Physics Questions & Answers
Got a physics question? Find clear answers to questions students actually ask.
79
Physics questions answered and growing!
Why Can Horizontal and Vertical Motion Be Treated Separately?
Why Is Electric Potential Different From Electric Potential Energy?
Can Electric Field Be Zero Where Electric Potential Is Not Zero?
Can Electric Potential Be Zero Where Electric Field Is Not Zero?
Why Does Adding a Dielectric Increase Capacitance?
Why Are Equipotential Lines Perpendicular to Electric Field Lines?
Why Is the Electric Field Stronger Near Sharp Points on a Conductor?
Why Does Excess Charge Move to the Surface of a Conductor?
Why Is the Electric Field Zero Inside a Conductor in Electrostatic Equilibrium?
Why Do Electric Field Lines Never Cross?
Where Is Energy Stored in a Capacitor?
Why Does a Capacitor Charge Exponentially Instead of Linearly?
Why Does a Capacitor Block Steady DC After It Charges?
Why Do Real Batteries Have Internal Resistance?
Why Does a Metal’s Resistance Usually Increase With Temperature?
Why Does Equivalent Resistance Increase in Series but Decrease in Parallel?
Why Does Voltage Drop Across a Resistor?
Why Does Current Split at a Junction?
Why Is Voltage the Same Across Parallel Branches?
Why Is Current the Same Everywhere in a Series Circuit?
Why Can a Gas Cool When It Expands?
Why Does Entropy Tend to Increase?
Why Does Water Boil at a Lower Temperature at High Altitude?
Why Does Evaporation Cool Things Down?
Why Does Temperature Stay Constant During Melting or Boiling?
Why Do Different Materials Have Different Specific Heats?
Why Does Heat Flow From Hot Objects to Cold Objects?
Why Does Metal Feel Colder Than Wood at the Same Temperature?
Why Is Heat Different From Temperature?
Why Does Ice Float When Most Solids Sink in Their Liquids?
Why Does an Object Feel Lighter Underwater?
Why Does Buoyant Force Exist?
Why Is Pressure the Same at the Same Depth?
Why Does Pressure Increase With Depth?
Why Can Friction Point the Same Way a Rolling Object Is Moving?
Why Can Static Friction Provide Torque Without Doing Work?
Why Doesn’t a Spinning Gyroscope Simply Fall Over?
Why Does Angular Momentum Point Perpendicular to the Rotation?
Why Is Angular Momentum Conserved?
Why Does Pulling Your Arms In Make You Spin Faster?
Why Does Moment of Inertia Depend on the Axis of Rotation?
Why Does Torque Depend on Perpendicular Distance?
Why Can Momentum Be Conserved in One Direction but Not Another?
Can Total Momentum Be Zero Even When Objects Are Moving?
Where Does the “Lost” Kinetic Energy Go in an Inelastic Collision?
Why Is Momentum Conserved When Kinetic Energy Is Not?
Why Doesn’t Gravity Do Work on a Satellite in a Circular Orbit?
Why Do Astronauts Feel Weightless When Gravity Is Still Acting?
Why Doesn’t Escape Velocity Depend on the Object’s Mass?
Why Is Gravitational Potential Energy Sometimes Negative?
When Is Mechanical Energy Conserved but Kinetic Energy Is Not?
How Can Work Be Negative?
Why Is Work Zero When Force Is Perpendicular to Motion?
Why Can a Banked Curve Work Without Friction at One Speed?
Why Does a Car Need Friction to Turn on a Flat Road?
Why Do Heavier Objects Not Fall Faster?
Why Does a Projectile Keep Moving Forward While It Falls?
Can Average Velocity Be Zero When Average Speed Is Not?
Why Does Direction Matter for Velocity but Not Speed?
Why Is Acceleration Measured in m/s²?
Can Acceleration Be Zero While an Object Is Still Moving?
Can Velocity Be Zero While Acceleration Is Not?
If Centripetal Acceleration Points Inward, Why Doesn’t the Object Move Inward?
Why Doesn’t Centripetal Acceleration Change Speed?
Why Isn’t Centripetal Force a Separate Force?
Why Do You Need an Inward Force to Move in a Circle?
Why Is Acceleration Zero at Terminal Velocity?
Why Does Air Resistance Increase With Speed?
Why Can Friction Point Up an Incline?
Can Static Friction Be Zero Even When Two Surfaces Touch?
Why Is Velocity Different From Speed?
How Does Static Friction Know Which Direction to Point?
Why Isn’t Static Friction Always Equal to μₛN?
Why Doesn’t Friction Depend on Contact Area in the Simple Model?
Why Is Tension the Same in an Ideal Massless Rope?
Why Do You Feel Heavier or Lighter in an Elevator?
Why Does a Scale Measure Normal Force Instead of Weight?
Why Isn’t Normal Force Always Equal to Weight?
Does Negative Acceleration Always Mean Slowing Down?
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