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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 line that every particle in the rotating rigid body circles about.






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






3. A form of vector multiplication - where two vectors are multiplied to produce a scalar. The dot product of two vectors - A and B - is expressed by the equation A · B = AB cos .






4. A transverse traveling wave created by the oscillations of an electric field and a magnetic field. Electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light - m/s. Examples include microwaves - X rays - and visible light.






5. The energy stored in a thermodynamic system.






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






7. 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.






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






9. The two shorter sides of a right triangle that meet at the right angle.






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






11. A unit of force: 1 N is equivalent to a 1 kg · m/s2.






12. The amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. 1 cal = 4.19 J.






13. 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.






14. Heat transfer by molecular collisions.






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






16. 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






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






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






19. The points on a standing wave where total destructive interference causes the medium to remain fixed at its equilibrium position.






20. 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






21. The time it takes a system to pass through one cycle of its repetitive motion. The period - T - is the inverse of the motion's frequency - f = 1/T.






22. A reference frame in which Newton's First Law is true. Two inertial reference frames move at a constant velocity relative to one another. According to the first postulate of Einstein's theory of special relativity - the laws of physics are the same i






23. A form of radioactive decay where a heavy element ejects a beta particle and a neutrino - becoming a lighter element in the process.






24. The building blocks of all matter - quarks are the constituent parts of protons - neutrons - and mesons.






25. An electromagnetic wave of very high frequency.






26. Also called a converging lens - a lens that is thicker in the middle than at the edges. Convex lenses refract light through a focal point.






27. 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.






28. Objects that experience oscillatory or simple harmonic motion when distorted. Their motion is described by Hooke's Law.






29. Two oscillators that have the same frequency and amplitude - but reach their maximum displacements at different times - are said to have different phases. Similarly - two waves are in phase if their crests and troughs line up exactly - and they are o






30. A neutrally charged particle that - along with protons - constitutes the nucleus of an atom.






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






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






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






34. The model of the atom according to which negatively charged electrons orbit a positively charged nucleus. This model was developed by Ernest Rutherford in light of the results from his gold foil experiment.






35. A small particle-like bundle of electromagnetic radiation.






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






37. 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.






38. 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.






39. For a gas held at a constant temperature - pressure and volume are inversely proportional.

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






41. 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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42. An object that moves about a stable equilibrium point and experiences a restoring force that is directly proportional to the oscillator's displacement.






43. A sheet - film - or screen with a pattern of equally spaced slits. Typically the width of the slits and space between them is chosen to generate a particular diffraction pattern.






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






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






46. 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.






47. To every action - there is an equal and opposite reaction. If an object A exerts a force on another object B - B will exert on A a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force exerted by A.

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48. A collision in which the colliding particles stick together.






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






50. 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.