms.
particle · intermediate
An elementary particle discovered at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012, associated with the Higgs field, which permeates all of space and gives fundamental particles their mass through their interaction with it. Particles that interact strongly with the Higgs field, such as the top quark, are heavy, while particles like the photon, which do not interact with it, remain massless. The discovery confirmed a key prediction of the Standard Model made decades earlier.
particle · intermediate
A quantum field that is theorized to permeate all of space uniformly, proposed in the 1960s and confirmed experimentally through the discovery of its associated particle, the Higgs boson, in 2012. Elementary particles acquire mass through their interaction with the Higgs field: particles that interact strongly with the field, such as the top quark, become heavy, while particles that do not interact with it, such as the photon, remain massless.
optics · intermediate
A technique for recording and later reconstructing the full three-dimensional light field of a scene, capturing both the intensity and phase information of light waves using interference patterns, typically created with coherent laser light. Unlike an ordinary photograph, a hologram appears to shift in perspective as the viewer moves around it, recreating a genuine sense of depth. Holography has applications in security, data storage, and imaging.
mechanics · intro
A law of elasticity stating that the force needed to stretch or compress a spring or elastic material by a given distance is directly proportional to that distance, at least within the material's elastic limit. Formulated by English scientist Robert Hooke, it is written as force equals a spring constant multiplied by displacement, and it describes the behavior of many elastic systems, from mechanical springs to the vibrations of atoms in a solid.
cosmology · intro
A number that describes the current rate at which the universe is expanding, expressing how fast a galaxy appears to recede from us for every unit of distance separating it from us, typically expressed in kilometers per second per megaparsec. First estimated by Edwin Hubble in 1929, its precise present-day value remains a subject of active research, since different measurement methods currently yield slightly different results.
cosmology · intermediate
A persistent discrepancy between two independent methods of measuring the Hubble constant: one based on direct, local distance measurements to nearby stars and supernovae, and another based on modeling the cosmic microwave background and the early universe within the standard Lambda-CDM cosmological model. The two approaches consistently yield different values for the expansion rate, a disagreement that has grown more statistically significant as measurement precision has improved, and its resolution remains an active area of cosmological research.
nuclear · intro
The lightest and most abundant element in the universe, with a nucleus normally consisting of a single proton. Hydrogen makes up roughly three-quarters of all ordinary matter by mass and is the primary fuel for nuclear fusion in stars, including the Sun. It exists in several isotopic forms, including deuterium and tritium, and plays a central role in astrophysics, chemistry, and energy research.
mechanics · intro
The pressure exerted by a fluid at rest due to the weight of the fluid above a given point, increasing with depth. It explains why water pressure increases as a diver descends and why dams must be built thicker at the base to withstand greater pressure near the bottom. Hydrostatic pressure depends on the fluid's density, the local gravitational acceleration, and the depth below the fluid's surface.