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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 disorder of a system.






2. States that the current induced in a circuit by a change in magnetic flux is in the direction that will oppose that change in flux. Using the right-hand rule - point your thumb in the opposite direction of the change in magnetic flux. The direction y


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






4. 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.






5. The stable position of a system where the net force acting on the object is zero.






6. 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






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






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






9. 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 -






10. 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.






11. For an oscillating spring - the restoring force exerted by the spring is directly proportional to the displacement. That is - the more the spring is displaced - the stronger the force that will pull toward the equilibrium position. This law is expres


12. The velocity at any given instant in time. To be contrasted with average velocity - which is a measure of the change in displacement over a given time interval.






13. The amount of heat necessary to transform a solid at a given temperature into a liquid of the same temperature - or the amount of heat needed to be removed from a liquid of a given temperature to transform it into a solid of the same temperature.






14. 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.






15. The points midway between nodes on a standing wave - where the oscillations are largest.






16. 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






17. 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.






18. 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






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






20. 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.






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






22. A collision in which the colliding particles stick together.






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






24. 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.






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






26. The force involved in beta decay that changes a proton to a neutron and releases an electron and a neutrino.






27. A collision in which momentum is conserved but kinetic energy is not.






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






29. 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






30. The effect of force on rotational motion.






31. The gravitational force exerted on a given mass.






32. Heat transfer by molecular collisions.






33. 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






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






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






36. Any vector can be expressed as the sum of two mutually perpendicular component vectors. Usually - but not always - these components are multiples of the basis vectors - and ; that is - vectors along the x-axis and y-axis. We define these two vectors






37. 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






38. A back-and-forth movement about an equilibrium position. Springs - pendulums - and other oscillators experience harmonic motion.






39. 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.






40. 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.






41. Energy associated with an object's position in space - or configuration in relation to other objects. This is a latent form of energy - where the amount of potential energy reflects the amount of energy that potentially could be released as kinetic e






42. 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.






43. An object is called radioactive if it undergoes radioactive decay.






44. If a line is drawn from the sun to the planet - then the area swept out by this line in a given time interval is constant.


45. The number of hydrogen atoms in one gram of hydrogen - equal to . When counting the number of molecules in a gas - it is often convenient to count them in moles.






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






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






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






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






50. 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 -