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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. 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.






2. 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.






3. The ratio of the size of the image produced by a mirror or lens to the size of the original object. This number is negative if the image is upside-down.






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






5. The principle by which the displacements from different waves traveling in the same medium add up. Superposition is the basis for interference.






6. States that the current induced in a circuit by a change in magnetic flux is in the direction that will oppose that change in flux. Using the right-hand rule - point your thumb in the opposite direction of the change in magnetic flux. The direction y

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






8. The unit for measuring pressure. One Pascal is equal to one Newton per meter squared - 1 Pa = 1 N/m2.






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






10. 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.






11. Energy associated with an object's position in space - or configuration in relation to other objects. This is a latent form of energy - where the amount of potential energy reflects the amount of energy that potentially could be released as kinetic e






12. 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.






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






14. Heat transfer by molecular collisions.






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






16. Waves carried by variations in air pressure. The speed of sound waves in air at room temperature and pressure is roughly 343 m/s.






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






18. In an interference or diffraction pattern - the places where there is the least light.






19. The stable position of a system where the net force acting on the object is zero.






20. 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






21. 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.






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






23. 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.






24. 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

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25. In an interference or diffraction pattern - the places where there is the most light.






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






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






28. 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.






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






30. 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.






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






32. Body diagram- Illustrates the forces acting on an object - drawn as vectors originating from the center of the object.






33. A device that breaks incoming light down into spectral rays - so that one can see the exact wavelength constituents of the light.






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






35. 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.






36. 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






37. The name of an electron released from the surface of a metal due to the photoelectric effect.






38. 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






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






40. A unit for measuring angles; also called a "rad." 2p rad = 360º.






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






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






43. 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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44. A logorithmic unit for measuring the volume of sound - which is the square of the amplitude of sound waves.






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

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46. The separation of different color light via refraction.






47. 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.






48. Heat transfer via electromagnetic waves.






49. Two quantities are inversely proportional if an increase in one results in a proportional decrease in the other - and a decrease in one results in a proportional increase in the other. In a formula defining a certain quantity - those quantities to wh






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