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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 experience of being in free fall. If you are in a satellite - elevator - or other free-falling object - then you have a weight of zero Newtons relative to that object.
Chain reaction
Weightlessness
Unit vector
Kelvin
2. Occurs when every point in the rigid body moves in a circular path around a line called the axis of rotation.
Cycle
Rotational motion
Directly proportional
Rigid body
3. The force that binds protons and neutrons together in the atomic nucleus.
Strong nuclear force
Angle of refraction
Sound
Rigid body
4. 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.
Period
Unit vector
Kinematic equations
Refracted ray
5. A wavelength - given by = h/mv - which is associated with matter. Louis de Broglie proposed the idea that matter could be treated as waves in 1923 and applied this theory successfully to small particles like electrons.
De Broglie wavelength
Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics
Antinode
Legs
6. Energy cannot be made or destroyed; energy can only be changed from one place to another or from one form to another.
Law of conservation of energy
System
Index of refraction
Longitudinal waves
7. 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.
Equilibrium
Mechanical energy
Gold foil experiment
Concave lens
8. 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.
Index of refraction
Power
Atom
Directly proportional
9. A sheet - film - or screen with a pattern of equally spaced slits. Typically the width of the slits and space between them is chosen to generate a particular diffraction pattern.
Diffraction grating
Dynamics
Atomic number
Polarization
10. 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
Kelvin
Vector
Harmonic series
Magnetic flux
11. A constant in the numerator of a formula.
Entropy
Sublimation
Constant of proportionality
Temperature
12. Heat transfer by molecular collisions.
Convex mirror
Conduction
Nuclear fusion
Cycle
13. A means of defining the direction of the cross product vector. To define the direction of the vector - position your right hand so that your fingers point in the direction of A - and then curl them around so that they point in the direction of B. Th
Right-hand rule
Work-energy theorem
Weightlessness
Frequency
14. 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.
Potential energy
Normal
Translational kinetic energy
Crest
15. The force involved in beta decay that changes a proton to a neutron and releases an electron and a neutrino.
Weak nuclear force
Latent heat of fusion
Temperature
Tip
16. Waves in which the medium moves in the direction perpendicular to the propagation of the wave. Waves on a stretched string - water waves - and electromagnetic waves are all examples of transverse waves.
Concave mirror
Second Law of Thermodynamics
Centripetal acceleration
Transverse waves
17. The energy of a particle rotating around an axis.
Rotational kinetic energy
Third Law of Thermodynamics
Refraction
Radian
18. 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.
Impulse
Mass defect
Compression
Heat transfer
19. 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.
Rotational motion
Angular position
Momentum
Newton
20. 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.
Tangent
Alpha particle
Coefficient of static friction
Radioactive decay
21. The points midway between nodes on a standing wave - where the oscillations are largest.
Snell's Law
Work
Antinode
Optics
22. 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.
Inertial reference frame
Angular acceleration
Deposition
Michelson-Morley experiment
23. An object that moves about a stable equilibrium point and experiences a restoring force that is directly proportional to the oscillator's displacement.
Hertz (Hz)
Simple harmonic oscillator
Collision
Work
24. A measure of force per unit area. Pressure is measured in N/m2 or Pa.
Nuclear fusion
Pressure
Faraday's Law
Gravitational Potential Energy
25. The dot product of the area and the magnetic field passing through it. Graphically - it is a measure of the number and length of magnetic field lines passing through that area. It is measured in Webers (Wb).
Rotational kinetic energy
Magnetic flux
Entropy
Angle of reflection
26. A coefficient that tells how much the volume of a solid will change when it is heated or cooled.
Efficiency
Normal force
Coefficient of volume expansion
Dot product
27. The amount of error that's possible in a given measurement.
Displacement
Refracted ray
Margin of error
Photon
28. The name of an electron released from the surface of a metal due to the photoelectric effect.
Minima
Photoelectron
Wavelength
Basis vector
29. The center of a mirror or lens.
Kinematics
Elastic collision
Mass defect
Vertex
30. In an interference or diffraction pattern - the places where there is the most light.
Vertex
Maxima
Angular period
Uncertainty principle
31. A pulley is a simple machine that consists of a rope that slides around a disk or block.
Thermal equilibrium
Real image
Impulse
Pulley
32. A scale for measuring temperature - defined such that water freezes at 0ºC and boils at 100ºC. 0ºC = 273 K.
Total internal reflection
Law of reflection
Vector
Celsius
33. The building blocks of all matter - quarks are the constituent parts of protons - neutrons - and mesons.
Boyle's Law
Quark
Rarefaction
Atom
34. An image created by a mirror or lens in such a way that light does actually come from where the image appears to be. If you place a screen in front of a real image - the image will be projected onto the screen.
Real image
Convection
Traveling waves
Inertial reference frame
35. The principle by which the displacements from different waves traveling in the same medium add up. Superposition is the basis for interference.
Diffraction grating
Oscillation
Heat
Superposition
36. The amount heat necessary to cause a substance to undergo a phase transition.
Threshold frequency
Latent heat of transformation
Lenz's Law
Pulley
37. A particle - identical to an electron. Beta particles are ejected from an atom in the process of beta decay.
Beta particle
Mole
Conservation of Angular Momentum
First Law of Thermodynamics
38. A back-and-forth movement about an equilibrium position. Springs - pendulums - and other oscillators experience harmonic motion.
Chain reaction
Oscillation
Heat transfer
Electromagnetic induction
39. A positively charged particle that - along with the neutron - occupies the nucleus of the atom.
Deposition
Elastic collision
Proton
Thermal equilibrium
40. 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 -
Magnification
Nuclear fission
Reflection
Rarefaction
41. A class of elementary particle whose mass is between that of a proton and that of an electron. A common kind of meson is the pion.
Convex mirror
Meson
Angular frequency
Proton
42. 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
Coherent light
Magnitude
Beats
Magnification
43. Heat transfer via electromagnetic waves.
Radiation
Scalar
Entropy
Right-hand rule
44. A nuclear reaction in which a high-energy neutron bombards a heavy - unstable atomic nucleus - causing it to split into two smaller nuclei - and releasing some neutrons and a vast amount of energy at the same time
Phase
Nuclear fission
Angle of reflection
Phase change
45. A device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy by rotating a coil in a magnetic field; sometimes called a "dynamo."
Electric generator
Thermal equilibrium
Mass defect
Gold foil experiment
46. 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 -
Efficiency
Scalar
Reflect
Compression
47. Energy associated with the state of motion. The translational kinetic energy of an object is given by the equation .
Reflection
Principal axis
Kinetic energy
Spectroscope
48. 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.
Work
Concave mirror
Pulley
Internal energy
49. A body or set of bodies that we choose to analyze as a group.
De Broglie wavelength
Joule
Law of conservation of energy
System
50. A scalar quantity that tells us how fast an object is moving. It measures the rate of change in distance over time. Speed is to be contrasted with velocity in that there is no direction associated with speed.
Kepler's First Law
Speed
Decay constant
Restoring force