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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 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.






2. For a gas held at a constant temperature - pressure and volume are inversely proportional.


3. The joule (J) is the unit of work and energy. A joule is 1 N · m or 1 kg · m2/s2.






4. The model of the atom according to which negatively charged electrons orbit a positively charged nucleus. This model was developed by Ernest Rutherford in light of the results from his gold foil experiment.






5. A constant - - not to be confused with wavelength - that defines the speed at which a radioactive element undergoes decay. The greater is - the faster the element decays.






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






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






8. The property by which a changing current in one coil of wire induces an emf in another.






9. 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






10. A conserved scalar quantity associated with the state or condition of an object or system of objects. We can roughly define energy as the capacity for an object or system to do work. There are many different types of energy - such as kinetic energy -






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






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






13. The center of an atom - where the protons and neutrons reside. Electrons then orbit this nucleus.






14. 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.






15. Heat transfer by molecular collisions.






16. 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






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






18. The building blocks of all matter - quarks are the constituent parts of protons - neutrons - and mesons.






19. A small particle-like bundle of electromagnetic radiation.






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






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






22. An equation - PV = nRT - that relates the pressure - volume - temperature - and quantity of an ideal gas. An ideal gas is one that obeys the approximations laid out in the kinetic theory of gases.






23. 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






24. 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.






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


26. 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.






27. Another word for the frequency of a sound wave.






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


29. Two quantities are inversely proportional if an increase in one results in a proportional decrease in the other - and a decrease in one results in a proportional increase in the other. In a formula defining a certain quantity - those quantities to wh






30. 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.






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






32. 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.






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






34. The force that binds protons and neutrons together in the atomic nucleus.






35. A vector quantity - or vector - is an object possessing - and fully described by - a magnitude and a direction. Graphically a vector is depicted as an arrow with its magnitude given by the length of the arrow and its direction given by where the arro






36. A principle derived by Werner Heisenberg in 1927 that tells us that we can never know both the position and the momentum of a particle at any given time.






37. 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






38. The mass number - A - is the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in a nucleus. It is very close to the weight of that nucleus in atomic mass units.






39. 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.






40. 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 -






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






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






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






44. The effect of force on rotational motion.






45. The energy stored in a thermodynamic system.






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






47. 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.






48. An electromagnetic wave of very high frequency.






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






50. The energy associated with the configuration of bodies attracted to each other by the gravitational force. It is a measure of the amount of work necessary to get the two bodies from a chosen point of reference to their present position. This point of