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






2. The effect of force on rotational motion.






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






4. 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 -






5. The model of the atom according to which negatively charged electrons orbit a positively charged nucleus. This model was developed by Ernest Rutherford in light of the results from his gold foil experiment.






6. A nuclear reaction that takes place only at very high temperatures. Two light atoms - often hydrogen - fuse together to form a larger single atom - releasing a vast amount of energy in the process.






7. The process by which a solid turns directly into gas - because it cannot exist as a liquid at a certain pressure.






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






9. 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.






10. The cosine of an angle in a right triangle is equal to the length of the side adjacent to the angle divided by the length of the hypotenuse.






11. A negatively charged particle that orbits the nucleus of the atom.






12. The separation of different color light via refraction.






13. A vector of magnitude 1 along one of the coordinate axes. Generally - we take the basis vectors to be and - the vectors of length 1 along the x- and y-axes - respectively.






14. The phenomenon of light bouncing off a surface - such as a mirror.






15. A process that aligns a wave of light to oscillate in one dimension rather than two.






16. 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).






17. For a heat engine - the ratio of work done by the engine to heat intake. Efficiency is never 100%.






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






19. The index of refraction n = c/v of a substance characterizes the speed of light in that substance - v. It also characterizes - by way of Snell's Law - the angle at which light refracts in that substance.






20. Atoms of the same element may have different numbers of neutrons and therefore different masses. Atoms of the same element but with different numbers of neutrons are called isotopes of the same element.






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






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






23. 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






24. 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.






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






26. For a gas held at a constant temperature - pressure and volume are inversely proportional.

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27. 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.






28. A unit vector is a vector with length 1.






29. The amount of heat necessary for a material undergoing sublimation to make a phase change from gas to solid or solid to gas - without a change in temperature.






30. A transfer of thermal energy. We don't speak about systems "having" heat - but about their "transferring" heat - much in the way that dynamical systems don't "have" work - but rather "do" work.






31. The amount of energy that metal must absorb before it can release a photoelectron from the metal.






32. 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.






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






34. For a gas held at constant pressure - temperature and volume are directly proportional.

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35. The energy stored in a thermodynamic system.






36. Two quantities are inversely proportional if an increase in one results in a proportional decrease in the other - and a decrease in one results in a proportional increase in the other. In a formula defining a certain quantity - those quantities to wh






37. A scalar quantity that tells us how fast an object is moving. It measures the rate of change in distance over time. Speed is to be contrasted with velocity in that there is no direction associated with speed.






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






39. A device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy by rotating a coil in a magnetic field; sometimes called a "dynamo."






40. A device that breaks incoming light down into spectral rays - so that one can see the exact wavelength constituents of the light.






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






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






43. 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.






44. A scale for measuring temperature - defined such that water freezes at 0ºC and boils at 100ºC. 0ºC = 273 K.






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

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






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






48. 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.






49. The gravitational force exerted on a given mass.






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