Test your basic knowledge |

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. 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.






2. When a light ray strikes a surface - the angle of incidence is the angle between the incident ray and the normal.






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






4. F = ma. The net force - F - acting on an object causes the object to accelerate - a. The magnitude of the acceleration is directly proportional to the net force on the object and inversely proportional to the mass - m - of the object.

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/basicversity.com/show_quiz.php on line 183


5. A form of vector multiplication - where two vectors are multiplied to produce a scalar. The dot product of two vectors - A and B - is expressed by the equation A · B = AB cos .






6. The points on a standing wave where total destructive interference causes the medium to remain fixed at its equilibrium position.






7. The number of digits that have been accurately measured. When combining several measurements in a formula - the resulting calculation can only have as many significant digits as the measurement that has the smallest number of significant digits.






8. An electromagnetic wave of very high frequency.






9. The velocity at any given instant in time. To be contrasted with average velocity - which is a measure of the change in displacement over a given time interval.






10. A positively charged particle that - along with the neutron - occupies the nucleus of the atom.






11. A vector quantity defined as the rate of change of the displacement vector with time. It is to be contrasted with speed - which is a scalar quantity for which no direction is specified.






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






13. A device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy by rotating a coil in a magnetic field; sometimes called a "dynamo."






14. 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.






15. 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.






16. When objects collide - each object feels a force for a short amount of time. This force imparts an impulse - or changes the momentum of each of the colliding objects. The momentum of a system is conserved in all kinds of collisions. Kinetic energy is






17. The center of an atom - where the protons and neutrons reside. Electrons then orbit this nucleus.






18. A push or a pull that causes an object to accelerate.






19. The property by which a charge moving in a magnetic field creates an electric field.






20. For two given media - the smallest angle of incidence at which total internal reflection occurs.






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






22. The two shorter sides of a right triangle that meet at the right angle.






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






24. A wedge or a slide. The dynamics of objects sliding down inclined planes is a popular topic on SAT II Physics.






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






26. 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.






27. A pulley is a simple machine that consists of a rope that slides around a disk or block.






28. Energy associated with the state of motion. The translational kinetic energy of an object is given by the equation .






29. If a line is drawn from the sun to the planet - then the area swept out by this line in a given time interval is constant.

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/basicversity.com/show_quiz.php on line 183


30. In an interference or diffraction pattern - the places where there is the least light.






31. The particles and energy released by the fission or fusion of one atom may trigger the fission or fusion of further atoms. In a chain reaction - fission or fusion is rapidly transferred to a large number of atoms - releasing tremendous amounts of ene






32. A small particle-like bundle of electromagnetic radiation.






33. The movement of a rigid body's center of mass in space.






34. Occurs when every point in the rigid body moves in a circular path around a line called the axis of rotation.






35. The phenomenon of light bouncing off a surface - such as a mirror.






36. The gravitational force exerted on a given mass.






37. The square of the amplitude of a sound wave is called the sound's loudness - or volume.






38. A wave on a string that is tied to a pole at one end will reflect back toward its source - producing a wave that is the mirror-image of the original and which travels in the opposite direction.






39. The principle by which the displacements from different waves traveling in the same medium add up. Superposition is the basis for interference.






40. An object cannot be cooled to absolute zero.






41. 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






42. The force that binds protons and neutrons together in the atomic nucleus.






43. A means of defining the direction of the cross product vector. To define the direction of the vector - position your right hand so that your fingers point in the direction of A - and then curl them around so that they point in the direction of B. Th






44. The five equations used to solve problems in kinematics in one dimension with uniform acceleration.






45. Light such that all of the associated waves have the same wavelength and are in phase.






46. The amount of energy that metal must absorb before it can release a photoelectron from the metal.






47. The standing wave with the lowest frequency that is supported by a string with both ends tied down is called the fundamental - or resonance - of the string. The wavelength of the fundamental is twice the length of the string - .






48. A vector of magnitude 1 along one of the coordinate axes. Generally - we take the basis vectors to be and - the vectors of length 1 along the x- and y-axes - respectively.






49. A scalar quantity. If an object is moved from point A to point B in space along path AB - the distance that the object has traveled is the length of the path AB. Distance is to be contrasted with displacement - which is simply a measure of the distan






50. A constant in the numerator of a formula.