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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. An object is called radioactive if it undergoes radioactive decay.






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






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






4. 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.






5. 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.






6. 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.






7. A pendulum consists of a bob connected to a rod or rope. At small angles - a pendulum's motion approximates simple harmonic motion as it swings back and forth without friction.






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






9. 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.






10. In reference to oscillation - amplitude is the maximum displacement of the oscillator from its equilibrium position. Amplitude tells how far an oscillator is swinging back and forth. In periodic motion - amplitude is the maximum displacement in each






11. Two quantities are directly proportional if an increase in one results in a proportional increase in the other - and a decrease in one results in a proportional decrease in the other. In a formula defining a certain quantity - those quantities to whi






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






13. 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






14. A vector quantity - equal to the rate of change of the angular velocity vector with time. It is typically given in units of rad/s2.






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






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






17. The time - T - required for a rigid body to complete one revolution.






18. 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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19. In the graphical representation of vectors - the tip of the arrow is the pointy end.






20. The unit of magnetic flux - equal to one T · m2.






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






22. The amount of heat necessary to transform a liquid at a given temperature into a gas of the same temperature - or the amount of heat needed to be taken away from a gas of a given temperature to transform it into a liquid of the same temperature.






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






24. 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 -






25. 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.






26. A form of radioactive decay where a heavy element emits an alpha particle and some energy - thus transforming into a lighter - more stable - element.






27. 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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28. The disorder of a system.






29. The process by which unstable nuclei spontaneously release particles and/or energy so as to come to a more stable arrangement. The most common forms of radioactive decay are alpha decay - beta decay - and gamma decay.






30. A vector quantity - commonly denoted by the vector s - which reflects an object's change in spatial position. The displacement vector points from the object's starting position to the object's current position in space. If an object is moved from poi






31. A conserved scalar quantity associated with the state or condition of an object or system of objects. We can roughly define energy as the capacity for an object or system to do work. There are many different types of energy - such as kinetic energy -






32. A device made of two coils - which converts current of one voltage into current of another voltage. In a step-up transformer - the primary coil has fewer turns than the secondary - thus increasing the voltage. In a step-down transformer - the seconda






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






34. 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






35. A system with many parts in periodic - or repetitive - motion. The oscillations in one part cause vibrations in nearby parts.






36. 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






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






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






39. 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.






40. A unit of measurement for energy on atomic levels. 1 eV = J.






41. A model for the atom developed in 1913 by Niels Bohr. According to this model - the electrons orbiting a nucleus can only orbit at certain particular radii. Excited electrons may jump to a more distant radii and then return to their ground state - em






42. The state of a nonrotating object upon whom the net torque acting is zero.






43. 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






44. Two quantities are inversely proportional if an increase in one results in a proportional decrease in the other - and a decrease in one results in a proportional increase in the other. In a formula defining a certain quantity - those quantities to wh






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






46. A property common to both vectors and scalars. In the graphical representation of a vector - the vector's magnitude is equal to the length of the arrow.






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






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






49. A form of vector multiplication - where two vectors are multiplied to produce a third vector. The cross product of two vectors - A and B - separated by an angle - - is - where is a unit vector perpendicular to both A and B. To deine which direction






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