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Test your basic knowledge |
SAT Subject Test: hysics
Start Test
Study First
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. 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.
Electric generator
Heat transfer
Michelson-Morley experiment
Translational motion
2. 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.
Unit vector
Ideal gas law
Antinode
Wave speed
3. The study of the properties of visible light - i.e. - the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with wavelengths between 360 and 780 nm (1 nm = m/s).
Instantaneous velocity
Angular period
Kelvin
Optics
4. The mass difference between a nucleus and the sum of the masses of the constituent protons and neutrons.
Power
Mass defect
Oscillation
First Law of Thermodynamics
5. The ray of light that is refracted through a surface into a different medium.
Threshold frequency
Refracted ray
Mass number
Inversely proportional
6. A system with many parts in periodic - or repetitive - motion. The oscillations in one part cause vibrations in nearby parts.
Ideal gas law
Wave
Potential energy
Mass defect
7. The square of the amplitude of a sound wave is called the sound's loudness - or volume.
Index of refraction
Angular period
Loudness
Conduction
8. 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.
Velocity
Tail
Work function
Latent heat of transformation
9. 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.
Destructive interference
Dot product
Newton's Third Law
Concave mirror
10. 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
Normal force
Photon
Charles's Law
Neutron
11. The property by which a charge moving in a magnetic field creates an electric field.
Orbit
Fundamental
Electromagnetic induction
Electric generator
12. In the graphical representation of vectors - the tip of the arrow is the pointy end.
Oscillation
Right-hand rule
Tip
Magnetic flux
13. The building blocks of all matter - quarks are the constituent parts of protons - neutrons - and mesons.
Threshold frequency
Moment of inertia
Quark
Work
14. A unit for measuring angles; also called a "rad." 2p rad = 360º.
Radian
Second Law of Thermodynamics
Coherent light
Concave lens
15. 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.
Oscillation
Pendulum
Mass defect
Temperature
16. The temperature at which a material will change phase from solid to liquid or liquid to solid.
Standing wave
Melting point
Coherent light
Beta particle
17. The points on a standing wave where total destructive interference causes the medium to remain fixed at its equilibrium position.
Incident ray
Node
Virtual image
First Law of Thermodynamics
18. Another word for the frequency of a sound wave.
Cosine
Beta particle
Pitch
Diffraction
19. 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.
Mechanical energy
Angular period
Axis of rotation
Heat
20. 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.
Basis vector
Latent heat of vaporization
Margin of error
Constructive interference
21. 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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22. A coefficient that tells how much a material will expand or contract lengthwise when it is heated or cooled.
Coefficient of linear expansion
Elastic collision
Centripetal force
Work-energy theorem
23. In an interference or diffraction pattern - the places where there is the least light.
Kinetic energy
Minima
Vertex
Principal axis
24. The acceleration of a body experiencing uniform circular motion. This acceleration is always directed toward the center of the circle.
Melting point
Normal force
Centripetal acceleration
Equilibrium
25. The energy of a particle rotating around an axis.
Basis vector
Inelastic collision
Melting point
Rotational kinetic energy
26. 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.
Chain reaction
Gravitational Potential Energy
Dynamics
Speed
27. 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.
Boiling point
Normal
Reflected ray
Absolute zero
28. The cosine of an angle in a right triangle is equal to the length of the side adjacent to the angle divided by the length of the hypotenuse.
Thermal energy
Longitudinal waves
Chain reaction
Cosine
29. Energy cannot be made or destroyed; energy can only be changed from one place to another or from one form to another.
Third Law of Thermodynamics
Beta decay
Law of conservation of energy
Node
30. Heat transfer via electromagnetic waves.
Antinode
Radiation
Newton
Instantaneous velocity
31. A device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy by rotating a coil in a magnetic field; sometimes called a "dynamo."
Virtual image
Latent heat of vaporization
Electric generator
Unit vector
32. The energy stored in a thermodynamic system.
Reflected ray
Decay constant
Critical angle
Internal energy
33. Indicates how "bouncy" or "stiff" a spring is. More specifically - the spring constant - k - is the constant of proportionality between the restoring force exerted by the spring - and the spring's displacement from equilibrium. The greater the value
Vector
Spring constant
Electromagnetic induction
Decibel
34. 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.
Cosine
Orbit
Radioactive decay
Tangent
35. 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.
Radioactive decay
Angular acceleration
Centripetal force
Crest
36. 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.
Fundamental
Instantaneous velocity
Beta particle
Radius of curvature
37. The property by which a changing current in one coil of wire induces an emf in another.
Hertz (Hz)
Thermal energy
Mutual Induction
Angular period
38. A vector quantity - commonly denoted by the vector s - which reflects an object's change in spatial position. The displacement vector points from the object's starting position to the object's current position in space. If an object is moved from poi
Boiling point
Displacement
Collision
Pascals
39. The center of a mirror or lens.
Vertex
Wavelength
Axis of rotation
Newton's Second Law
40. 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.
Gamma ray
Uncertainty principle
Rarefaction
Gamma decay
41. 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.
Impulse
Constructive interference
Law of reflection
Trough
42. When objects collide - each object feels a force for a short amount of time. This force imparts an impulse - or changes the momentum of each of the colliding objects. The momentum of a system is conserved in all kinds of collisions. Kinetic energy is
Instantaneous velocity
Equilibrium
Collision
Potential energy
43. 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.
Angle of incidence
Boiling point
Index of refraction
Inelastic collision
44. Defined as the rate at which work is done - or the rate at which energy is transformed. P is measured in joules per second (J/s) - or watts (W).
Component
Power
Diffraction
Kinematic equations
45. The ray of light that is reflected from a mirror or other reflecting surface.
Tension force
Principal axis
Reflected ray
Center of curvature
46. An object that moves about a stable equilibrium point and experiences a restoring force that is directly proportional to the oscillator's displacement.
Dynamics
Simple harmonic oscillator
Melting point
Transverse waves
47. 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.
Coefficient of static friction
Dynamics
Spring constant
Ground state
48. A scalar quantity. If an object is moved from point A to point B in space along path AB - the distance that the object has traveled is the length of the path AB. Distance is to be contrasted with displacement - which is simply a measure of the distan
Distance
Uniform circular motion
Melting point
Alpha decay
49. 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.
Planck's constant
Mutual Induction
Refraction
Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics
50. 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.
Moment of inertia
Angle of reflection
Completely inelastic collision
Reflect