IB Physics Glossary
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Absolute magnitude M, is a measure of how bright an object appears or the apparent magnitude, when it is observed from a distance of 10 pc. (d). | |
Absorbed dose D, is the amount of energy absorbed by a unit mass of material or body tissue where D = absorbed energy/mass. Its units are Jkg-1 or the Gray (Gy). | |
Acceleration | |
Accommodation is the process by which the lens in the eye can focus on both near and far objects. When we focus on distant objects the lens is longer and thinner due to the effect of the cilary muscles and the taut fibers. When we focus on nearby objects the lens becomes shorter and thicker due to contraction of the ciliary muscles. | |
Accuracytells us how close the measured value of a quantity is to its true value. An accurate measurement is "close" to a true value. An inaccurate measurement is "far" from a true value. | |
Adiabatic process | |
Albedo is the ratio of total solar energy reflected back from Earth into space to the total incident solar energy. (d) | |
Alpha decayor Where X is the parent nucleus, Y is the daughter nucleus, A is the number of nucleons and Z is the number of protons. An example decay is Properties of alpha particles include
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Ammeter measures current flowing through a component. It is placed in series with the component. An ideal ammeter has zero resistance so that it has no effect on the current flowing. | |