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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. 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 - .






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






3. A positively charged particle that - along with the neutron - occupies the nucleus of the atom.






4. 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.






5. 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.






6. 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






7. In radioactive substances - the number of nuclei that decay per second. Activity - A - will be larger in large samples of radioactive material - since there will be more nuclei.






8. 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.






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






10. The net change - - in a point's angular position - . It is a scalar quantity.






11. For a heat engine - the ratio of work done by the engine to heat intake. Efficiency is never 100%.






12. A body or set of bodies that we choose to analyze as a group.






13. Represented by R = 8.31 J/mol · K - the universal gas constant fits into the ideal gas law so as to relate temperature to the average kinetic energy of gas molecules.






14. A rigid body's resistance to being rotated. The moment of inertia for a single particle is MR2 - where M is the mass of the rigid body and R is the distance to the rotation axis. For rigid bodies - calculating the moment of inertia is more complicate






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






16. The process by which a solid turns directly into gas - because it cannot exist as a liquid at a certain pressure.






17. A vector quantity defined as the rate of change of the displacement vector with time. It is to be contrasted with speed - which is a scalar quantity for which no direction is specified.






18. Energy cannot be made or destroyed; energy can only be changed from one place to another or from one form to another.






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






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






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






22. A number - Z - associated with the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom. Every element can be defined in s of its atomic number - since every atom of a given element has the same number of protons.






23. 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






24. Also called a converging lens - a lens that is thicker in the middle than at the edges. Convex lenses refract light through a focal point.






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






26. The angle between a reflected ray and the normal.






27. An object that moves about a stable equilibrium point and experiences a restoring force that is directly proportional to the oscillator's displacement.






28. 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.






29. The distance between successive wave crests - or troughs. Wavelength is measured in meters and is related to frequency and wave speed by = v/f.






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






31. A pulley is a simple machine that consists of a rope that slides around a disk or block.






32. The angle between a refracted ray and the line normal to the surface.






33. The energy of a particle rotating around an axis.






34. 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






35. The ray of light that is refracted through a surface into a different medium.






36. 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.






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






38. The ratio of the size of the image produced by a mirror or lens to the size of the original object. This number is negative if the image is upside-down.






39. In a right triangle - the sine of a given angle is the length of the side opposite the angle divided by the length of the hypotenuse.






40. The two shorter sides of a right triangle that meet at the right angle.






41. Given the period - T - and semimajor axis - a - of a planet's orbit - the ratio is the same for every planet.


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






43. 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.






44. 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.






45. 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.






46. The index of refraction n = c/v of a substance characterizes the speed of light in that substance - v. It also characterizes - by way of Snell's Law - the angle at which light refracts in that substance.






47. 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.






48. The phenomenon by which light traveling from a high n to a low n material will reflect from the optical interface if the incident angle is greater than the critical angle.






49. 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






50. A measure of force per unit area. Pressure is measured in N/m2 or Pa.