The Alphabet Soup of Physics
Created | Updated Nov 28, 2007
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<P>So you're studying introductory physics and the alphabet has never been fraught with more meaning. It's reached the point where you wonder if the 'f' in your alphabet soup stands for 'frequency', 'focal length' or 'friction'. The answer, of course, is that it depends on context.</P>
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A - Amperes, atomic mass number.
a -
a - acceleration
B - Strength of a magnetic field
b -
C - Capacitance
c - specific heat, speed of light (celeritas = swift)
D -
d - distance (sometimes displacement)
E - Electric field, Energy
e - electron
eV - electron volt
F - Force
f - focal length, friction, frequency
G - Gravitational constant
g - acceleration due to gravity
H -
h - height, Planck's Constant
Hz - Hertz (unit of frequency)
I - Current, Impulse
i -
J - Joules
j -
K - Kelvin
k - constant
KE - Kinetic Energy (also K)
L - angular momentum, heat of fusion
l - length
M - magnification
m - mass
N - Newtons
n - Index of something or number, neutron
O -
o -
P - Momentum, Power, Pressure
p -
PE - Potential Energy
Q - heat
q - charge
R - Resistance, Universal Gas Constant
r - radius
S -
s - displacement
STP - standard temperature and pressure
T - Period, sometimes temperature, Telsa (measure of magnetism), Tension
t - temperature, sometimes time
U - Potential engergy
u -
u (script) - atomic mass unit
V - volts, volume
v - velocity, speed
W - Work (Wk), Watts
w -
X - represents atom
x - a variable, often for distance in horizontal plane
Y -
y - variable, often for distance in vertical plane
Z - atomic number
z -
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