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






2. A form of radioactive decay where a heavy element emits an alpha particle and some energy - thus transforming into a lighter - more stable - element.






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






4. 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.






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






6. 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.






7. The spectrum containing all the different kinds of electromagnetic waves - ranging in wavelength and frequency.






8. 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






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






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






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






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






13. 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






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






15. 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






16. 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.






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






18. 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






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. The five equations used to solve problems in kinematics in one dimension with uniform acceleration.






21. The separation of different color light via refraction.






22. A vector quantity defined as the rate of change of the velocity vector with time.






23. 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.






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






25. An object cannot be cooled to absolute zero.






26. A wave with wave crests that propagate down the length of the medium - in contrast to stationary standing waves. The velocity at which a crest propagates is called the wave speed.






27. In the Bohr model of the atom - the state in which an electron has the least energy and orbits closest to the nucleus.






28. 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.






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






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






31. A scale for measuring temperature - defined such that water freezes at 0ºC and boils at 100ºC. 0ºC = 273 K.






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






33. A particle - identical to an electron. Beta particles are ejected from an atom in the process of beta decay.






34. A vector of magnitude 1 along one of the coordinate axes. Generally - we take the basis vectors to be and - the vectors of length 1 along the x- and y-axes - respectively.






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






36. In reference to oscillation - amplitude is the maximum displacement of the oscillator from its equilibrium position. Amplitude tells how far an oscillator is swinging back and forth. In periodic motion - amplitude is the maximum displacement in each






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






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






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






40. The amount of energy that metal must absorb before it can release a photoelectron from the metal.






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






42. The effect of force on rotational motion.






43. A transfer of thermal energy from one system to another.






44. 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






45. 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.






46. A process that aligns a wave of light to oscillate in one dimension rather than two.






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






48. 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.






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






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

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