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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. 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.






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






3. The experience of being in free fall. If you are in a satellite - elevator - or other free-falling object - then you have a weight of zero Newtons relative to that object.






4. A constant - - not to be confused with wavelength - that defines the speed at which a radioactive element undergoes decay. The greater is - the faster the element decays.






5. The state of a nonrotating object upon whom the net torque acting is zero.






6. Energy associated with the state of motion. The translational kinetic energy of an object is given by the equation .






7. The number - N - of neutrons in an atomic nucleus.






8. The disorder of a system.






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






10. 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.






11. Given the trajectory of an object or system - the center of mass is the point that has the same acceleration as the object or system as a whole would have if its mass were concentrated at that point. In terms of force - the center of mass is the poin






12. 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.






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






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






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 ray of light that is reflected from a mirror or other reflecting surface.






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






18. The time it takes a system to pass through one cycle of its repetitive motion. The period - T - is the inverse of the motion's frequency - f = 1/T.






19. A property common to both vectors and scalars. In the graphical representation of a vector - the vector's magnitude is equal to the length of the arrow.






20. The line perpendicular to a surface. There is only one normal for any given surface.






21. The position - of an object according to a co-ordinate system measured in s of the angle of the object from a certain origin axis. Conventionally - this origin axis is the positive x-axis.






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






23. 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.






24. 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






25. 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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26. 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.






27. The time - T - required for a rigid body to complete one revolution.






28. A quantity that possesses a magnitude but not a direction. Mass and length are common examples.






29. A number - Z - associated with the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom. Every element can be defined in s of its atomic number - since every atom of a given element has the same number of protons.






30. A coefficient that tells how much a material will expand or contract lengthwise when it is heated or cooled.






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






32. The mass difference between a nucleus and the sum of the masses of the constituent protons and neutrons.






33. 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).






34. The process by which unstable nuclei spontaneously release particles and/or energy so as to come to a more stable arrangement. The most common forms of radioactive decay are alpha decay - beta decay - and gamma decay.






35. A body or set of bodies that we choose to analyze as a group.






36. A device made of two coils - which converts current of one voltage into current of another voltage. In a step-up transformer - the primary coil has fewer turns than the secondary - thus increasing the voltage. In a step-down transformer - the seconda






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






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. 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.






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






42. A nuclear reaction in which a high-energy neutron bombards a heavy - unstable atomic nucleus - causing it to split into two smaller nuclei - and releasing some neutrons and a vast amount of energy at the same time






43. 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.






44. 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.






45. The amount of error that's possible in a given measurement.






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






47. 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.






48. 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






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






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

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