A Physicist Guide
to Dancing
Vocabulary
Accelerate : To change the velocity of a particle over time
Collision : An event during which two particles come close to each other and interact by means of forces
Elastic Collision : The total kinetic energy of the system is the same before and after the collision.
Impulse : The variation of a force over time
Inelastic Collision : The total kinetic energy of the system if not the same before and after the collision
Isolated System : A system which does not interact with its environment
Mass : The property of an object that specifies how much resistance an object exhibits to changes in its velocity
Net Force : The vector sum of all forces acting on an object
Newtons Laws of Motion :
Law 1 - When no force acts on an object, the acceleration of the object is zero.
Law 2 - When viewed from an inertial reference frame, the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to its mass.
Law 3 - If two objects interact, the force exerted by object 1 on object 2 is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force exerted by object 2 on object 1
System : A small portion of the universe
Velocity : A particles displacement Δx divided by the time interval Δt during which that displacement occurs
Work : The transfer f energy to a system by applying a force to the system and causing a displacement of the point of application of the force