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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 sum of a system's potential and kinetic energy. In many systems - including projectiles - pulleys - pendulums - and motion on frictionless surfaces - mechanical energy is conserved. One important type of problem in which mechanical energy is not






2. An object at rest remains at rest - unless acted upon by a net force. An object in motion remains in motion - unless acted upon by a net force.

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3. A rough approximation of how gases work - that is quite accurate in everyday conditions. According to the kinetic theory - gases are made up of tiny - round molecules that move about in accordance with Newton's Laws - and collide with one another and






4. The emf created by the motion of a charge through a magnetic field.






5. The path of each planet around the sun is an ellipse with the sun at one focus.

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6. The mass difference between a nucleus and the sum of the masses of the constituent protons and neutrons.






7. 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.






8. 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.






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






10. A unit of force: 1 N is equivalent to a 1 kg · m/s2.






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






12. To every action - there is an equal and opposite reaction. If an object A exerts a force on another object B - B will exert on A a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force exerted by A.

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13. 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.






14. 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.






15. 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.






16. The spectrum containing all the different kinds of electromagnetic waves - ranging in wavelength and frequency.






17. Two materials are in thermal equilibrium if they are at the same temperature.






18. Heat transfer by molecular collisions.






19. An object cannot be cooled to absolute zero.






20. 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.






21. A particle - which consists of two protons and two neutrons. It is identical to the nucleus of a helium atom and is ejected by heavy particles undergoing alpha decay.






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






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






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






25. 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).






26. The phenomenon by which light traveling from a high n to a low n material will reflect from the optical interface if the incident angle is greater than the critical angle.






27. An experiment by Ernest Rutherford that proved for the first time that atoms have nuclei.






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






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






30. The bending of light at the corners of objects or as it passes through narrow slits or apertures.






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






32. A form of radioactivity where an excited atom releases a photon of gamma radiation - thereby returning to a lower energy state. The atomic structure itself does not change in the course of gamma radiation.






33. 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.






34. Heat transfer via the mass movement of molecules.






35. A machine that operates by taking heat from a hot place - doing some work with that heat - and then exhausting the rest of the heat into a cool place. The internal combustion engine of a car is an example of a heat engine.






36. 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.

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






38. A property of a metal - the minimum frequency of electromagnetic radiation that is necessary to release photoelectrons from that metal.






39. 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.






40. For a gas held at a constant temperature - pressure and volume are inversely proportional.

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41. 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.






42. The amount of heat necessary to transform a solid at a given temperature into a liquid of the same temperature - or the amount of heat needed to be removed from a liquid of a given temperature to transform it into a solid of the same temperature.






43. When electromagnetic radiation shines upon a metal - the surface of the metal releases energized electrons. The way in which these electrons are released contradicts classical theories of electromagnetic radiation and supports the quantum view accord






44. In oscillation - a cycle occurs when an object undergoing oscillatory motion completes a "round-trip." For instance - a pendulum bob released at angle has completed one cycle when it swings to and then back to again. In period motion - a cycle is the






45. A collision in which momentum is conserved but kinetic energy is not.






46. 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






47. The temperature at which a material will change phase from liquid to gas or gas to liquid.






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






49. The cancellation of one wave by another wave that is exactly out of phase with the first. Despite the dramatic name of this phenomenon - nothing is "destroyed" by this interference—the two waves emerge intact once they have passed each other.






50. The amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. 1 cal = 4.19 J.