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






2. A measure of the average kinetic energy of the molecules in a system. Temperature is related to heat by the specific heat of a given substance.






3. 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 -






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






5. The energy of a particle moving in space. It is defined in s of a particle's mass - m - and velocity - v - as (1/2)mv2.






6. 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.






7. Also called a diverging lens - a lens that is thinner in the middle than at the edges. Concave lenses refract light away from a focal point.






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






9. 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.






10. 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.






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






12. Heat transfer via the mass movement of molecules.






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






14. 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.






15. 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






16. An electromagnetic wave of very high frequency.






17. Given the period - T - and semimajor axis - a - of a planet's orbit - the ratio is the same for every planet.

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






19. An area of high air pressure that acts as the wave trough for sound waves. The spacing between successive rarefactions is the wavelength of sound - and the number of successive areas of rarefaction that arrive at the ear per second is the frequency -






20. 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






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

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22. Done when energy is transferred by a force. The work done by a force F in displacing an object by s is W = F · s.






23. 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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24. 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






25. 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.






26. When two waves of slightly different frequencies interfere with one another - they produce a "beating" interference pattern that alternates between constructive (in-phase) and destructive (out-of-phase). In the case of sound waves - this sort of inte






27. The study of the properties of visible light - i.e. - the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with wavelengths between 360 and 780 nm (1 nm = m/s).






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






29. The effect of force on rotational motion.






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






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






32. Light such that all of the associated waves have the same wavelength and are in phase.






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






34. 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






35. 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.






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






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






38. The disorder of a system.






39. 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






40. A form of vector multiplication - where two vectors are multiplied to produce a third vector. The cross product of two vectors - A and B - separated by an angle - - is - where is a unit vector perpendicular to both A and B. To deine which direction






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






42. The ray of light that is refracted through a surface into a different medium.






43. For two given media - the smallest angle of incidence at which total internal reflection occurs.






44. 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.






45. Waves produced by a source that is moving with respect to the observer will seem to have a higher frequency and smaller wavelength if the motion is towards the observer - and a lower frequency and longer wavelength if the motion is away from the obse






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






47. 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.






48. The unit for measuring pressure. One Pascal is equal to one Newton per meter squared - 1 Pa = 1 N/m2.






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






50. In the graphical representation of vectors - the tip of the arrow is the pointy end.