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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 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.






2. 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.






3. The bending of light at the corners of objects or as it passes through narrow slits or apertures.






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






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






6. 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.






7. 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.






8. An electromagnetic wave of very high frequency.






9. 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






10. Kinematics is the study and description of the motion of objects.






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






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






13. The motion of a body in a circular path with constant speed.






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






15. 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






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






17. The points of maximum displacement along a wave. In traveling waves - the crests move in the direction of propagation of the wave. The crests of standing waves - also called anti-nodes - remain in one place.






18. 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.






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

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






21. The five equations used to solve problems in kinematics in one dimension with uniform acceleration.






22. When dealing with reflection or refraction - the incident ray is the ray of light before it strikes the reflecting or refracting surface.






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

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24. In oscillation - a cycle occurs when an object undergoing oscillatory motion completes a "round-trip." For instance - a pendulum bob released at angle has completed one cycle when it swings to and then back to again. In period motion - a cycle is the






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






26. An area of high air pressure that acts as the wave trough for sound waves. The spacing between successive rarefactions is the wavelength of sound - and the number of successive areas of rarefaction that arrive at the ear per second is the frequency -






27. 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.

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28. 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.






29. 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






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






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






32. 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.






33. 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.






34. 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.






35. The principle stating that for any isolated system - linear momentum is constant with time.






36. An experiment in 1879 that showed that the speed of light is constant to all observers. Einstein used the results of this experiment as support for his theory of special relativity.






37. 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.






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






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






40. 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.






41. In the graphical representation of vectors - the tip of the arrow is the pointy end.






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






43. 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.






44. A push or a pull that causes an object to accelerate.






45. A system with many parts in periodic - or repetitive - motion. The oscillations in one part cause vibrations in nearby parts.






46. The net change - - in a point's angular position - . It is a scalar quantity.






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






48. A measure of the average kinetic energy of the molecules in a system. Temperature is related to heat by the specific heat of a given substance.






49. 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.






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