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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 vector quantity defined as the rate of change of the velocity vector with time.






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






3. 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






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






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






6. 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.






7. When an object is held in circular motion about a massive body - like a planet or a sun - due to the force of gravity - that object is said to be in orbit. Objects in orbit are in perpetual free fall - and so are therefore weightless.






8. 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.






9. 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.






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






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






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






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






14. In the graphical representation of vectors - the tail of the arrow is the blunt end (the end without a point).






15. 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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16. 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.






17. 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 -






18. 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.






19. The force transmitted along a rope or cable.






20. The motion of a body in a circular path with constant speed.






21. The amplification of one wave by another - identical wave of the same sign. Two constructively interfering waves are said to be "in phase."






22. 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.






23. 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.






24. An image created by a mirror or lens in such a way that light does not actually come from where the image appears to be.






25. The principle by which the displacements from different waves traveling in the same medium add up. Superposition is the basis for interference.






26. A form of radioactive decay where a heavy element ejects a beta particle and a neutrino - becoming a lighter element in the process.






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






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






29. A collision in which both kinetic energy and momentum are conserved.






30. A collision in which momentum is conserved but kinetic energy is not.






31. 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.






32. 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






33. 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.






34. 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.






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






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






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






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






39. A vector of magnitude 1 along one of the coordinate axes. Generally - we take the basis vectors to be and - the vectors of length 1 along the x- and y-axes - respectively.






40. 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






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






42. 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






43. A form of radioactive decay where a heavy element emits an alpha particle and some energy - thus transforming into a lighter - more stable - element.






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

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






46. 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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47. 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.






48. There are a few versions of this law. One is that heat flows spontaneously from hot to cold - but not in the reverse direction. Another is that there is no such thing as a 100% efficient heat engine. A third states that the entropy - or disorder - of






49. A force caused by the roughness of two materials in contact - deformations in the materials - and a molecular attraction between the materials. Frictional forces are always parallel to the plane of contact between two surfaces and opposite the direct






50. 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






Can you answer 50 questions in 15 minutes?



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