Test your basic knowledge |

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 vector quantity defined as the product of the force acting on a body multiplied by the time interval over which the force is exerted.






2. 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.






3. A mirror that is curved such that its center is farther from the viewer than the edges - such as the front of a spoon. Concave mirrors reflect light through a focal point.






4. A class of elementary particle whose mass is between that of a proton and that of an electron. A common kind of meson is the pion.






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






6. 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.






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






8. A unit for measuring angles; also called a "rad." 2p rad = 360º.






9. The number of cycles executed by a system in one second. Frequency is the inverse of period - f = 1/T. Frequency is measured in hertz - Hz.






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






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






12. 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.






13. 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

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/basicversity.com/show_quiz.php on line 183


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






15. 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






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






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






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






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






20. 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.






21. A law - || = - which states that the induced emf is the change in magnetic flux in a certain time.

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/basicversity.com/show_quiz.php on line 183


22. 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






23. The sum of a system's potential and kinetic energy. In many systems - including projectiles - pulleys - pendulums - and motion on frictionless surfaces - mechanical energy is conserved. One important type of problem in which mechanical energy is not






24. A vector quantity defined as the rate of change of the displacement vector with time. It is to be contrasted with speed - which is a scalar quantity for which no direction is specified.






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






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






27. The separation of different color light via refraction.






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






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






30. 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.






31. A measure of force per unit area. Pressure is measured in N/m2 or Pa.






32. The principle by which the displacements from different waves traveling in the same medium add up. Superposition is the basis for interference.






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






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






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






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






37. 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.

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/basicversity.com/show_quiz.php on line 183


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






39. 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.






40. The gravitational force exerted on a given mass.






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






42. 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






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






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






45. 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.






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






47. 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






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






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






50. The energy associated with the configuration of bodies attracted to each other by the gravitational force. It is a measure of the amount of work necessary to get the two bodies from a chosen point of reference to their present position. This point of