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






2. A vector quantity - equal to the rate of change of the angular velocity vector with time. It is typically given in units of rad/s2.






3. 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.






4. The five equations used to solve problems in kinematics in one dimension with uniform acceleration.






5. 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.






6. The force between two surfaces that are not moving relative to one another. The force of static friction is parallel to the plane of contact between the two objects and resists the force pushing or pulling on the object.






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






8. The straight line that runs through the focal point and the vertex of a mirror or lens.






9. 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.






10. To every action - there is an equal and opposite reaction. If an object A exerts a force on another object B - B will exert on A a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force exerted by A.

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






12. Objects that experience oscillatory or simple harmonic motion when distorted. Their motion is described by Hooke's Law.






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






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






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






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






18. The energy of the molecules that make up an object. It is related to heat - which is the amount of energy transferred from one object to another object that is a different temperature.






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

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20. A particle - which consists of two protons and two neutrons. It is identical to the nucleus of a helium atom and is ejected by heavy particles undergoing alpha decay.






21. 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.






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






23. 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.






24. The unit of magnetic flux - equal to one T · m2.






25. Indicates how "bouncy" or "stiff" a spring is. More specifically - the spring constant - k - is the constant of proportionality between the restoring force exerted by the spring - and the spring's displacement from equilibrium. The greater the value






26. A scale for measuring temperature - defined such that water freezes at 0ºC and boils at 100ºC. 0ºC = 273 K.






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






28. 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






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






31. 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.






32. 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.






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






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






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

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






37. In oscillation - a cycle occurs when an object undergoing oscillatory motion completes a "round-trip." For instance - a pendulum bob released at angle has completed one cycle when it swings to and then back to again. In period motion - a cycle is the






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






39. The amount of heat necessary for a material undergoing sublimation to make a phase change from gas to solid or solid to gas - without a change in temperature.






40. 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






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






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






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






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






45. The cosine of an angle in a right triangle is equal to the length of the side adjacent to the angle divided by the length of the hypotenuse.






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






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






48. A constant in the numerator of a formula.






49. The disorder of a system.






50. 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