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Physics Fundamentals Blog

In-depth articles on physics fundamentals written by physicists and educators. Clear explanations, real-world examples, and the conceptual depth you won't find in a typical textbook.

Circular motion — ball on a string tracing a circle with centripetal force directed toward the centre
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

Circular Motion and Centripetal Force: Formula, Charged Particles & Worked Examples

A ball whirled on a string, a car rounding a bend, the Moon orbiting Earth, an electron in a magnetic field — all are in circular motion. Despite moving at constant speed, every object in unifo...

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Ohm's law — circuit diagram showing voltage, current, and resistance relationship
Electromagnetism
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team13 min read

Ohm's Law V = IR: Formula, Circuits, Power & 4 Worked Examples

Connect a battery to a resistor. Double the voltage and the current doubles. Halve the resistance and the current doubles again. This simple proportionality — V = IR, Ohm's Law — governs the be...

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Coulomb's law — two charged particles with attractive and repulsive force arrows
Electromagnetism
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

Electric Charge and Coulomb's Law: F = kq₁q₂/r² Explained

Everything electrical — lightning, batteries, neural signals, transistors — begins with one fundamental property of matter: electric charge. The force between charges, described by Coulomb's La...

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Simple harmonic motion — pendulum tracing a sinusoidal oscillation pattern
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team15 min read

Simple Harmonic Motion: x = A cos(ωt), Period & Energy — Full Guide

Simple harmonic motion (SHM) is the most important type of oscillation in physics. A pendulum swinging, a mass bouncing on a spring, a vibrating guitar string, an alternating electric current —...

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Doppler effect — compressed wave fronts in front of a moving source and stretched wave fronts behind
Waves & Optics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team13 min read

The Doppler Effect: Formula, Examples & Applications — Sound, Light & Radar

An ambulance races past you. The siren sounds higher-pitched as it approaches and drops noticeably as it passes. A galaxy 500 million light-years away has its light shifted toward the red end o...

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Ideal gas law — piston compressing gas in a cylinder illustrating the relationship between pressure, volume, and temperature
Thermodynamics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

Ideal Gas Law PV = nRT: What R Is, Derivation & 4 Worked Examples

Every breath you take, every balloon you inflate, every weather system on Earth obeys one elegant equation: PV = nRT. The ideal gas law connects the pressure, volume, temperature, and quantity...

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Specific heat capacity — beakers being heated illustrating different energy requirements for different materials
Thermodynamics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team13 min read

Specific Heat Capacity: Formula Q = mcΔT, Values & Worked Examples

Put an equal mass of water and sand in the sun. The sand gets scorching hot in minutes; the water barely warms. Same energy input, same mass — completely different temperature rise. The propert...

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The electromagnetic spectrum — from radio waves through visible light to gamma rays
Waves & Optics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team16 min read

The Electromagnetic Spectrum: Wavelengths, Frequencies & Properties

Every time you use a mobile phone, get an X-ray, feel the warmth of sunlight, or see the colours of a rainbow, you are interacting with the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectru...

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Entropy — ink drop spreading in water illustrating the spontaneous increase in disorder and entropy
Thermodynamics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

Entropy Explained: Definition, Formula ΔS = Q/T & the Second Law

Drop a drop of ink into a glass of water. It spreads — slowly, irreversibly — until uniformly distributed. You will never see the ink spontaneously re-concentrate. Crack an egg: you cannot uncr...

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Acceleration in physics — rocket launching illustrating rapid change in velocity over time
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team12 min read

Acceleration in Physics: a = Δv/Δt Formula, Types & 4 Worked Examples

Acceleration is the rate at which velocity changes. Because velocity is a vector, any change in either the speed or the direction of motion constitutes acceleration. Every time you brake in a c...

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Special relativity — spaceship travelling near light speed illustrating time dilation and length contraction
Modern Physics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team18 min read

Special Relativity: Time Dilation, Length Contraction & E = mc² Explained

In 1905, a 26-year-old patent clerk named Albert Einstein published four papers that transformed physics. One of them — "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" — introduced special relativity...

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Hooke's law — spring being stretched with proportional relationship between force and extension
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team12 min read

Hooke's Law F = kx: Spring Constant, Elastic PE & 3 Worked Examples

Springs are among the most studied objects in physics — not because springs themselves are special, but because the spring restoring force is the simplest and most important type of restoring f...

