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






2. The path of each planet around the sun is an ellipse with the sun at one focus.

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






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






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






6. The standing wave with the lowest frequency that is supported by a string with both ends tied down is called the fundamental - or resonance - of the string. The wavelength of the fundamental is twice the length of the string - .






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

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8. A scalar quantity. If an object is moved from point A to point B in space along path AB - the distance that the object has traveled is the length of the path AB. Distance is to be contrasted with displacement - which is simply a measure of the distan






9. The temperature at which a material will change phase from liquid to gas or gas to liquid.






10. The force of gravity - F - between two particles of mass and - separated by a distance r - has a magnitude of - where G is the gravitational constant. The force is directed along the line joining the two particles.

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






12. A logorithmic unit for measuring the volume of sound - which is the square of the amplitude of sound waves.






13. A form of vector multiplication - where two vectors are multiplied to produce a scalar. The dot product of two vectors - A and B - is expressed by the equation A · B = AB cos .






14. An object that retains its overall shape - meaning that the particles that make up the rigid body stay in the same position relative to one another.






15. 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






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






17. 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).






18. 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






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






20. 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.






21. If the net torque acting on a rigid body is zero - then the angular momentum of the body is constant or conserved.






22. The building blocks of all matter - atoms are made up of a nucleus consisting of protons and neutrons - and a number of electrons that orbit the nucleus. An electrically neutral atom has as many protons as it has electrons.






23. Essentially a restatement of energy conservation - it states that the change in the internal energy of a system is equal to the heat added plus the work done on the system.






24. A reference frame in which Newton's First Law is true. Two inertial reference frames move at a constant velocity relative to one another. According to the first postulate of Einstein's theory of special relativity - the laws of physics are the same i






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

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






27. 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.






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






29. 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.






30. 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.






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






32. Waves that oscillate in the same direction as the propagation of the wave. Sound is carried by longitudinal waves - since the air molecules move back and forth in the same direction the sound travels.






33. The units of frequency - defined as inverse-seconds (1 Hz = 1 s-1). "Hertz" can be used interchangeably with "cycles per second."






34. 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






35. A property of a metal - the minimum frequency of electromagnetic radiation that is necessary to release photoelectrons from that metal.






36. 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






37. 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.






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






39. 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






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






41. The separation of different color light via refraction.






42. A machine that operates by taking heat from a hot place - doing some work with that heat - and then exhausting the rest of the heat into a cool place. The internal combustion engine of a car is an example of a heat engine.






43. 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






44. 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.






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






46. 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.






47. An object that moves about a stable equilibrium point and experiences a restoring force that is directly proportional to the oscillator's displacement.






48. A force caused by the roughness of two materials in contact - deformations in the materials - and a molecular attraction between the materials. Frictional forces are always parallel to the plane of contact between two surfaces and opposite the direct






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






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