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 transfer of thermal energy. We don't speak about systems "having" heat - but about their "transferring" heat - much in the way that dynamical systems don't "have" work - but rather "do" work.






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

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


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






4. A frequency - f - defined as the number of revolutions a rigid body makes in a given time interval. It is a scalar quantity commonly denoted in units of Hertz (Hz) or s-1.






5. 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.






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






7. 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.






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






9. The distance between the focal point and the vertex of a mirror or lens. For concave mirrors and convex lenses - this number is positive. For convex mirrors and concave lenses - this number is negative.






10. For a heat engine - the ratio of work done by the engine to heat intake. Efficiency is never 100%.






11. Heat transfer by molecular collisions.






12. 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.






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

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


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






15. The gravitational force exerted on a given mass.






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






17. In the Bohr model of the atom - the state in which an electron has the least energy and orbits closest to the nucleus.






18. The points of maximum negative displacement along a wave. They are the opposite of wave crests.






19. The model of the atom according to which negatively charged electrons orbit a positively charged nucleus. This model was developed by Ernest Rutherford in light of the results from his gold foil experiment.






20. 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






21. Essentially a restatement of energy conservation - it states that the change in the internal energy of a system is equal to the heat added plus the work done on the system.






22. The amount of heat of a material required to raise the temperature of either one kilogram or one gram of that material by one degree Celsius. Different units may be used depending on whether specific heat is measured in s of grams or kilograms - and






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






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






25. If two systems - A and B - are in thermal equilibrium and if B and C are also in thermal equilibrium - then systems A and C are necessarily in thermal equilibrium.






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






27. Life- The amount of time it takes for one-half of a radioactive sample to decay.






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






29. The effect of force on rotational motion.






30. The energy of a particle moving in space. It is defined in s of a particle's mass - m - and velocity - v - as (1/2)mv2.






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






32. 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 -






33. 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.

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


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

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


35. 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.






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






37. A constant - J · s - which is useful in quantum physics. A second constant associated with Planck's constant is .

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


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






39. 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.






40. A device that breaks incoming light down into spectral rays - so that one can see the exact wavelength constituents of the light.






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






42. 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.






43. 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.






44. 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.






45. Atoms of the same element may have different numbers of neutrons and therefore different masses. Atoms of the same element but with different numbers of neutrons are called isotopes of the same element.






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






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






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






49. A wave that interferes with its own reflection so as to produce oscillations which stand still - rather than traveling down the length of the medium. Standing waves on a string with both ends tied down make up the harmonic series.






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