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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. Two oscillators that have the same frequency and amplitude - but reach their maximum displacements at different times - are said to have different phases. Similarly - two waves are in phase if their crests and troughs line up exactly - and they are o






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






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






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






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






6. The tendency of an object to remain at a constant velocity - or its resistance to being accelerated. Newton's First Law is alternatively called the Law of Inertia because it describes this tendency.






7. An object cannot be cooled to absolute zero.






8. The mass number - A - is the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in a nucleus. It is very close to the weight of that nucleus in atomic mass units.






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






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






11. A wavelength - given by = h/mv - which is associated with matter. Louis de Broglie proposed the idea that matter could be treated as waves in 1923 and applied this theory successfully to small particles like electrons.






12. A pendulum consists of a bob connected to a rod or rope. At small angles - a pendulum's motion approximates simple harmonic motion as it swings back and forth without friction.






13. The energy of a particle moving in space. It is defined in s of a particle's mass - m - and velocity - v - as (1/2)mv2.






14. A means of defining the direction of the cross product vector. To define the direction of the vector - position your right hand so that your fingers point in the direction of A - and then curl them around so that they point in the direction of B. Th






15. The emf created by the motion of a charge through a magnetic field.






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

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






18. For a reflected light ray - . In other words - a ray of light reflects of a surface in the same plane as the incident ray and the normal - and at an angle to the normal that is equal to the angle between the incident ray and the normal.






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






20. An object is called radioactive if it undergoes radioactive decay.






21. 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.






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






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






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






26. 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.






27. The amplification of one wave by another - identical wave of the same sign. Two constructively interfering waves are said to be "in phase."






28. Energy cannot be made or destroyed; energy can only be changed from one place to another or from one form to another.






29. A wave on a string that is tied to a pole at one end will reflect back toward its source - producing a wave that is the mirror-image of the original and which travels in the opposite direction.






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






31. 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






32. 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






33. A coefficient that tells how much the volume of a solid will change when it is heated or cooled.






34. 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






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






36. In the Bohr model of the atom - the state in which an electron has the least energy and orbits closest to the nucleus.






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






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






39. 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.






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






41. 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






42. The force between two surfaces that are not moving relative to one another. The force of static friction is parallel to the plane of contact between the two objects and resists the force pushing or pulling on the object.






43. The speed at which a wave crest or trough propagates. Note that this is not the speed at which the actual medium (like the stretched string or the air particles) moves.






44. 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






45. 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.






46. A constant in the numerator of a formula.






47. Given the period - T - and semimajor axis - a - of a planet's orbit - the ratio is the same for every planet.

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48. A form of radioactive decay where a heavy element ejects a beta particle and a neutrino - becoming a lighter element in the process.






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






50. The distance between the focal point and the vertex of a mirror or lens. For concave mirrors and convex lenses - this number is positive. For convex mirrors and concave lenses - this number is negative.