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






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






3. The separation of different color light via refraction.






4. 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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5. 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.






6. 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






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






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






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

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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. 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.






12. 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.






13. In a right triangle - the tangent of a given angle is the length of the side opposite the angle divided by the length of the side adjacent to the triangle.






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

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






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






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






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. 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.






21. 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.






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






23. 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






24. When two waves of slightly different frequencies interfere with one another - they produce a "beating" interference pattern that alternates between constructive (in-phase) and destructive (out-of-phase). In the case of sound waves - this sort of inte






25. The disorder of a system.






26. The reaction force of the ground - a table - etc. - when an object is placed upon it. The normal force is a direct consequence of Newton's Third Law: when an object is placed on the ground - the ground pushes back with the same force that it is pushe






27. A wave with wave crests that propagate down the length of the medium - in contrast to stationary standing waves. The velocity at which a crest propagates is called the wave speed.






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






29. The longest side of a right triangle - opposite to the right angle.






30. A rigid body's resistance to being rotated. The moment of inertia for a single particle is MR2 - where M is the mass of the rigid body and R is the distance to the rotation axis. For rigid bodies - calculating the moment of inertia is more complicate






31. An almost massless particle of neutral charge that is released along with a beta particle in beta decay.






32. 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.






33. Objects that experience oscillatory or simple harmonic motion when distorted. Their motion is described by Hooke's Law.






34. Also called a converging lens - a lens that is thicker in the middle than at the edges. Convex lenses refract light through a focal point.






35. A model for the atom developed in 1913 by Niels Bohr. According to this model - the electrons orbiting a nucleus can only orbit at certain particular radii. Excited electrons may jump to a more distant radii and then return to their ground state - em






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






37. For two given media - the smallest angle of incidence at which total internal reflection occurs.






38. 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.






39. The bending of light as it passes from one medium to another. Light refracts toward the normal when going from a less dense medium into a denser medium and away from the normal when going from a denser medium into a less dense medium.






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






41. The effect of force on rotational motion.






42. 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.






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






44. A mirror that is curved such that its center is closer to the viewer than the edges - such as a doorknob. Convex mirrors reflect light away from a focal point.






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






46. 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






47. The energy of a particle rotating around an axis.






48. Heat transfer via the mass movement of molecules.






49. 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






50. The points of maximum negative displacement along a wave. They are the opposite of wave crests.