Physics Glossary

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This glossary is strictly limited to terms originating from official NYSED materials such as standards and released test questions. Every term links to its source: a performance expectation (for example HS-PS2-1) means the term, or the wording it is taken from, appears in that standard's text, clarification statement, assessment boundary, disciplinary core ideas or performance level descriptions; an exam cluster means the term appeared in that released question cluster, and the link opens the question. Sections: vocabulary from the standards, vocabulary from released exams, equations, symbols and constants, units, devices, instruments and materials, and terms the standards and exams point to without naming.

Vocabulary from the standards

Terms used in the physics performance expectations and their supporting NYSED text. This is the core vocabulary; the science-practice and engineering words the standards use (claim, evidence, criteria, constraint, trade-off) are included because the exams use them the same way. Several standards are shared with other courses: HS-PS1-8, HS-PS3-1, HS-PS3-5 and HS-PS4-4 with chemistry, HS-ESS1-2 with Earth and space science, and the four engineering design standards (HS-ETS1-1 to HS-ETS1-4) with all four science courses.

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Vocabulary from released exams

Terms that do not appear in the standards' text but have appeared in a released question cluster (the three sample clusters NYSED published in spring 2025 and the June 2026 exam). The source is noted after each term; the link opens the question. A term used in several clusters is linked to one representative question.

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Equations, symbols and constants

The standards name laws (Newton's laws, Coulomb's law, Ohm's law, the second law of thermodynamics) but no equations or symbols. These are the mathematical relationships, symbols and constant values that the released questions and their scoring rubrics use; each links to the question it comes from. Students are expected to bring the relationships themselves: three rubrics note that no credit is given for a response that "only gives the mathematical relationship".

Equations

Symbols

Constants and given values

Units

Units and notation used in the released exams (the standards use none).

Devices, instruments and materials

The apparatus, technologies and substances the standards and exam clusters are built around, grouped by source so teachers can see the range of settings NYSED writes about.

Devices and instruments

Sample clusters (Spring 2025)

June 2026 exam

Materials and substances

June 2026 exam

Implied terms

These terms are not named in the standards or released exams, but the NYSED wording points to them so directly that teachers will want to use them. Each entry quotes the wording that implies it. Terms that could be argued either way are deliberately left out. Several assessment boundaries also limit what can be asked, so the terms behind them are not listed: HS-PS1-8 "does not include quantitative calculation of energy released" and is "limited to alpha, beta, positron, and gamma radioactive decays"; HS-PS2-1 is "limited to macroscopic objects moving at non-relativistic speeds"; HS-PS2-2 is "limited to systems of two macroscopic bodies moving in one dimension"; HS-PS2-4 and HS-PS3-5 are each limited to systems of two objects; HS-PS3-6 is "limited to direct current (DC) circuits"; HS-PS4-3 limits the photoelectric effect "to qualitative descriptions"; HS-PS4-5 does "not include band theory"; and HS-PS4-6 is "limited to analysis of plane, convex, and concave mirrors, and biconvex and biconcave lenses".

  • centripetal force – HS-PS2-1 lists "an object moving in a circular motion" among objects subject to a net unbalanced force, and the June 2026 Pendulum Motion cluster credits the force diagram in which the cable force and gravity are unbalanced as the riders swing along a circular path; the word centripetal is never used.
  • elastic (spring) potential energy – HS-PS3-1 cites the "compression of a spring" as stored energy, and the Sample 2025 Bungee Jumping cluster labels it PEs beside PEg and KE without spelling the name out.
  • electric potential energy – HS-PS3-2: "the energy stored between two electrically-charged plates"; HS-PS3-5: "the energy stored in the field is changed" when two objects interacting through a field change relative position.
  • electromagnetic induction – HS-PS2-5: "a changing magnetic field can produce an electric current". The wiki page is titled Electromagnetism; NYSED names neither term.
  • impulse – HS-PS2-3 asks how a device "affects the force, time, change in momentum, and/or change in velocity" of an object during a collision, and the June 2026 Motorcycle Helmets cluster credits dividing the change in momentum by the average force to find the time interval; neither uses the word impulse.
  • inertia – HS-PS2-1 names "objects in equilibrium (Newton's First Law)" and its performance levels describe "an object acted upon by balanced forces"; the Sample 2025 World Record Jumps cluster asks which claim correctly pairs balanced or unbalanced forces with constant or changing speed. Inertia itself is never named.
  • isotope – June 2026 Emission Spectra and Nuclear Fusion writes deuterium as 21H and calls it "a form of hydrogen".
  • law of reflection (angle of incidence equals angle of reflection) – HS-PS4-1 has students "construct the reflected and/or refracted ray(s)" with a ruler and protractor; the Sample 2025 Automotive Optics rubric credits an incident ray drawn at a "29° ±2° angle drawn from the normal", the same angle as the reflected ray shown, without naming the law.
  • mass–energy equivalence (E = mc2) – June 2026 Emission Spectra and Nuclear Fusion asks students to "support the claim that mass is converted to energy" in a fusion model. Note that HS-PS1-8 "does not include quantitative calculation of energy released".
  • Planck's constant – the June 2026 Kidney Stone Detection and Removal rubric uses Ephoton = hf with h = 6.63 × 10−34 without naming the constant.
  • Snell's law – HS-PS4-1 says students "determine the index of refraction" and use "mathematical relationships" to construct refracted rays; the relationship is never named.
  • thermal equilibrium – HS-PS3-4: combining components of different temperature in a closed system "results in a more uniform energy distribution among the components".
  • wave–particle duality – HS-PS4-3: electromagnetic radiation "can be described either by a wave model or a particle model (quantum theory)". The wiki page is titled Wave-Particle Duality; NYSED does not use the phrase.
Page contributors: Conrad Richman, Shirley Shameen
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