Kinematics provides us with the conceptual vocabulary to describe motion.
Kinematics gives you the tools you need to describe motion. You don't address the causes of motion in Kinematics. The causes of motion are the domain of Dynamics, in which Newton's Laws are introduced. Kinematics uses mathematics to describe motion using the concepts of space and time.
For the MCAT, Kinematics is an important topic, both in itself and as a primary underpinning of Physics. Kinematics is one of the main areas from which the MCAT writers draw 'plug and chug' problems for the exam. Although there are only a few quantitative problems on a typical MCAT, one or two of them are frequently kinematics problems. In addition to practicing quantitative problems, you should encourage yourself in kinematics to imagine the model mechanical system, simple bodies moving in free space. Practice visualizing motion while conceptualizing displacement, velocity, and acceleration. Concentrate on building a mental space for mechanics as an imaginative skill, a capability that will help you throughout physics.
WikiPremed Resources
Newton's Laws Cards
Conceptual Vocabulary Self-Test
Basic Terms Crossword Puzzle
Basic Puzzle Solution
Conceptual Vocabulary for Newton's Laws
Newton's Laws
Force is anything that can cause a massive body to accelerate. It may be experienced as a lift, a push, or a pull.
Mass is a fundamental concept in physics, roughly corresponding to the intuitive idea of how much matter there is in an object.
Dynamics is the branch of classical mechanics that is concerned with the effects of forces on the motion of objects.
Sir Isaac Newton was an English scientist whose treatise Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687, described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion.
Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who achieved the first systematic studies of uniformly accelerated motion, improved the telescope and supported Copernicanism.
Weight is a measurement of the gravitational force acting on an object.
Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws which provide relationships between the forces acting on a body and its movement through space.
The centripetal force is the external force required to make a body follow a circular path at constant speed. The force is directed inward, toward the center of the circle.
Friction is the force that opposes the relative motion or tendency toward such motion of two surfaces in contact.
The coefficient of friction is a dimensionless quantity used to calculate the force of friction (static or kinetic).
The normal force is the component, perpendicular to the surface of contact, of the contact force exerted by the surface.
A contact force is a force between two objects that are touching each other.
The newton is the SI derived unit of force.
Inertia is the property of an object to remain at constant velocity unless acted upon by an outside force.
A resultant or net force is a vector produced when two or more forces act upon a single object.
Newton's third law states that forces occur in pairs, one called the action and the other the reaction.
A fundamental force or interaction is a mechanism by which particles interact with each other and which cannot be explained in terms of another interaction.
Sliding friction is when two solid surfaces slide against each other.
An inertial frame of reference is one in which Newton's first and second laws of motion are valid, ie. that is neither rotating nor accelerated.
Tension is a reaction force applied by a stretched string, rope or a similar object, upon the objects which stretch it.
Rolling resistance is the frictional resistance that occurs when an object rolls. It is usually much smaller than sliding friction.
The dyne is a unit of force specified in the centimeter-gram-second (cgs) system of units.
A fictitious force is an apparent force that acts on all masses in a non-inertial frame of reference arising from the acceleration of the non-inertial reference frame itself.
