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🗣️ Force and Motion Words

Speak like a scientist. Build the exact vocabulary of forces and motion — from contact and non-contact forces to balanced, unbalanced, and the newton.

lessons

~15 min

to learn

🔬 Science

subject

Ages 6–12

level

Start the course →

What you’ll learn

Naming ForcesDefine force and sort forces into contact and non-contact types.A force is a push or a pull. Contact forces, like friction and a kick, act only when things touch. Non-contact forces, like gravity and magnetism, act across a gap without touching. Learning these words lets you describe forces precisely.
Words for MovementUse the words motion, stationary, speed, and direction correctly.Something moving is in motion; something still is stationary. Speed tells you how fast something moves — its distance over time. Direction is the way it heads. A force can change an object's speed or direction, speeding it up (accelerating) or slowing it down (decelerating).
Balanced and UnbalancedExplain balanced and unbalanced forces and name the unit of force.Balanced forces are equal and cancel out, so an object's motion stays the same. Unbalanced forces are not equal, so they change motion — speeding up, slowing down, or turning. Force is measured in newtons, named after Isaac Newton.

Questions this course answers

Gravity pulls things down without touching them. What kind of force is that?

A force that acts across a gap without touching is a non-contact force, and gravity is one.

Which of these is a contact force?

Friction only happens where two surfaces touch and rub, so it is a contact force.

What does the word 'speed' tell you?

Speed describes how fast something moves — how much distance it covers in a given time.

An object that is not moving at all can be described as...

Something that is not moving is stationary; when it moves, it is in motion.

In a tug of war where both teams pull equally, the forces are...

Equal forces cancel out — they are balanced — so the rope's motion does not change and it stays put.

What unit do we use to measure the size of a force?

Force is measured in newtons, named after Isaac Newton — a small apple weighs about one newton.

Grounded in trusted sources

BBC Bitesize
Britannica Kids
The Physics Classroom
NASA

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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