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Work done in physics — person pushing a box illustrating force applied over displacement
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team13 min read

Work Done in Physics: Formula W = Fd cosθ, Examples & Common Mistakes

Push a box across a floor. Lift a weight from the ground. Compress a spring. In each case, a force acts through a distance — and that's the physical definition of work done. Work done in physic...

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Magnetic field lines around a bar magnet with north and south poles labelled
Electromagnetism
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team15 min read

Magnetic Fields and Forces: F = qvB, Lorentz Force & 3 Worked Examples

Every electric motor, every MRI machine, every loudspeaker, every hard drive relies on the same fundamental interaction: magnetic fields exerting forces on moving charges. Understanding how mag...

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Free fall and terminal velocity — skydiver falling with gravity and air resistance forces labelled
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team13 min read

Free Fall and Terminal Velocity: Definition, Formula & 3 Worked Examples

Drop a feather and a hammer on the Moon — they hit the ground at exactly the same time. This famous demonstration (carried out by Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott in 1971) reveals something prof...

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Velocity vs speed — runner on a track illustrating the vector nature of velocity versus the scalar nature of speed
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team11 min read

Velocity vs Speed: Vector vs Scalar, Formulas & 3 Worked Examples

In everyday conversation, "speed" and "velocity" are used interchangeably. In physics, they are fundamentally different quantities — and mixing them up leads to wrong answers. Speed is a scalar...

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Second law of thermodynamics — heat engine diagram showing heat flow from hot to cold reservoir
Thermodynamics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team16 min read

Second Law of Thermodynamics: Entropy, Heat Engines & Carnot Efficiency

The second law of thermodynamics is arguably the most profound statement in all of science. It explains why time appears to have a direction (why we remember the past and not the future), why n...

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Friction force — block being pushed across a surface showing friction opposing motion
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

Friction Force: Types, Formula f = μN & 4 Worked Examples

Friction is the contact force that opposes relative motion between surfaces. It is why you can walk without slipping, why cars can brake, and why you need to keep pushing a box to keep it movin...

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Longitudinal waves — compression and rarefaction of a spring illustrating parallel wave oscillation
Waves & Optics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team15 min read

Longitudinal Waves: Definition, Examples, Sound & Compression Waves

If you have ever heard a thunderclap, felt a bass beat through a wall, or watched a Slinky spring ripple back and forth, you have experienced longitudinal waves. Unlike transverse waves — where...

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Angular momentum — spinning ice skater pulling arms in to spin faster, illustrating conservation of angular momentum
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

Angular Momentum: L = Iω, Conservation Law & Real-World Examples

A spinning ice skater pulls her arms inward — and immediately spins faster. A planet orbits faster when closer to the Sun. A gyroscope resists being tilted. A spinning top maintains its orienta...

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Electric field lines radiating from a positive charge and converging on a negative charge
Electromagnetism
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team15 min read

Electric Field and Potential: E = F/q, V = kQ/r Explained with Worked Examples

Switch on a light, charge a phone, fire a neuron — every one of these events is driven by electric fields and potentials. The electric field E tells you the force per unit charge at any point i...

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Torque in physics — spanner turning a bolt illustrating rotational force and moment arm
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team13 min read

Torque in Physics: τ = rF sinθ Formula, Worked Examples & Applications

When you push a door open, you push near the edge — not near the hinge. Instinctively you know that the same force applied further from the pivot produces a greater turning effect. That turning...

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Kinetic energy — speeding car illustrating the relationship between mass, velocity, and energy of motion
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team16 min read

Kinetic Energy: Definition, Formula KE = ½mv², Examples

Kinetic energy is one of the two fundamental forms of mechanical energy — the other being potential energy. Where potential energy is stored energy waiting to be released, kinetic energy is ene...

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Nuclear fission and fusion — uranium nucleus splitting and hydrogen nuclei combining with energy release arrows
Modern Physics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team16 min read

Nuclear Fission and Fusion: E = mc², Binding Energy & How They Work

The Sun has been shining for 4.6 billion years and will continue for another 5 billion. The energy source is not chemical — no amount of burning hydrogen gas could sustain that output for geolo...

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Reflection and refraction — light ray hitting a glass surface showing reflected and refracted beams with angles
Waves & Optics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team15 min read

Reflection and Refraction: Laws, Snell's Law & Critical Angle Explained

Every time you look in a mirror, see a rainbow, or watch a straw appear bent in a glass of water, you are witnessing two of the most fundamental behaviours of light: reflection and refraction....

