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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 experience of being in free fall. If you are in a satellite - elevator - or other free-falling object - then you have a weight of zero Newtons relative to that object.






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






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






4. The time it takes a system to pass through one cycle of its repetitive motion. The period - T - is the inverse of the motion's frequency - f = 1/T.






5. A wavelength - given by = h/mv - which is associated with matter. Louis de Broglie proposed the idea that matter could be treated as waves in 1923 and applied this theory successfully to small particles like electrons.






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






7. Also called a diverging lens - a lens that is thinner in the middle than at the edges. Concave lenses refract light away from a focal point.






8. The building blocks of all matter - atoms are made up of a nucleus consisting of protons and neutrons - and a number of electrons that orbit the nucleus. An electrically neutral atom has as many protons as it has electrons.






9. A sheet - film - or screen with a pattern of equally spaced slits. Typically the width of the slits and space between them is chosen to generate a particular diffraction pattern.






10. A vector quantity - or vector - is an object possessing - and fully described by - a magnitude and a direction. Graphically a vector is depicted as an arrow with its magnitude given by the length of the arrow and its direction given by where the arro






11. A constant in the numerator of a formula.






12. Heat transfer by molecular collisions.






13. 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






14. The points of maximum displacement along a wave. In traveling waves - the crests move in the direction of propagation of the wave. The crests of standing waves - also called anti-nodes - remain in one place.






15. The force involved in beta decay that changes a proton to a neutron and releases an electron and a neutrino.






16. Waves in which the medium moves in the direction perpendicular to the propagation of the wave. Waves on a stretched string - water waves - and electromagnetic waves are all examples of transverse waves.






17. The energy of a particle rotating around an axis.






18. A vector quantity defined as the product of the force acting on a body multiplied by the time interval over which the force is exerted.






19. 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.






20. In a right triangle - the tangent of a given angle is the length of the side opposite the angle divided by the length of the side adjacent to the triangle.






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






22. An experiment in 1879 that showed that the speed of light is constant to all observers. Einstein used the results of this experiment as support for his theory of special relativity.






23. An object that moves about a stable equilibrium point and experiences a restoring force that is directly proportional to the oscillator's displacement.






24. A measure of force per unit area. Pressure is measured in N/m2 or Pa.






25. 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).






26. A coefficient that tells how much the volume of a solid will change when it is heated or cooled.






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






28. The name of an electron released from the surface of a metal due to the photoelectric effect.






29. The center of a mirror or lens.






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






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






32. A scale for measuring temperature - defined such that water freezes at 0ºC and boils at 100ºC. 0ºC = 273 K.






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






34. An image created by a mirror or lens in such a way that light does actually come from where the image appears to be. If you place a screen in front of a real image - the image will be projected onto the screen.






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






36. The amount heat necessary to cause a substance to undergo a phase transition.






37. A particle - identical to an electron. Beta particles are ejected from an atom in the process of beta decay.






38. A back-and-forth movement about an equilibrium position. Springs - pendulums - and other oscillators experience harmonic motion.






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






40. An area of high air pressure that acts as the wave trough for sound waves. The spacing between successive rarefactions is the wavelength of sound - and the number of successive areas of rarefaction that arrive at the ear per second is the frequency -






41. A class of elementary particle whose mass is between that of a proton and that of an electron. A common kind of meson is the pion.






42. When two waves of slightly different frequencies interfere with one another - they produce a "beating" interference pattern that alternates between constructive (in-phase) and destructive (out-of-phase). In the case of sound waves - this sort of inte






43. Heat transfer via electromagnetic waves.






44. 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






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






46. An area of high air pressure that acts as the wave crest for sound waves. The spacing between successive compressions is the wavelength of sound - and the number of successive areas of compression that arrive at the ear per second is the frequency -






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






48. Done when energy is transferred by a force. The work done by a force F in displacing an object by s is W = F · s.






49. A body or set of bodies that we choose to analyze as a group.






50. A scalar quantity that tells us how fast an object is moving. It measures the rate of change in distance over time. Speed is to be contrasted with velocity in that there is no direction associated with speed.