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






2. 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.






3. 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.






4. 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.






5. 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.






6. 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






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






8. 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






9. Two materials are in thermal equilibrium if they are at the same temperature.






10. Occurs when every point in the rigid body moves in a circular path around a line called the axis of rotation.






11. 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.






12. 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.

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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 points on a standing wave where total destructive interference causes the medium to remain fixed at its equilibrium position.






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






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






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






18. 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.






19. 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.






20. Linear momentum - p - commonly called "momentum" for short - is a vector quantity defined as the product of an object's mass - m - and its velocity - v.






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






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






23. If two systems - A and B - are in thermal equilibrium and if B and C are also in thermal equilibrium - then systems A and C are necessarily in thermal equilibrium.






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






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






26. Defined as the rate at which work is done - or the rate at which energy is transformed. P is measured in joules per second (J/s) - or watts (W).






27. Energy cannot be made or destroyed; energy can only be changed from one place to another or from one form to another.






28. 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 -






29. The joule (J) is the unit of work and energy. A joule is 1 N · m or 1 kg · m2/s2.






30. The property by which a changing current in one coil of wire induces an emf in another.






31. In oscillation - a cycle occurs when an object undergoing oscillatory motion completes a "round-trip." For instance - a pendulum bob released at angle has completed one cycle when it swings to and then back to again. In period motion - a cycle is the






32. 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






33. A push or a pull that causes an object to accelerate.






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






35. The number of digits that have been accurately measured. When combining several measurements in a formula - the resulting calculation can only have as many significant digits as the measurement that has the smallest number of significant digits.






36. 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.






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






38. 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.






39. A form of radioactivity where an excited atom releases a photon of gamma radiation - thereby returning to a lower energy state. The atomic structure itself does not change in the course of gamma radiation.






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






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






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






43. 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.






44. 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






45. 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






46. 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.






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






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






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






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