# All Definitions Needed For O Level

This post contains all the important definitions that you need for GCE O Level Physics. (Equivalent to American High School Diploma) If you do not recognise any of the terms listed here, you should proceed to review the respective topic (Click on each of the sub-headers). For a list of the important equations for O Level Physics, please visit O Level Formula List.

Please drop a comment below if any particular important definitions are missing in this post.

### Measurements

Scalar quantities are quantities in which the magnitude is stated, but the direction is either not applicable or not specified.

Vector quantities are quantities in which both the magnitude and the direction must be stated.

### Kinematics

Distance travelled by an object is the length of path taken.

Displacement is the shortest distance from the initial to the final position of an object.

Speed is the distance moved per unit time.

Velocity (v) of an object is the rate of change of displacement with respect to time.

Acceleration of an object is the rate of change of velocity with respect to time.

### Forces and Turning effect of Force

Newton’s First Law states that an object will continue in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line as long as there is no net force acting on the body.

Newton’s Second Law states that when a resultant force acts on an object of a constant mass, the object will accelerate in the direction of the resultant force.

Newton’s Third Law states that if object A exerts a force on object B, then object B will also exert an equal and opposite force on object A

The moment of a force (torque) is defined as the turning effect of the force about a pivot and is the product of the force and the perpendicular distance from the line of action of the force to the pivot.

The centre of mass of a body of matter is an imaginary point at which the entire mass of the body seems to act.

The centre of gravity of a body of matter is an imaginary point at which the entire weight of the body seems to act.

### Mass, Weight and Density

Mass is defined as the amount of matter in an object

Weight is defined as the gravitational force acting on an object

Inertia is defined as the reluctance on an object to change its state of rest or motion, due to its mass.

A Gravitational Field is a region in which a mass experiences a force due to gravitational attraction

Gravitational Field Strength is defined as the gravitational force acting per unit mass .

Density ($\rho$) is defined as the mass of a substance per unit volume.

Terminal velocity is the highest velocity attainable by an object in free fall.

### Pressure

Pressure is defined as the perpendicular force acting on unit area of a surface or the force per unit area.

Boyle’s Law states that the volume of a fixed mass of gas at constant temperature is inversely proportional to the pressure applied to the gas.

### Work, Energy and Power

The Principle of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed but can be converted from one form to another and the total amount of energy of a enclosed system remains constant.

Kinetic Energy, $E_{k}$ is the energy a body possesses by virtue of its motion.

Gravitational Potential Energy is defined as the amount of work done in order to raise the body to the height h  from a reference level.

Power is defined as the rate of work done OR;

Power is defined as the rate of energy converted with respect to time.

### Thermal Physics

Melting is the process in which energy absorbed by a substance results in a change of state from solid to liquid, without a change in temperature.

Solidification is the process in which energy taken away from a substance results in a change of state from liquid to solid, without a change in temperature.

Boiling is the process in which the energy absorbed by a substance changes it from liquid state to gaseous state, without a change in temperature.

Condensation is the process in which energy taken away from substance changes it from gaseous state to liquid state, without a change in temperature.

Heat Capacity, C,of a body is defined as the amount of heat (Q) required to raise its temperature (θ) by one degree, without going through a change of state.

Specific heat capacity, c, of a body is defined as the amount of heat (Q) required to raise the temperature (θ) of a unit mass of it by one degree, without going through a change in state.

Specific latent heat of fusion of a substance is defined as the amount of heat required to change a unit mass of the substance from solid to liquid state, without any change in the temperature.

Specific latent heat of vapourization of a substance is defined as the amount of heat required to change unit mass of the substance from liquid state to gas state without a temperature change.

Conduction is the transfer of thermal energy from one place to another without any flow of the medium.

Convection is the transfer of thermal energy from one place to another by means of convection currents in a fluid (gas or liquid), due to a difference in density

Radiation is the transfer of thermal energy from one place to another by means of electromagnetic radiation, without the need of an intervening material medium.

### Waves, Reflection and Refraction of light, Converging lens

Amplitude is the maximum displacement from the rest or central position, in either directions.

Frequency (f) is defined as the number of complete waves produced per unit time.

Wavelength (λ) is the distance between corresponding points of two consecutive waves.

Speed of the wave propagation is defined as the distance travelled by a wave per unit time.

Period (T) is defined as the time taken to produce one complete wave.

First law of reflection  states that the incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal to the surface all lie in the same plane.

Second law of reflection states that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

Refraction of light is the change in direction (bending of light rays) when it passes from one optically transparent medium to another.

First law of refraction states that the incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal to the interface all lie in the same plane.

Second law of refraction states that for two given media, the ratio $\frac{\sin{i}}{\sin{r}} = \, \text{constant}$, where $i$ is the angle of incidence and $r$ is the angle of refraction.

### Electricity and D.C. Circuits

Electric Current is defined as the rate of flow of charges.

Electromotive Force (e.m.f) of a source is defined as the the work done by the source in driving a unit charge around a complete circuit.

Potential difference across a component is defined as the work done to drive a unit charge through the component.

Ohm’s law states that the current flowing through a metallic conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference across it, provided that the physical conditions remain constant.

### Electromagnetic Force and Electromagnetic Induction

Faraday’s Law of Electromagnetic induction is the process in which an electromotive force (emf) is induced in a closed circuit due to changes in the magnetic field around the circuit.

Lenz’s law states that the direction of the induced e.m.f. and hence the induced current in a closed circuit is always such that it opposes the change in producing it.

### Radioactivity and the nuclear atom

Isotopes are different atoms of an element which have the same number of protons, but a different number of neutrons from each other.

Radioactive decay refers to the process in which α-particles and β-particles are emitted by an unstable nuclei (contains too many neutrons or protons) of an element in order to form a more stable nuclei of another element.

The half-life of a sample of a radioactive isotope is defined as the time taken for half the original unstable radioactive nuclei to decay.

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### 35 thoughts on “All Definitions Needed For O Level”

1. IN MEASUREMENTS DEFINITION OF DERIVED AND BASIC QUANTITY IS MISSING

2. IN MEASUREMENTS DEFINITION OF BASE QUANTITY AND DERIVED QUANTITY IS MISSING

3. Woaw this is amazing thank you very much.

4. Some definitions are missing

5. am so grateful. have more of these

6. Charge ain’t defined here, it should be given for students in general to understand particulate physics

7. why do u give us *A* level definitions yet there are doz 4 *O* level

8. Thankyou so much, this was very useful

9. nuclear fission, fusion etc missing..

10. what is uniform accelaration,non uniform accelaration,retardation,uniform speed,non uuniform speed?

• Retardation means negative accelaration.
Example – breakes of vehicles.

• uniform accerleration refers to the constant change of velocity with time
uniform velocity is the constant rate of change of displacement with time

11. Magnetic flux..magnetic flux linkage.. solenoid etc..missing.

• Those definitions are in ‘A’ Level syllabus. Click here to view them.

• can’t we get the definitions of live, neutral and eart wire?

13. I think you missed out- Limit of proportionality, Hooke’s Law, Ohm’s Law, Radioactive decay, nuclide

I do not think that the rest is useful.

• but the omitted topics are the part of O level text book. and also required for the preparation of the exams

14. Centre of Gravity is not in

15. I think you missed out Right hand grip rule and Flemming left/right hand rule. Does that count?

• The two rules are used for applications. I doubt that the definitions for the two rules will be useful.

16. You missed out the definition of inertia.

17. I think you might have missed the definition for kinetic energy

18. Best note ever, but the definition for density is missing

• The density of a substance is its mass per unit volume