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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 vector quantity - or vector - is an object possessing - and fully described by - a magnitude and a direction. Graphically a vector is depicted as an arrow with its magnitude given by the length of the arrow and its direction given by where the arro






2. A wedge or a slide. The dynamics of objects sliding down inclined planes is a popular topic on SAT II Physics.






3. The center of an atom - where the protons and neutrons reside. Electrons then orbit this nucleus.






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






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






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






7. 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.






8. 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.






9. The straight line that runs through the focal point and the vertex of a mirror or lens.






10. 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.






11. 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.






12. A vector quantity - equal to the rate of change of the angular velocity vector with time. It is typically given in units of rad/s2.






13. 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.






14. The constant of proportionality in Newton's Law of Gravitation. It reflects the proportion of the gravitational force and - the product of two particles' masses divided by the square of the bodies' separation. N · m2/kg2.






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






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






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






19. 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.






20. 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






21. 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






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






23. 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.






24. The current induced in a circuit by a change in magnetic flux.






25. An object cannot be cooled to absolute zero.






26. Given the trajectory of an object or system - the center of mass is the point that has the same acceleration as the object or system as a whole would have if its mass were concentrated at that point. In terms of force - the center of mass is the poin






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. The line that every particle in the rotating rigid body circles about.






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






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






31. A form of vector multiplication - where two vectors are multiplied to produce a third vector. The cross product of two vectors - A and B - separated by an angle - - is - where is a unit vector perpendicular to both A and B. To deine which direction






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






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

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34. F = ma. The net force - F - acting on an object causes the object to accelerate - a. The magnitude of the acceleration is directly proportional to the net force on the object and inversely proportional to the mass - m - of the object.

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35. 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.






36. 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.






37. Body diagram- Illustrates the forces acting on an object - drawn as vectors originating from the center of the object.






38. 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






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






40. 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.






41. In the graphical representation of vectors - the tail of the arrow is the blunt end (the end without a point).






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






43. The effect of force on rotational motion.






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






45. A principle derived by Werner Heisenberg in 1927 that tells us that we can never know both the position and the momentum of a particle at any given time.






46. Another word for the frequency of a sound wave.






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






48. An image created by a mirror or lens in such a way that light does not actually come from where the image appears to be.






49. The amount of heat of a material required to raise the temperature of either one kilogram or one gram of that material by one degree Celsius. Different units may be used depending on whether specific heat is measured in s of grams or kilograms - and






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