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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. 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






2. In a right triangle - the sine of a given angle is the length of the side opposite the angle divided by the length of the hypotenuse.






3. 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.






4. An area of high air pressure that acts as the wave crest for sound waves. The spacing between successive compressions is the wavelength of sound - and the number of successive areas of compression that arrive at the ear per second is the frequency -






5. The particles and energy released by the fission or fusion of one atom may trigger the fission or fusion of further atoms. In a chain reaction - fission or fusion is rapidly transferred to a large number of atoms - releasing tremendous amounts of ene






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






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






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






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


10. The ray of light that is refracted through a surface into a different medium.






11. When a light ray strikes a surface - the angle of incidence is the angle between the incident ray and the normal.






12. The joule (J) is the unit of work and energy. A joule is 1 N · m or 1 kg · m2/s2.






13. The process by which a gas turns directly into a solid because it cannot exist as a liquid at certain pressures.






14. For an oscillating spring - the restoring force exerted by the spring is directly proportional to the displacement. That is - the more the spring is displaced - the stronger the force that will pull toward the equilibrium position. This law is expres


15. 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 -






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






17. With spherical mirrors - the center of the sphere of which the mirror is a part. All of the normals pass through it.






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






19. 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






20. 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.






21. 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.






22. The application of kinematics to understand why objects move the way they do. More precisely - dynamics is the study of how forces cause motion.






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






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






25. 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.






26. States that the net work done on an object is equal to the object's change in kinetic energy.






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






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






30. A vector quantity defined as the product of the force acting on a body multiplied by the time interval over which the force is exerted.






31. 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






32. 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






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






34. 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.






35. 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.






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






37. A coefficient that tells how much a material will expand or contract lengthwise when it is heated or cooled.






38. Heat transfer via the mass movement of molecules.






39. 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.






40. 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.






41. Represented by R = 8.31 J/mol · K - the universal gas constant fits into the ideal gas law so as to relate temperature to the average kinetic energy of gas molecules.






42. 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






43. The mass difference between a nucleus and the sum of the masses of the constituent protons and neutrons.






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






45. 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.






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






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






48. 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.






49. For two given media - the smallest angle of incidence at which total internal reflection occurs.






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