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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. 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 -
Traveling waves
Beats
Energy
Kelvin
2. The force between two surfaces that are not moving relative to one another. The force of static friction is parallel to the plane of contact between the two objects and resists the force pushing or pulling on the object.
Angular period
Alpha particle
Static friction
Hooke's Law
3. The current induced in a circuit by a change in magnetic flux.
Efficiency
Potential energy
Induced current
Atom
4. The two shorter sides of a right triangle that meet at the right angle.
Velocity
Legs
Latent heat of fusion
Gravitational constant
5. Any vector can be expressed as the sum of two mutually perpendicular component vectors. Usually - but not always - these components are multiples of the basis vectors - and ; that is - vectors along the x-axis and y-axis. We define these two vectors
Universal gas constant
Dot product
Component
Radioactivity
6. 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
Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics
Harmonic series
Kepler's Second Law
Period
7. 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.
Phase
Equilibrium
Angular velocity
Heat
8. 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.
Centripetal force
Kinematics
Standing wave
Nucleus
9. The phenomenon of light bouncing off a surface - such as a mirror.
Dot product
Work-energy theorem
Reflection
Convex lens
10. The particles and energy released by the fission or fusion of one atom may trigger the fission or fusion of further atoms. In a chain reaction - fission or fusion is rapidly transferred to a large number of atoms - releasing tremendous amounts of ene
Chain reaction
Vertex
Margin of error
Michelson-Morley experiment
11. The effect of force on rotational motion.
Medium
Torque
Radioactivity
Convex mirror
12. 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
Transformer
Refracted ray
Collision
Translational kinetic energy
13. The number - N - of neutrons in an atomic nucleus.
Third Law of Thermodynamics
Neutron number
Lenz's Law
Convex mirror
14. A measure of force per unit area. Pressure is measured in N/m2 or Pa.
Directly proportional
Angular acceleration
Displacement
Pressure
15. The amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. 1 cal = 4.19 J.
Doppler shift
Compression
Calorie
De Broglie wavelength
16. A constant in the numerator of a formula.
Mole
Photoelectron
Constant of proportionality
Charles's Law
17. 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.
Energy
Torque
Destructive interference
Kelvin
18. 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
Spring constant
Cross product
Convex mirror
Potential energy
19. A particle - identical to an electron. Beta particles are ejected from an atom in the process of beta decay.
Beta particle
Boyle's Law
Coefficient of volume expansion
Constant of proportionality
20. Done when energy is transferred by a force. The work done by a force F in displacing an object by s is W = F · s.
Law of reflection
Work
Reflection
Constant of proportionality
21. A wave with wave crests that propagate down the length of the medium - in contrast to stationary standing waves. The velocity at which a crest propagates is called the wave speed.
Gold foil experiment
Traveling waves
Rotational kinetic energy
Isolated system
22. The amount of error that's possible in a given measurement.
Gamma decay
Critical angle
Margin of error
Legs
23. 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.
Principal axis
Nuclear fission
Heat engine
Superposition
24. 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
Rarefaction
Weak nuclear force
Cycle
Phase change
25. The number of cycles executed by a system in one second. Frequency is the inverse of period - f = 1/T. Frequency is measured in hertz - Hz.
Cross product
Frequency
Kinematics
Collision
26. 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
Convection
Inertia
Angular momentum
Specific heat
27. A scale for measuring temperature - defined such that water freezes at 0ºC and boils at 100ºC. 0ºC = 273 K.
Constructive interference
Celsius
Half
Node
28. A pulley is a simple machine that consists of a rope that slides around a disk or block.
Center of curvature
Critical angle
Pulley
Kinematics
29. The amount heat necessary to cause a substance to undergo a phase transition.
Doppler shift
Efficiency
Reflect
Latent heat of transformation
30. The amount of heat necessary for a material undergoing sublimation to make a phase change from gas to solid or solid to gas - without a change in temperature.
Kinetic friction
Latent heat of sublimation
Mass
Absolute zero
31. A form of radioactive decay where a heavy element ejects a beta particle and a neutrino - becoming a lighter element in the process.
Uniform circular motion
Period
Beta decay
Medium
32. In an interference or diffraction pattern - the places where there is the least light.
Vertex
Minima
Vector
Alpha decay
33. Waves carried by variations in air pressure. The speed of sound waves in air at room temperature and pressure is roughly 343 m/s.
Tip
Proton
Sound
Centripetal force
34. The number of digits that have been accurately measured. When combining several measurements in a formula - the resulting calculation can only have as many significant digits as the measurement that has the smallest number of significant digits.
Principal axis
Beta particle
Kinetic friction
Significant digits
35. The energy of a particle rotating around an axis.
Traveling waves
Superposition
Basis vector
Rotational kinetic energy
36. The cosine of an angle in a right triangle is equal to the length of the side adjacent to the angle divided by the length of the hypotenuse.
Focal point
Compression
Cosine
Lenz's Law
37. Occurs when every point in the rigid body moves in a circular path around a line called the axis of rotation.
Beats
Rotational motion
Newton's First Law
Faraday's Law
38. The force transmitted along a rope or cable.
Tip
Inelastic collision
Isolated system
Tension force
39. The spectrum containing all the different kinds of electromagnetic waves - ranging in wavelength and frequency.
Angular position
Frequency
Coefficient of linear expansion
Electromagnetic spectrum
40. A collision in which the colliding particles stick together.
Completely inelastic collision
Coefficient of kinetic friction
Index of refraction
Gravitational Potential Energy
41. 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).
Second Law of Thermodynamics
Pitch
Power
Angular frequency
42. A device that breaks incoming light down into spectral rays - so that one can see the exact wavelength constituents of the light.
Phase
Latent heat of transformation
Critical angle
Spectroscope
43. 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
Polarization
Second Law of Thermodynamics
Gravitational Potential Energy
De Broglie wavelength
44. A unit for measuring angles; also called a "rad." 2p rad = 360º.
Radian
Kinetic theory of gases
Normal force
Convex mirror
45. Heat transfer via electromagnetic waves.
Radiation
Angular displacement
Dynamics
Elastic collision
46. A coefficient that tells how much a material will expand or contract lengthwise when it is heated or cooled.
Gamma ray
Amplitude
Angular velocity
Coefficient of linear expansion
47. 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.
Dynamics
Specific heat
Kinematics
Isotope
48. The name of an electron released from the surface of a metal due to the photoelectric effect.
Uniform circular motion
Diffraction grating
Photoelectron
Vertex
49. The property by which a charge moving in a magnetic field creates an electric field.
Electromagnetic induction
Coefficient of linear expansion
Directly proportional
Bohr atomic model
50. Two materials are in thermal equilibrium if they are at the same temperature.
Thermal equilibrium
Incident ray
Hertz (Hz)
Coefficient of kinetic friction