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Test your basic knowledge |
SAT Subject Test: hysics
Start Test
Study First
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 points on a standing wave where total destructive interference causes the medium to remain fixed at its equilibrium position.
Latent heat of vaporization
Angular acceleration
Centripetal acceleration
Node
2. The temperature at which a material will change phase from solid to liquid or liquid to solid.
Melting point
Convection
Minima
Completely inelastic collision
3. 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
Potential energy
Angular momentum
Universal gas constant
Kinetic energy
4. 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.
Chain reaction
Free
Impulse
Atomic number
5. 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.
Directly proportional
Superposition
Mass number
Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation
6. An equation - PV = nRT - that relates the pressure - volume - temperature - and quantity of an ideal gas. An ideal gas is one that obeys the approximations laid out in the kinetic theory of gases.
Latent heat of fusion
Simple harmonic oscillator
Photoelectron
Ideal gas law
7. 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.
Nuclear fission
Index of refraction
Destructive interference
Electromagnetic induction
8. 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 -
Angular frequency
Antinode
Compression
Centripetal acceleration
9. A unit for measuring angles; also called a "rad." 2p rad = 360º.
Vector
Mole
Planck's constant
Radian
10. 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.
Translational motion
Concave mirror
Heat
Loudness
11. The force between two surfaces moving relative to one another. The frictional force is parallel to the plane of contact between the two objects and in the opposite direction of the sliding object's motion.
Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics
Pulley
Lenz's Law
Kinetic friction
12. The speed at which a wave crest or trough propagates. Note that this is not the speed at which the actual medium (like the stretched string or the air particles) moves.
Direction
Wave speed
Focal length
Mechanical energy
13. Heat transfer via electromagnetic waves.
Weight
Heat
Coefficient of linear expansion
Radiation
14. States that the net work done on an object is equal to the object's change in kinetic energy.
Weightlessness
Latent heat of sublimation
Work-energy theorem
Absolute zero
15. For a gas held at constant pressure - temperature and volume are directly proportional.
16. The line perpendicular to a surface. There is only one normal for any given surface.
Convex mirror
Translational kinetic energy
Nuclear fission
Normal
17. The points midway between nodes on a standing wave - where the oscillations are largest.
Antinode
Newton's Second Law
Collision
Focal length
18. The motion of a body in a circular path with constant speed.
Convection
Cross product
Uniform circular motion
Vertex
19. The angle between a reflected ray and the normal.
Tip
Angle of reflection
Electromagnetic spectrum
Beats
20. An experiment by Ernest Rutherford that proved for the first time that atoms have nuclei.
Gold foil experiment
Sublimation
Sine
Nuclear fission
21. The series of standing waves supported by a string with both ends tied down. The first member of the series - called the fundamental - has two nodes at the ends and one anti-node in the middle. The higher harmonics are generated by placing an integra
Virtual image
Phase
Tip
Harmonic series
22. A quantity that possesses a magnitude but not a direction. Mass and length are common examples.
Wave
Scalar
Tension force
Third Law of Thermodynamics
23. The temperature at which a material will change phase from liquid to gas or gas to liquid.
Convex lens
Coefficient of volume expansion
Boiling point
Acceleration
24. 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.
Universal gas constant
Kinetic energy
Work function
Pendulum
25. 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.
Mass
Period
Harmonic series
Rigid body
26. A constant - - not to be confused with wavelength - that defines the speed at which a radioactive element undergoes decay. The greater is - the faster the element decays.
Margin of error
Wave
Decay constant
Weight
27. In the graphical representation of vectors - the tail of the arrow is the blunt end (the end without a point).
Calorie
Tail
Gravitational constant
Photon
28. The phenomenon of light bouncing off a surface - such as a mirror.
Centripetal acceleration
Minima
Reflection
Virtual image
29. The units of frequency - defined as inverse-seconds (1 Hz = 1 s-1). "Hertz" can be used interchangeably with "cycles per second."
Angle of refraction
Refraction
Equilibrium position
Hertz (Hz)
30. 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.
Angle of refraction
Newton's Third Law
Absolute zero
Simple harmonic oscillator
31. A collision in which the colliding particles stick together.
Incident ray
Completely inelastic collision
Angular position
Direction
32. The unit for measuring pressure. One Pascal is equal to one Newton per meter squared - 1 Pa = 1 N/m2.
Pascals
Crest
Angular velocity
Frequency
33. 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
Kepler's Second Law
Photoelectron
Elastic collision
Vector
34. A form of radioactive decay where a heavy element emits an alpha particle and some energy - thus transforming into a lighter - more stable - element.
Tangent
Alpha decay
Electronvolt
Weber
35. 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
Decibel
Inversely proportional
Kepler's Second Law
Heat
36. The energy stored in a thermodynamic system.
Electric generator
Directly proportional
Specific heat
Internal energy
37. The point of a mirror or lens where all light that runs parallel to the principal axis will be focused. Concave mirrors and convex lenses are designed to focus light into the focal point. Convex mirrors and concave lenses focus light away from the fo
Boiling point
Diffraction grating
Focal point
Transformer
38. A device that breaks incoming light down into spectral rays - so that one can see the exact wavelength constituents of the light.
Strong nuclear force
Torque
Spectroscope
Tip
39. An object that moves about a stable equilibrium point and experiences a restoring force that is directly proportional to the oscillator's displacement.
Simple harmonic oscillator
Sine
Spring constant
Electron
40. The disorder of a system.
Entropy
Angle of refraction
Tail
Period
41. Occurs when every point in the rigid body moves in a circular path around a line called the axis of rotation.
Tip
Diffraction
Hypotenuse
Rotational motion
42. 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.
Dynamics
Radioactive decay
Principal axis
Basis vector
43. 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.
Reflection
Instantaneous velocity
First Law of Thermodynamics
Electronvolt
44. 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.
Lenz's Law
Electromagnetic wave
Superposition
Incident ray
45. 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.
Sound
Celsius
Kinematics
Crest
46. The standing wave with the lowest frequency that is supported by a string with both ends tied down is called the fundamental - or resonance - of the string. The wavelength of the fundamental is twice the length of the string - .
Fundamental
Electronvolt
First Law of Thermodynamics
Neutron number
47. The bending of light as it passes from one medium to another. Light refracts toward the normal when going from a less dense medium into a denser medium and away from the normal when going from a denser medium into a less dense medium.
Kinetic energy
Refraction
Real image
Collision
48. The force that causes simple harmonic motion. The restoring force is always directed toward an object's equilibrium position.
Restoring force
Celsius
Hooke's Law
Frequency
49. The velocity at any given instant in time. To be contrasted with average velocity - which is a measure of the change in displacement over a given time interval.
Constructive interference
Instantaneous velocity
Cross product
Kinetic energy
50. Energy associated with an object's position in space - or configuration in relation to other objects. This is a latent form of energy - where the amount of potential energy reflects the amount of energy that potentially could be released as kinetic e
Boiling point
Specific heat
Potential energy
Rotational motion