The ABC's of Physics

A- amplitude of a wave (from middle to peak or trough), alpha- angular acceleration, =linear acceleration (a) / radius (r).

B- Magnetic field, used in magnetism, can move charged objects

C- Capacitance- in circuits, a capacitor is represented by 2 parallel lines of equal length. They hold and discharge charge. Add the capacitance of capacitors in parallel to get the equivalent capacitance, add 1/the capacitance of capacitors in series to get 1/the equivalent capacitance.

D- distance, can be measured with a meter stick.

E- A script E is the EMF, used in circuits and magnetism; a script E is the voltage drop across a battery (which is just the voltage of the battery). e- is the charge of an electron.

F- Force (pronounced four-ssss), including friction force (script F). Also frequency (which is 1/period) in hertz (sec^-1)

G- gravitational force. g = 9.81 m/s^2, G is also the universal gravitational constant 6.67*10^-11 Nm^2/kg^2

H- Hz (hertz) is the unit of frequency and is equal to sec^-1

I- moment of inertia = integral of r^2 dm, which just means that you have to add up each mass times the distance between it and the axis of rotation squared; for an object like a disk, calculus or memorization has to be used, since each atom is in a different position /at a different radius. Then, it can be used to find torque, since Torque = I*alpha. Flux- (capital phi looks similar to an I) is a measure of something flowing through a surface, such as electric flux being the rate of flow of electric field through a given area. I is also current in circuits, although this in not in the mural!

J- Joules are a unit of energy. It also sounds like jewels.

K- k is the spring constant, used to determine the force of a spring: F=-k(change in x). K is kinetic energy, 1/2mv^2, the energy of motion (vs potential energy that is based on position).

L- is for length, of course, but it is also for lambda, the symbol for wavelength, which is pronounced lamb-da, and lams say daaaaaa, which is cute. :)

M- is for magnification, part of the lens/mirror unit.

N- Newtons are a unit of force equal to 1kgm/s^2. Fig Newtons are a yummy snack / bar. n is the index of refraction, which is calculated by comparing how light behaves in a substance vs in a vacuum and is used in Snell's law.

O- is for ohm, a unit of resistance. Ohm sounds like home, and its symbol resembles a car / mobile home!

P- the greek letter rho looks like a p, and it is pronounced row, so the mural depicts rho rho rho your boat! :)

P- Power is energy transferred per unit time (work / change in time). Its units are watts. p is also momentum, which is often conserved in collisions and = mass times velocity.

Q- is heat in thermodynamics (such as Q= m*c*delta T), and q is charge in circuits and electricity & magnetism in general (such as charging a capacitor with charge Q or moving a point charge of q around the universe).

R- R is resistance in circuit. It is represented by a zigzag line. Its units are ohms.

S- Entropy, a measure of randomness also used in chemistry, is represented by an S. Lowercase delta also looks a lot like an S, and it appears to be a symbol for path difference (from an early physics unit about light / waves)

T- is the period (ex of a spring or pendulum's oscillation, or just a wave in general-- the distance from one point on a sinusoidal graph to the same point on the next oscillation of the graph). A script T is torque, force that rotates an object when a linear force is applied a distance from the axis of rotation and in a direction perpendicular to the radius between the force and the axis.

U- is the symbol for potential energy (mgh), the energy of position (vs. kinetic energy that is based on motion).

U- also looks like the greek letter mu, which is the coefficient of friction, Force of friction = (if its kinetic friction; <= if it's static friction) mu*Normal force (from the surface that has friction).

V- is for voltswagon! A play on the car Volkswagen and the physics unit Volt (unit for electric potential, like a battery in a circuit)

W- is for work, which occurs when a force moves an object (units Joules or Newtons*meters). w also looks like lowercase omega, which is angular velocity (= linear velocity /radius of the circle the object is moving along)

X and Y- In radioactive decay, the original nucleus is called the parent nucleus and is often labelled X. After decay occurs (emitting an alpha, beta, gamma, etc particle), the new nucleus is called a daughter nucleus and is often labelled Y.

Z- The atomic number is the number of protons in an element. It is often labelled Z (ex: on a periodic table with sample element X, they might write Z above it to show where the atomic number can be found).