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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. 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






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






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






4. The temperature at which a material will change phase from solid to liquid or liquid to solid.






5. 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






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






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






8. The disorder of a system.






9. 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).






10. 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 -






11. 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 -






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






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






14. 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.






15. The principle stating that for any isolated system - linear momentum is constant with time.






16. 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.






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






18. 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






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






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






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






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






23. A vector quantity - L - that is the rotational analogue of linear momentum. For a single particle - the angular momentum is the cross product of the particle's displacement from the axis of rotation and the particle's linear momentum - . For a rigid






24. 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






25. 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.






26. The straight line that runs through the focal point and the vertex of a mirror or lens.






27. A nuclear reaction that takes place only at very high temperatures. Two light atoms - often hydrogen - fuse together to form a larger single atom - releasing a vast amount of energy in the process.






28. In the graphical representation of vectors - the tail of the arrow is the blunt end (the end without a point).






29. 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






30. The net change - - in a point's angular position - . It is a scalar quantity.






31. For an oscillating spring - the restoring force exerted by the spring is directly proportional to the displacement. That is - the more the spring is displaced - the stronger the force that will pull toward the equilibrium position. This law is expres


32. A law - || = - which states that the induced emf is the change in magnetic flux in a certain time.


33. The energy stored in a thermodynamic system.






34. 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.






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






36. The angle between a refracted ray and the line normal to the surface.






37. The energy associated with the configuration of bodies attracted to each other by the gravitational force. It is a measure of the amount of work necessary to get the two bodies from a chosen point of reference to their present position. This point of






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






39. There are a few versions of this law. One is that heat flows spontaneously from hot to cold - but not in the reverse direction. Another is that there is no such thing as a 100% efficient heat engine. A third states that the entropy - or disorder - of






40. States that the net work done on an object is equal to the object's change in kinetic energy.






41. The angle between a reflected ray and the normal.






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






43. 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






44. Indicates how "bouncy" or "stiff" a spring is. More specifically - the spring constant - k - is the constant of proportionality between the restoring force exerted by the spring - and the spring's displacement from equilibrium. The greater the value






45. The force transmitted along a rope or cable.






46. 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.






47. The center of a mirror or lens.






48. Heat transfer via electromagnetic waves.






49. When an object is held in circular motion about a massive body - like a planet or a sun - due to the force of gravity - that object is said to be in orbit. Objects in orbit are in perpetual free fall - and so are therefore weightless.






50. 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.