Conceptual Physics Final Test Review

Scientific Method

• The Scientific Method is a series of steps used by scientists to answer questions and solve problems; it's the "game plan" or "blueprint" for scientific investigation.
• We use the Scientific Method often in our daily lives, indirectly and unconsciously.
• Galileo Galilei is often referred to as the "father of the scientific method."
• Francis Bacon is another pioneer of the scientific method; he is recognized as one of the architects of the scientific method because he helped organize it.
• Sir Isaac Newton also made valuable contributions, mainly the procedure.

Motion II Test Review

1.2: Speed and Velocity

• Speed (v) is a key concept to use when quantifying motion, it's the rate of movement (time rate of change of distance from a reference point).

• It is attained using the formula d/t and expressed in a unit of distance over one of time, for example; meters per second (m/s), kilometers per hour (km/h) or miles per hour (mph).
• It is a scalar quantity, it only has a magnitude (#), no direction.
• Speed has 3 aspects that should be highlighted:
1. Speed is relative (depends on a reference point)
2. It is important to differentiate average speed and instantaneous speed.
• Average speed is the total distance an object travels over the time it took to travel that distance.

Motion Test Review

1.1: Fundamental Physical Quantities

• Space, time, and matter are the three basic aspects of the material universe that we must describe and quantify in various ways in physics; all physical quantities involve measurements of space, time, and the properties of matter.
• Distance (space), time (time) and mass (matter) are the units of measure through which we quantify the material universe's three basic aspects; they are known as fundamental physical quantities.  It is difficult to define them because they are extremely basic concepts, especially time.
• Distance represents a measure of space in one direction; length, width, and height are distance measurements.