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Power in physics — electric motor and light bulb illustrating energy transfer rate in watts
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team12 min read

Power in Physics: Formula P = W/t, P = Fv & 4 Worked Examples

Lift a 10 kg box one metre in one second versus one minute — the work done is the same, but the second case feels much easier. What's different is the rate at which you do that work. That rate...

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Photoelectric effect — photons hitting a metal surface and ejecting electrons with kinetic energy
Modern Physics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

The Photoelectric Effect: Einstein's Equation, Work Function & 3 Worked Examples

In 1905, Albert Einstein published the paper that would win him the Nobel Prize — not his theory of relativity, but his explanation of the photoelectric effect. When light shines on a metal sur...

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Momentum and impulse — collision between two balls showing momentum transfer
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

Momentum and Impulse: p = mv Formula, Conservation Law & 3 Worked Examples

A cricket ball and a lorry travelling at the same speed are very different things to stop. The lorry is far harder to halt — not just because it is heavier, but because it has far more momentum...

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Speed of light — light beam crossing space with c = 3 × 10⁸ m/s label and Einstein equation E = mc²
Modern Physics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team15 min read

Speed of Light: c in m/s, km/h & km/s — Why It's Constant Explained

c = 299,792,458 m/s — that number is not an approximation. Since 1983, the speed of light has been fixed by definition, and the metre is derived from it. The speed of light is the most fundamen...

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Wave-particle duality — electron double-slit experiment showing interference pattern alongside particle detections
Modern Physics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team16 min read

Wave-Particle Duality: de Broglie, Double-Slit & What Happens When Photons Hit Metal

Wave-particle duality is the experimental fact that quantum objects — photons, electrons, atoms — behave as waves in some experiments and as particles in others. It is not a paradox or an appro...

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Newton's law of universal gravitation — two masses attracting each other with gravitational force arrows
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team15 min read

Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation: F = Gm₁m₂/r² Full Guide

In 1687, Isaac Newton published his Principia Mathematica — arguably the most important scientific work ever written. Among its results was a single equation that unified the fall of an apple w...

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Young's double-slit experiment — two slits producing interference pattern of bright and dark fringes on a screen
Waves & Optics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

Young's Double-Slit Experiment: Fringe Formula, Proof & Applications

In 1801, Thomas Young performed one of the most elegant experiments in the history of physics. He shone light through two narrow slits onto a screen — and instead of two bright bands, he saw a...

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Heat transfer — three panels showing conduction through a rod, convection currents in a fluid, and radiation from a hot surface
Thermodynamics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

Heat Transfer: Conduction, Convection and Radiation — Formulas & Examples

Heat spontaneously flows from hot objects to cold ones — the direction dictated by the second law of thermodynamics and the concept of entropy. But how does it actually transfer? There are exac...

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Electromagnetic induction — bar magnet moving into a coil inducing current in a circuit
Electromagnetism
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team15 min read

Electromagnetic Induction: Faraday's Law, Lenz's Law & Applications

Every time you charge your phone, drive a car, or switch on a light, you are using a technology built on a discovery made in 1831 by Michael Faraday: electromagnetic induction. Faraday found th...

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Heisenberg uncertainty principle — electron probability cloud illustrating position-momentum uncertainty
Modern Physics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: ΔxΔp ≥ ℏ/2 — Explained Simply

In 1927, Werner Heisenberg derived one of the most famous results in all of science: it is fundamentally impossible to simultaneously know the exact position and exact momentum of a quantum par...

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SUVAT equations — velocity-time graph showing uniform acceleration with area and gradient annotations
Kinematics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

SUVAT Equations: All 4 Kinematic Formulas, Derivations & 4 Worked Examples

A car brakes from 30 m/s to rest in 50 m — how long does that take? A ball thrown upward at 15 m/s — how high does it reach? A stone dropped from a cliff — how fast is it moving after 3 seconds...

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Centre of mass — irregular shaped object with centre of mass marked, and a dumbbell showing mass distribution
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team13 min read

Centre of Mass: Definition, Formula & Worked Examples

A hammer can be balanced on a fingertip — but only if you position your finger at exactly the right point. A high-jumper arches their back over the bar so that their centre of mass passes under...

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Radioactive decay — unstable nucleus emitting alpha, beta, and gamma radiation with half-life graph
Modern Physics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team16 min read

Radioactive Decay: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Half-Life Formula & Examples

Every atom of carbon-14 in your body is slowly decaying. Every gram of uranium in Earth's crust is undergoing spontaneous nuclear transformation. Radioactive decay is the process by which an un...

