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






2. The process by which a gas turns directly into a solid because it cannot exist as a liquid at certain pressures.






3. A unit vector is a vector with length 1.






4. A push or a pull that causes an object to accelerate.






5. If the net torque acting on a rigid body is zero - then the angular momentum of the body is constant or conserved.






6. The coefficient of static friction - for two materials is the constant of proportionality between the normal force and the maximum force of static friction. It is always a number between zero and one.






7. 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 -






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






9. Heat transfer by molecular collisions.






10. The force transmitted along a rope or cable.






11. Relates the angle of incidence to the angle of refraction: .

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12. Occurs when every point in the rigid body moves in a circular path around a line called the axis of rotation.






13. The force necessary to maintain a body in uniform circular motion. This force is always directed radially toward the center of the circle.






14. A mirror that is curved such that its center is farther from the viewer than the edges - such as the front of a spoon. Concave mirrors reflect light through a focal point.






15. The current induced in a circuit by a change in magnetic flux.






16. The position - of an object according to a co-ordinate system measured in s of the angle of the object from a certain origin axis. Conventionally - this origin axis is the positive x-axis.






17. Also called a diverging lens - a lens that is thinner in the middle than at the edges. Concave lenses refract light away from a focal point.






18. 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.






19. The unit for measuring pressure. One Pascal is equal to one Newton per meter squared - 1 Pa = 1 N/m2.






20. A system that no external net force acts upon. Objects within the system may exert forces upon one another - but they cannot receive any impulse from outside forces. Momentum is conserved in isolated systems.






21. Heat transfer via electromagnetic waves.






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






23. An experiment in 1879 that showed that the speed of light is constant to all observers. Einstein used the results of this experiment as support for his theory of special relativity.






24. 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






25. A logorithmic unit for measuring the volume of sound - which is the square of the amplitude of sound waves.






26. A scale for measuring temperature - defined such that 0K is the lowest theoretical temperature a material can have. 273K = 0ºC.






27. 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.






28. A process that aligns a wave of light to oscillate in one dimension rather than two.






29. The name of an electron released from the surface of a metal due to the photoelectric effect.






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






31. 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.






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






33. With spherical mirrors - the radius of the sphere of which the mirror is a part.






34. A neutrally charged particle that - along with protons - constitutes the nucleus of an atom.






35. 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.






36. 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






37. 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






38. A form of vector multiplication - where two vectors are multiplied to produce a scalar. The dot product of two vectors - A and B - is expressed by the equation A · B = AB cos .






39. Waves carried by variations in air pressure. The speed of sound waves in air at room temperature and pressure is roughly 343 m/s.






40. Waves that oscillate in the same direction as the propagation of the wave. Sound is carried by longitudinal waves - since the air molecules move back and forth in the same direction the sound travels.






41. 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.






42. When a light ray strikes a surface - the angle of incidence is the angle between the incident ray and the normal.






43. 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.






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






45. A vector quantity - - that reflects the change of angular displacement with time - and is typically given in units of rad/s. To find the direction of the angular velocity vector - take your right hand and curl your fingers along the particle or body






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






47. 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






48. 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






49. 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.






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