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






2. 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.






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






4. 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.






5. 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.






6. The force between two surfaces that are not moving relative to one another. The force of static friction is parallel to the plane of contact between the two objects and resists the force pushing or pulling on the object.






7. 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






8. 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.






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


10. The sum of a system's potential and kinetic energy. In many systems - including projectiles - pulleys - pendulums - and motion on frictionless surfaces - mechanical energy is conserved. One important type of problem in which mechanical energy is not






11. Heat transfer via the mass movement of molecules.






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. The constant of proportionality in Newton's Law of Gravitation. It reflects the proportion of the gravitational force and - the product of two particles' masses divided by the square of the bodies' separation. N · m2/kg2.






14. The energy stored in a thermodynamic system.






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






16. 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.






17. 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






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






19. 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.






20. A force caused by the roughness of two materials in contact - deformations in the materials - and a molecular attraction between the materials. Frictional forces are always parallel to the plane of contact between two surfaces and opposite the direct






21. 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.






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






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






24. A constant - - not to be confused with wavelength - that defines the speed at which a radioactive element undergoes decay. The greater is - the faster the element decays.






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






26. 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






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






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






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






30. 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






31. 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.






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






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






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






35. 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.






36. 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.






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






38. The force transmitted along a rope or cable.






39. The distance between the focal point and the vertex of a mirror or lens. For concave mirrors and convex lenses - this number is positive. For convex mirrors and concave lenses - this number is negative.






40. 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






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.


42. The building blocks of all matter - atoms are made up of a nucleus consisting of protons and neutrons - and a number of electrons that orbit the nucleus. An electrically neutral atom has as many protons as it has electrons.






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






44. The gravitational force exerted on a given mass.






45. The dot product of the area and the magnetic field passing through it. Graphically - it is a measure of the number and length of magnetic field lines passing through that area. It is measured in Webers (Wb).






46. 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.






47. 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.






48. The tendency of an object to remain at a constant velocity - or its resistance to being accelerated. Newton's First Law is alternatively called the Law of Inertia because it describes this tendency.






49. The property by which a charge moving in a magnetic field creates an electric field.






50. 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.