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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 rough approximation of how gases work - that is quite accurate in everyday conditions. According to the kinetic theory - gases are made up of tiny - round molecules that move about in accordance with Newton's Laws - and collide with one another and






2. A system with many parts in periodic - or repetitive - motion. The oscillations in one part cause vibrations in nearby parts.






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






4. 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.






5. The name of an electron released from the surface of a metal due to the photoelectric effect.






6. 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 -






7. The distance between the focal point and the vertex of a mirror or lens. For concave mirrors and convex lenses - this number is positive. For convex mirrors and concave lenses - this number is negative.






8. 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.






9. A wave with wave crests that propagate down the length of the medium - in contrast to stationary standing waves. The velocity at which a crest propagates is called the wave speed.






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






11. 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.






12. A vector quantity - - that reflects the change of angular displacement with time - and is typically given in units of rad/s. To find the direction of the angular velocity vector - take your right hand and curl your fingers along the particle or body






13. 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.






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






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






16. 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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17. An image created by a mirror or lens in such a way that light does actually come from where the image appears to be. If you place a screen in front of a real image - the image will be projected onto the screen.






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






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






20. The center of a mirror or lens.






21. With spherical mirrors - the radius of the sphere of which the mirror is a part.






22. The longest side of a right triangle - opposite to the right angle.






23. In reference to oscillation - amplitude is the maximum displacement of the oscillator from its equilibrium position. Amplitude tells how far an oscillator is swinging back and forth. In periodic motion - amplitude is the maximum displacement in each






24. When electromagnetic radiation shines upon a metal - the surface of the metal releases energized electrons. The way in which these electrons are released contradicts classical theories of electromagnetic radiation and supports the quantum view accord






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






26. The constant of proportionality in Newton's Law of Gravitation. It reflects the proportion of the gravitational force and - the product of two particles' masses divided by the square of the bodies' separation. N · m2/kg2.






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






28. 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.






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






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

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






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






33. If the net torque acting on a rigid body is zero - then the angular momentum of the body is constant or conserved.






34. 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.






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






36. The reaction force of the ground - a table - etc. - when an object is placed upon it. The normal force is a direct consequence of Newton's Third Law: when an object is placed on the ground - the ground pushes back with the same force that it is pushe






37. Kinematics is the study and description of the motion of objects.






38. A property of a metal - the minimum frequency of electromagnetic radiation that is necessary to release photoelectrons from that metal.






39. 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






40. Two oscillators that have the same frequency and amplitude - but reach their maximum displacements at different times - are said to have different phases. Similarly - two waves are in phase if their crests and troughs line up exactly - and they are o






41. Heat transfer via electromagnetic waves.






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






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






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






45. 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.






46. A wavelength - given by = h/mv - which is associated with matter. Louis de Broglie proposed the idea that matter could be treated as waves in 1923 and applied this theory successfully to small particles like electrons.






47. 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.






48. The principle stating that for any isolated system - linear momentum is constant with time.






49. The force that causes simple harmonic motion. The restoring force is always directed toward an object's equilibrium position.






50. A class of elementary particle whose mass is between that of a proton and that of an electron. A common kind of meson is the pion.