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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. Light such that all of the associated waves have the same wavelength and are in phase.






2. A coefficient that tells how much the volume of a solid will change when it is heated or cooled.






3. 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.






4. A coefficient that tells how much a material will expand or contract lengthwise when it is heated or cooled.






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






6. When dealing with reflection or refraction - the incident ray is the ray of light before it strikes the reflecting or refracting surface.






7. A transfer of thermal energy from one system to another.






8. 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






9. The constant of proportionality in Newton's Law of Gravitation. It reflects the proportion of the gravitational force and - the product of two particles' masses divided by the square of the bodies' separation. N · m2/kg2.






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






11. The stable position of a system where the net force acting on the object is zero.






12. The force that causes simple harmonic motion. The restoring force is always directed toward an object's equilibrium position.






13. A negatively charged particle that orbits the nucleus of the atom.






14. 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






15. 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.






16. A law - || = - which states that the induced emf is the change in magnetic flux in a certain time.

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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. A measure of the average kinetic energy of the molecules in a system. Temperature is related to heat by the specific heat of a given substance.






19. 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.






20. The property of a vector that distinguishes it from a scalar: while scalars have only a magnitude - vectors have both a magnitude and a direction. When graphing vectors in the xy-coordinate space - direction is usually given by the angle measured cou






21. The points of maximum negative displacement along a wave. They are the opposite of wave crests.






22. The path of each planet around the sun is an ellipse with the sun at one focus.

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






24. An object that retains its overall shape - meaning that the particles that make up the rigid body stay in the same position relative to one another.






25. 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.






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






27. The amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. 1 cal = 4.19 J.






28. An object at rest remains at rest - unless acted upon by a net force. An object in motion remains in motion - unless acted upon by a net force.

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29. 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 -






30. The longest side of a right triangle - opposite to the right angle.






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






32. The tendency of an object to remain at a constant velocity - or its resistance to being accelerated. Newton's First Law is alternatively called the Law of Inertia because it describes this tendency.






33. A unit of force: 1 N is equivalent to a 1 kg · m/s2.






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






35. 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.






36. 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.






37. A wave on a string that is tied to a pole at one end will reflect back toward its source - producing a wave that is the mirror-image of the original and which travels in the opposite direction.






38. 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.






39. The force of gravity - F - between two particles of mass and - separated by a distance r - has a magnitude of - where G is the gravitational constant. The force is directed along the line joining the two particles.

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40. 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 - .






41. A reference frame in which Newton's First Law is true. Two inertial reference frames move at a constant velocity relative to one another. According to the first postulate of Einstein's theory of special relativity - the laws of physics are the same i






42. 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






43. The disorder of a system.






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






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






46. Heat transfer via electromagnetic waves.






47. The line that every particle in the rotating rigid body circles about.






48. A quantity that possesses a magnitude but not a direction. Mass and length are common examples.






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






50. A wedge or a slide. The dynamics of objects sliding down inclined planes is a popular topic on SAT II Physics.