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SAT Subject Test: hysics

Subjects : sat, science, physics
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. The lowest theoretical temperature a material can have - where the molecules that make up the material have no kinetic energy. Absolute zero is reached at 0 K or -273º C.






2. A form of radioactive decay where a heavy element ejects a beta particle and a neutrino - becoming a lighter element in the process.






3. The tendency of an object to remain at a constant velocity - or its resistance to being accelerated. Newton's First Law is alternatively called the Law of Inertia because it describes this tendency.






4. Two oscillators that have the same frequency and amplitude - but reach their maximum displacements at different times - are said to have different phases. Similarly - two waves are in phase if their crests and troughs line up exactly - and they are o






5. Two quantities are inversely proportional if an increase in one results in a proportional decrease in the other - and a decrease in one results in a proportional increase in the other. In a formula defining a certain quantity - those quantities to wh






6. A constant in the numerator of a formula.






7. Linear momentum - p - commonly called "momentum" for short - is a vector quantity defined as the product of an object's mass - m - and its velocity - v.






8. Waves that oscillate in the same direction as the propagation of the wave. Sound is carried by longitudinal waves - since the air molecules move back and forth in the same direction the sound travels.






9. The force between two surfaces moving relative to one another. The frictional force is parallel to the plane of contact between the two objects and in the opposite direction of the sliding object's motion.






10. With spherical mirrors - the radius of the sphere of which the mirror is a part.






11. The position - of an object according to a co-ordinate system measured in s of the angle of the object from a certain origin axis. Conventionally - this origin axis is the positive x-axis.






12. A model for the atom developed in 1913 by Niels Bohr. According to this model - the electrons orbiting a nucleus can only orbit at certain particular radii. Excited electrons may jump to a more distant radii and then return to their ground state - em






13. The amount of heat necessary for a material undergoing sublimation to make a phase change from gas to solid or solid to gas - without a change in temperature.






14. The effect of force on rotational motion.






15. The mass number - A - is the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in a nucleus. It is very close to the weight of that nucleus in atomic mass units.






16. The force necessary to maintain a body in uniform circular motion. This force is always directed radially toward the center of the circle.






17. Body diagram- Illustrates the forces acting on an object - drawn as vectors originating from the center of the object.






18. The force that causes simple harmonic motion. The restoring force is always directed toward an object's equilibrium position.






19. The amount of error that's possible in a given measurement.






20. A transverse traveling wave created by the oscillations of an electric field and a magnetic field. Electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light - m/s. Examples include microwaves - X rays - and visible light.






21. An object is called radioactive if it undergoes radioactive decay.






22. A mirror that is curved such that its center is closer to the viewer than the edges - such as a doorknob. Convex mirrors reflect light away from a focal point.






23. When a solid - liquid - or gas changes into another phase of matter.






24. A measurement of a body's inertia - or resistance to being accelerated.






25. In the graphical representation of vectors - the tip of the arrow is the pointy end.






26. The dot product of the area and the magnetic field passing through it. Graphically - it is a measure of the number and length of magnetic field lines passing through that area. It is measured in Webers (Wb).






27. When dealing with reflection or refraction - the incident ray is the ray of light before it strikes the reflecting or refracting surface.






28. The force of gravity - F - between two particles of mass and - separated by a distance r - has a magnitude of - where G is the gravitational constant. The force is directed along the line joining the two particles.

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29. An image created by a mirror or lens in such a way that light does not actually come from where the image appears to be.






30. Energy cannot be made or destroyed; energy can only be changed from one place to another or from one form to another.






31. A unit vector is a vector with length 1.






32. The stable position of a system where the net force acting on the object is zero.






33. The building blocks of all matter - quarks are the constituent parts of protons - neutrons - and mesons.






34. The points midway between nodes on a standing wave - where the oscillations are largest.






35. The coefficient of kinetic friction - - for two materials is the constant of proportionality between the normal force and the force of kinetic friction. It is always a number between zero and one.






36. Defined as the rate at which work is done - or the rate at which energy is transformed. P is measured in joules per second (J/s) - or watts (W).






37. Given the period - T - and semimajor axis - a - of a planet's orbit - the ratio is the same for every planet.

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38. A unit for measuring angles; also called a "rad." 2p rad = 360º.






39. The ray of light that is reflected from a mirror or other reflecting surface.






40. The time - T - required for a rigid body to complete one revolution.






41. A nuclear reaction in which a high-energy neutron bombards a heavy - unstable atomic nucleus - causing it to split into two smaller nuclei - and releasing some neutrons and a vast amount of energy at the same time






42. A constant - - not to be confused with wavelength - that defines the speed at which a radioactive element undergoes decay. The greater is - the faster the element decays.






43. The number - N - of neutrons in an atomic nucleus.






44. A vector quantity - commonly denoted by the vector s - which reflects an object's change in spatial position. The displacement vector points from the object's starting position to the object's current position in space. If an object is moved from poi






45. The units of frequency - defined as inverse-seconds (1 Hz = 1 s-1). "Hertz" can be used interchangeably with "cycles per second."






46. The index of refraction n = c/v of a substance characterizes the speed of light in that substance - v. It also characterizes - by way of Snell's Law - the angle at which light refracts in that substance.






47. The application of kinematics to understand why objects move the way they do. More precisely - dynamics is the study of how forces cause motion.






48. The energy of the molecules that make up an object. It is related to heat - which is the amount of energy transferred from one object to another object that is a different temperature.






49. The reaction force of the ground - a table - etc. - when an object is placed upon it. The normal force is a direct consequence of Newton's Third Law: when an object is placed on the ground - the ground pushes back with the same force that it is pushe






50. The ratio of the size of the image produced by a mirror or lens to the size of the original object. This number is negative if the image is upside-down.