Test your basic knowledge |

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 angle between a refracted ray and the line normal to the surface.






2. Essentially a restatement of energy conservation - it states that the change in the internal energy of a system is equal to the heat added plus the work done on the system.






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






4. The points midway between nodes on a standing wave - where the oscillations are largest.






5. A collision in which momentum is conserved but kinetic energy is not.






6. Any vector can be expressed as the sum of two mutually perpendicular component vectors. Usually - but not always - these components are multiples of the basis vectors - and ; that is - vectors along the x-axis and y-axis. We define these two vectors






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

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/basicversity.com/show_quiz.php on line 183


8. An experiment by Ernest Rutherford that proved for the first time that atoms have nuclei.






9. 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.






10. A constant in the numerator of a formula.






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






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






13. If two systems - A and B - are in thermal equilibrium and if B and C are also in thermal equilibrium - then systems A and C are necessarily in thermal equilibrium.






14. 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






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






16. A unit vector is a vector with length 1.






17. 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.






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






19. A mirror that is curved such that its center is closer to the viewer than the edges - such as a doorknob. Convex mirrors reflect light away from a focal point.






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






21. When a solid - liquid - or gas changes into another phase of matter.






22. A collision in which both kinetic energy and momentum are conserved.






23. Heat transfer via the mass movement of molecules.






24. 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.






25. 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.






26. 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.






27. 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.






28. An almost massless particle of neutral charge that is released along with a beta particle in beta decay.






29. An electromagnetic wave of very high frequency.






30. 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






31. A frequency - f - defined as the number of revolutions a rigid body makes in a given time interval. It is a scalar quantity commonly denoted in units of Hertz (Hz) or s-1.






32. Heat transfer via electromagnetic waves.






33. The number of digits that have been accurately measured. When combining several measurements in a formula - the resulting calculation can only have as many significant digits as the measurement that has the smallest number of significant digits.






34. Life- The amount of time it takes for one-half of a radioactive sample to decay.






35. 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






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






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






38. The gravitational force exerted on a given mass.






39. 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.






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






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






42. A vector quantity - - that reflects the change of angular displacement with time - and is typically given in units of rad/s. To find the direction of the angular velocity vector - take your right hand and curl your fingers along the particle or body






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






44. The square of the amplitude of a sound wave is called the sound's loudness - or volume.






45. 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.






46. 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.






47. Occurs when every point in the rigid body moves in a circular path around a line called the axis of rotation.






48. 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






49. The force that causes simple harmonic motion. The restoring force is always directed toward an object's equilibrium position.






50. The points of maximum negative displacement along a wave. They are the opposite of wave crests.