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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 pendulum consists of a bob connected to a rod or rope. At small angles - a pendulum's motion approximates simple harmonic motion as it swings back and forth without friction.






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






3. The gravitational force exerted on a given mass.






4. 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.






5. 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.






6. In an interference or diffraction pattern - the places where there is the most light.






7. 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.






8. 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.






9. 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.






10. 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.






11. The emf created by the motion of a charge through a magnetic field.






12. 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






13. States that the current induced in a circuit by a change in magnetic flux is in the direction that will oppose that change in flux. Using the right-hand rule - point your thumb in the opposite direction of the change in magnetic flux. The direction y

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






15. 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.






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

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17. 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.






18. 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






19. 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.






20. The energy of a particle moving in space. It is defined in s of a particle's mass - m - and velocity - v - as (1/2)mv2.






21. For a gas held at constant pressure - temperature and volume are directly proportional.

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22. The number of hydrogen atoms in one gram of hydrogen - equal to . When counting the number of molecules in a gas - it is often convenient to count them in moles.






23. The state of a nonrotating object upon whom the net torque acting is zero.






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






25. 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






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






27. A model for the atom developed in 1913 by Niels Bohr. According to this model - the electrons orbiting a nucleus can only orbit at certain particular radii. Excited electrons may jump to a more distant radii and then return to their ground state - em






28. The spectrum containing all the different kinds of electromagnetic waves - ranging in wavelength and frequency.






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






30. 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.






31. 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.






32. The substance that is displaced as a wave propagates through it. Air is the medium for sound waves - the string is the medium of transverse waves on a string - and water is the medium for ocean waves. Note that even if the waves in a given medium tra






33. 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.






34. A vector quantity - L - that is the rotational analogue of linear momentum. For a single particle - the angular momentum is the cross product of the particle's displacement from the axis of rotation and the particle's linear momentum - . For a rigid






35. A constant - J · s - which is useful in quantum physics. A second constant associated with Planck's constant is .

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36. The effect of force on rotational motion.






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






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






39. Body diagram- Illustrates the forces acting on an object - drawn as vectors originating from the center of the object.






40. The movement of a rigid body's center of mass in space.






41. Given the trajectory of an object or system - the center of mass is the point that has the same acceleration as the object or system as a whole would have if its mass were concentrated at that point. In terms of force - the center of mass is the poin






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






43. 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.






44. 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.






45. The amount of energy that metal must absorb before it can release a photoelectron from the metal.






46. F = ma. The net force - F - acting on an object causes the object to accelerate - a. The magnitude of the acceleration is directly proportional to the net force on the object and inversely proportional to the mass - m - of the object.

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






48. A transverse traveling wave created by the oscillations of an electric field and a magnetic field. Electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light - m/s. Examples include microwaves - X rays - and visible light.






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






50. A particle - identical to an electron. Beta particles are ejected from an atom in the process of beta decay.