C

　　Calorie

　　The amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. 1 cal = 4.19 J.

　　Celsius

　　A scale for measuring temperature, dined such that water freezes at 0ºC and boils at 100ºC. 0ºC = 273 K.

　　Center of curvature

　　With spherical mirrors, the center of the sphere of which the mirror is a part. All of the normals pass through it.

　　Center of mass

　　Given the trajectory of an object or system, the center of mass is the point that has the same acceleration as the object or system as a whole would have if its mass were concentrated at that point. In terms of force, the center of mass is the point at which a given net force acting on a system will produce the same acceleration as if the system’s mass were concentrated at that point.

　　Centripetal acceleration

　　The acceleration of a body experiencing uniform circular motion. This acceleration is always directed toward the center of the circle.

　　Centripetal force

　　The force necessary to maintain a body in uniform circular motion. This force is always directed radially toward the center of the circle.

　　Chain reaction

　　The particles and energy released by the fission or fusion of one atom may trigger the fission or fusion of further atoms. In a chain reaction, fission or fusion is rapidly transferred to a large number of atoms, releasing tremendous amounts of energy.

　　Charles’s Law

　　For a gas held at constant pressure, temperature and volume are directly proportional.

　　Coficient of kinetic friction

　　The coficient of kinetic friction, , for two materials is the constant of proportionality between the normal force and the force of kinetic friction. It is always a number between zero and one.

　　Coficient of linear expansion

　　A coficient that tells how much a material will expand or contract lengthwise when it is heated or cooled.

　　Coficient of static friction

　　The coficient of static friction, for two materials is the constant of proportionality between the normal force and the maximum force of static friction. It is always a number between zero and one.

　　Coficient of volume expansion

　　A coficient that tells how much the volume of a solid will change when it is heated or cooled.

　　Coherent light

　　Light such that all of the associated waves have the same wavelength and are in phase.

　　Collision

　　When objects collide, each object feels a force for a short amount of time. This force imparts an impulse, or changes the momentum of each of the colliding objects. The momentum of a system is conserved in all kinds of collisions. Kinetic energy is conserved in elastic collisions, but not in inelastic collisions. In a perfectly inelastic collision, the colliding objects stick together after they collide.

　　Completely inelastic collision

　　A collision in which the colliding particles stick together.

　　Component

　　Any vector can be expressed as the sum of two mutually perpendicular component vectors. Usually, but not always, these components are multiples of the basis vectors, and ; that is, vectors along the x-axis and y-axis. We dine these two vectors as the x- and y-components of the vector.

　　Compression

　　An area of high air pressure that acts as the wave crest for sound waves. The spacing between successive compressions is the wavelength of sound, and the number of successive areas of compression that arrive at the ear per second is the frequency, or pitch, of the sound.

　　Concave lens

　　Also called a diverging lens, a lens that is thinner in the middle than at the edges. Concave lenses rract light away from a focal point.

　　Concave mirror

　　A mirror that is curved such that its center is farther from the viewer than the edges, such as the front of a spoon. Concave mirrors rlect light through a focal point.

　　Conduction

　　Heat transfer by molecular collisions.

　　Conservation of Angular Momentum

　　If the net torque acting on a rigid body is zero, then the angular momentum of the body is constant or conserved.

　　Conservation of momentum

　　The principle stating that for any isolated system, linear momentum is constant with time.

　　Constant of proportionality

　　A constant in the numerator of a formula.

　　Constructive interference

　　The amplification of one wave by another, identical wave of the same sign. Two constructively interfering waves are said to be “in phase.”

　　Convection

　　Heat transfer via the mass movement of molecules.

　　Convex lens

　　Also called a converging lens, a lens that is thicker in the middle than at the edges. Convex lenses rract light through a focal point.

　　Convex mirror

　　A mirror that is curved such that its center is closer to the viewer than the edges, such as a doorknob. Convex mirrors rlect light away from a focal point.

　　Cosine

　　The cosine of an angle in a right triangle is equal to the length of the side adjacent to the angle divided by the length of the hypotenuse.

　　Crest

　　The points of maximum displacement along a wave. In traveling waves, the crests move in the direction of propagation of the wave. The crests of standing waves, also called anti-nodes, remain in one place.

　　Critical angle

　　For two given media, the smallest angle of incidence at which total internal rlection occurs.

　　Cross product

　　A form of vector multiplication, where two vectors are multiplied to produce a third vector. The cross product of two vectors, A and B, separated by an angle, , is , where is a unit vector perpendicular to both A and B. To deine which direction points, you must use the right-hand rule.

　　Cycle

　　In oscillation, a cycle occurs when an object undergoing oscillatory motion completes a “round-trip.” For instance, a pendulum bob released at angle has completed one cycle when it swings to and then back to again. In period motion, a cycle is the sequence through which a system once during each oscil-lation. A cycle can consist of one trip up and down for a piece of stretched string, or of a compression followed by a raraction of air pressure for sound waves.

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