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






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






3. 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






4. A measurement of a body's inertia - or resistance to being accelerated.






5. 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.






6. 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 -






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






8. The experience of being in free fall. If you are in a satellite - elevator - or other free-falling object - then you have a weight of zero Newtons relative to that object.






9. The point of a mirror or lens where all light that runs parallel to the principal axis will be focused. Concave mirrors and convex lenses are designed to focus light into the focal point. Convex mirrors and concave lenses focus light away from the fo






10. The cancellation of one wave by another wave that is exactly out of phase with the first. Despite the dramatic name of this phenomenon - nothing is "destroyed" by this interference—the two waves emerge intact once they have passed each other.






11. 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.






12. An equation - PV = nRT - that relates the pressure - volume - temperature - and quantity of an ideal gas. An ideal gas is one that obeys the approximations laid out in the kinetic theory of gases.






13. The position - of an object according to a co-ordinate system measured in s of the angle of the object from a certain origin axis. Conventionally - this origin axis is the positive x-axis.






14. The force transmitted along a rope or cable.






15. 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.






16. A machine that operates by taking heat from a hot place - doing some work with that heat - and then exhausting the rest of the heat into a cool place. The internal combustion engine of a car is an example of a heat engine.






17. A vector quantity - L - that is the rotational analogue of linear momentum. For a single particle - the angular momentum is the cross product of the particle's displacement from the axis of rotation and the particle's linear momentum - . For a rigid






18. The temperature at which a material will change phase from liquid to gas or gas to liquid.






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






20. The separation of different color light via refraction.






21. A particle - which consists of two protons and two neutrons. It is identical to the nucleus of a helium atom and is ejected by heavy particles undergoing alpha decay.






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






23. Waves in which the medium moves in the direction perpendicular to the propagation of the wave. Waves on a stretched string - water waves - and electromagnetic waves are all examples of transverse waves.






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






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






26. Heat transfer via the mass movement of molecules.






27. 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.






28. Energy associated with the state of motion. The translational kinetic energy of an object is given by the equation .






29. The force that binds protons and neutrons together in the atomic nucleus.






30. The property of a vector that distinguishes it from a scalar: while scalars have only a magnitude - vectors have both a magnitude and a direction. When graphing vectors in the xy-coordinate space - direction is usually given by the angle measured cou






31. 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.






32. A conserved scalar quantity associated with the state or condition of an object or system of objects. We can roughly define energy as the capacity for an object or system to do work. There are many different types of energy - such as kinetic energy -






33. 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






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






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






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






37. A constant in the numerator of a formula.






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






39. 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






40. An image created by a mirror or lens in such a way that light does actually come from where the image appears to be. If you place a screen in front of a real image - the image will be projected onto the screen.






41. 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






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






43. 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






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






45. 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.






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






47. The distance between successive wave crests - or troughs. Wavelength is measured in meters and is related to frequency and wave speed by = v/f.






48. A system that no external net force acts upon. Objects within the system may exert forces upon one another - but they cannot receive any impulse from outside forces. Momentum is conserved in isolated systems.






49. The coefficient of kinetic friction - - for two materials is the constant of proportionality between the normal force and the force of kinetic friction. It is always a number between zero and one.






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