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Tension force — block hanging from a rope showing tension force arrows acting along the rope
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team12 min read

Tension Force: Definition, Formula T = mg, Atwood Machine & Examples

A cable holds a suspension bridge in place. A rope supports a rock climber. A string connects two masses in an Atwood machine. In each case, the force transmitted through the material is tensio...

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Projectile motion parabola — water fountain arc showing the curved parabolic trajectory under gravity
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team13 min read

Why Is Projectile Motion a Parabola? Physics Explained with Proof

Every object launched into the air — a basketball, a cannonball, a water droplet from a fountain — traces the same distinctive curved path under gravity alone. That curve is a parabola, one of...

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Normal force — block resting on a surface with weight and normal force arrows labelled
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team12 min read

Normal Force: Definition, Formula N = mg & Worked Examples

Every time you sit in a chair, stand on a floor, or press a book against a table, a force pushes back on you — perpendicular to the surface. This is the normal force. It is the contact force th...

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Kinetic theory of gases — molecules in motion representing gas pressure and temperature
Thermodynamics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team13 min read

Kinetic Theory of Gases: Pressure, Temperature & Molecular Motion

What Is the Kinetic Theory of Gases? The kinetic theory of gases is a scientific model that explains the macroscopic properties of gases — pressure, temperature, and volume — in terms of...

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Wave speed frequency and wavelength — laboratory oscilloscope showing wave properties
Waves & Optics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

Wave Speed Frequency Wavelength: v = fλ Explained — Formula, Examples & Applications

Every wave — a ripple on water, sound in air, a light beam crossing space — obeys one equation: v = fλ. Wave speed equals frequency times wavelength. This single relationship connects three of...

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Newton's law of universal gravitation — Earth from space showing gravitational attraction between masses
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team11 min read

Newton's Law of Gravitation F = Gm₁m₂/r²: Formula & Worked Examples

Every object in the universe with mass attracts every other object with mass. This isn't a metaphor — it's a precise, quantitative law. Newton's law of universal gravitation, published in 1687...

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First law of thermodynamics — fire illustrating heat as a form of energy transfer
Thermodynamics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team11 min read

First Law of Thermodynamics: ΔU = Q − W Explained with Worked Examples

Every engine ever built, every metabolic reaction in your body, every star burning in the sky — all operate under one inviolable constraint: the first law of thermodynamics. It is, at its core,...

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Conservation of momentum — Newton's cradle demonstrating elastic collision and momentum transfer
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team16 min read

Conservation of Momentum: Formula, Elastic vs Inelastic Collisions & 3 Examples

When two billiard balls collide, when a rocket expels exhaust, when a gun recoils after firing, when subatomic particles scatter in a collider — the same deep principle governs every one of the...

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Projectile motion — basketball tracing a parabolic arc through the air
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team15 min read

Projectile Motion: Range, Height & Time Formulas with 4 Worked Examples

A basketball arcs toward the hoop. A cannonball launches from a cliff. A long-jumper leaves the ground at an angle. All are examples of projectile motion — motion under gravity alone, with no o...

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What is energy — lightning bolt representing electrical energy and energy transformation
Thermodynamics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team12 min read

What Is Energy in Physics? Definition, Types, Conservation & Units

What Is Energy? The Definition in Physics The definition of energy in physics: energy is a scalar quantity that measures the capacity of a system to do work or produce heat. It is not a...

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Force equals mass times acceleration — athlete demonstrating F=ma with explosive push
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team14 min read

Newton's Second Law F = ma: Formula, Which Law It Is & 5 Worked Examples

Newton's Second Law of Motion states that the net force acting on an object equals the object's mass multiplied by its acceleration: F = ma. The acceleration produced is directly proportional t...

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Transverse waves — ripples spreading across water surface showing perpendicular wave oscillation
Waves & Optics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team22 min read

Transverse Waves: Definition, Properties, and Examples

When you pluck a guitar string, watch ripples cross a pond, or see light travel 93 million miles from the Sun to your eyes, you're witnessing transverse waves in action. A transverse wave is on...

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Newton's laws of motion — billiard balls illustrating force, mass and acceleration
Classical Mechanics
Physics Fundamentals Editorial Team16 min read

Newton's Laws of Motion: All Three Laws, Formulas & Examples

Every object you have ever seen — every car on the highway, every satellite in orbit, every atom vibrating in your coffee cup — follows the same three rules. These are Newton's laws of motion,...

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