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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 collision in which the colliding particles stick together.






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






3. A vector quantity - commonly denoted by the vector s - which reflects an object's change in spatial position. The displacement vector points from the object's starting position to the object's current position in space. If an object is moved from poi






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






5. Relates the angle of incidence to the angle of refraction: .

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6. Waves carried by variations in air pressure. The speed of sound waves in air at room temperature and pressure is roughly 343 m/s.






7. 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.






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






9. 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.






10. 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.






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






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






13. The disorder of a system.






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






15. 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.






16. A device made of two coils - which converts current of one voltage into current of another voltage. In a step-up transformer - the primary coil has fewer turns than the secondary - thus increasing the voltage. In a step-down transformer - the seconda






17. Heat transfer via electromagnetic waves.






18. 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






19. A measurement of a body's inertia - or resistance to being accelerated.






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






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






22. 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.






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






24. 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.






25. 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.






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






27. 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






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






29. 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.






30. The dot product of the area and the magnetic field passing through it. Graphically - it is a measure of the number and length of magnetic field lines passing through that area. It is measured in Webers (Wb).






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






32. The process by which unstable nuclei spontaneously release particles and/or energy so as to come to a more stable arrangement. The most common forms of radioactive decay are alpha decay - beta decay - and gamma decay.






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






34. The bending of light as it passes from one medium to another. Light refracts toward the normal when going from a less dense medium into a denser medium and away from the normal when going from a denser medium into a less dense medium.






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. The ray of light that is reflected from a mirror or other reflecting surface.






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






38. 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






39. An almost massless particle of neutral charge that is released along with a beta particle in beta decay.






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






41. A transfer of thermal energy. We don't speak about systems "having" heat - but about their "transferring" heat - much in the way that dynamical systems don't "have" work - but rather "do" work.






42. 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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43. 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






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






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






46. In a right triangle - the tangent of a given angle is the length of the side opposite the angle divided by the length of the side adjacent to the triangle.






47. 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






48. States that the net work done on an object is equal to the object's change in kinetic energy.






49. 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.






50. When objects collide - each object feels a force for a short amount of time. This force imparts an impulse - or changes the momentum of each of the colliding objects. The momentum of a system is conserved in all kinds of collisions. Kinetic energy is