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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 spectrum containing all the different kinds of electromagnetic waves - ranging in wavelength and frequency.






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. To every action - there is an equal and opposite reaction. If an object A exerts a force on another object B - B will exert on A a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force exerted by A.

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4. A unit of measurement for energy on atomic levels. 1 eV = J.






5. The force transmitted along a rope or cable.






6. 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






7. With spherical mirrors - the center of the sphere of which the mirror is a part. All of the normals pass through it.






8. The separation of different color light via refraction.






9. The coefficient of kinetic friction - - for two materials is the constant of proportionality between the normal force and the force of kinetic friction. It is always a number between zero and one.






10. 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.






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. An object cannot be cooled to absolute zero.






13. 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.






14. The amount heat necessary to cause a substance to undergo a phase transition.






15. The ratio of the size of the image produced by a mirror or lens to the size of the original object. This number is negative if the image is upside-down.






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






17. The property by which a charge moving in a magnetic field creates an electric field.






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






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






20. The gravitational force exerted on a given mass.






21. The number of cycles executed by a system in one second. Frequency is the inverse of period - f = 1/T. Frequency is measured in hertz - Hz.






22. The bending of light at the corners of objects or as it passes through narrow slits or apertures.






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






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






25. The angle between a refracted ray and the line normal to the surface.






26. In an interference or diffraction pattern - the places where there is the least light.






27. 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






28. 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.






29. 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.






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






31. The effect of force on rotational motion.






32. Heat transfer via electromagnetic waves.






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






34. 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.






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






36. 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.






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






38. 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 -






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






40. 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






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

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42. 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






43. The five equations used to solve problems in kinematics in one dimension with uniform acceleration.






44. When dealing with reflection or refraction - the incident ray is the ray of light before it strikes the reflecting or refracting surface.






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






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






47. The points of maximum displacement along a wave. In traveling waves - the crests move in the direction of propagation of the wave. The crests of standing waves - also called anti-nodes - remain in one place.






48. A wave on a string that is tied to a pole at one end will reflect back toward its source - producing a wave that is the mirror-image of the original and which travels in the opposite direction.






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






50. 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