Physics Final Exam Study Questions

14) The conservation of momentum is most closely related to: A) Newton's second law. B) Newton's third law. C) Newton's first law.

A

23) Water pressure is greatest against the: A) top of a submerged object. B) is the same against all surfaces. C) sides of a submerged object. D) bottom of a submerged object. E) none of these

D

27) A main difference between gravitational and electric forces is that electrical forces: A) obey the inverse-square law. B) are weaker. C) attract. D) repel or attract. E) act over shorter distances.

D

36) The source of all sounds is something that is: A) moving. B) accelerating. C) undergoing simple harmonic motion. D) vibrating. E) a net emitter of energy.

D

4) An object in mechanical equilibrium is an object: A) moving with constant velocity. B) having no acceleration. C) at rest. D) all of the above

D

4) The Milky Way galaxy is: A) a spiral galaxy. B) where Earth resides. C) in the process of colliding with the Magellanic Cloud galaxies. D) All of the above

D

45) Each second, the burning Sun's mass: A) decreases. B) remains unchanged. C) increases.

D

46) What is the primary component of Venus' atmosphere? A) N2 B) O2 C) Argon D) CO2

D

47) Why is Jupiter the largest planet in the solar system? A) Being the oldest planetary core, it had more time than the other planets to accumulate enough gas around itself before solar winds blew interplanetary dust away. B) Because that's just the way it happened. C) Due to a massive collision with another protoplanet D) Because of its distance from the Sun, the gravitational attraction between it and the Sun is perfectly balanced so as to create a density that results in the largest size of any planet.

D

16) When a car is braked to a stop, its kinetic energy is transformed to: A) stopping energy. B) energy of rest. C) energy of motion. D) heat. E) potential energy.

D

22) The circular orbit of a satellite orbiting the Earth is characterized by a constant: A) acceleration. B) radial distance. C) speed. D) all of these E) none of these

D

18) Newton discovered: A) that gravity is universal. B) gravity. C) neither

A

26) In an electrically neutral atom the number of protons in the nucleus is equal to the number of: A) electrons that surround the nucleus. B) neutrons in the nucleus. C) both of these D) neither of these

A

3) The difference between impulse and impact force involves the: A) time the force acts. B) mass and its effect on resisting a change in momentum. C) difference between acceleration and velocity. D) distance the force acts.

A

31) Heat a copper wire and its electric resistance: A) increases. B) decreases. C) remains unchanged.

A

35) Compressions and rarefactions normally travel in: A) the same direction in a wave. B) opposite directions in a wave.

A

41) Why is the carbon-14 dating not accurate for estimating the age of materials more than 50,000 years old? A) The concentration of carbon-14 in a body after 50,000 years is too low. B) Living organisms are too decomposed after 50,000 years. C) Actually, carbon-14 dating is accurate back to around 5 million years ago. D) This form of radioactive dating is only accurate back 1,400 years.

A

42) Which of the following statements best describes the Law of Conservation of Mass. A) The mass of all the products will be the same as the mass of all the reactants. B) A compound has more mass than an element because it has more than one element. C) The mass of an element is different from that of a compound. D) The mass of a chemical does not change. E) The weight of a compound conserves its mass.

A

43) What is a reaction rate? A) It is the speed at which reactants are consumed or product is formed. B) It is the balanced chemical formula that relates the number of product molecules to reactant molecules. C) It is the ratio of the molecular masses of the elements in a given compound. D) It is the ratio of the masses of products and reactants. E) none of the above

A

44) A cloud of interstellar gas is held together by: A) the gravitational force. B) electromagnetism. C) infrared radiation. D) All of the above.

A

49) What is the upper limit of stars the unaided eye can discern on a moonless night in a rural area? A) About 3,000,000 B) About 300,000 C) About 3,000 D) About 30,000

A

51) The event that changes a protostar to a full-fledged star is: A) gravitational collapse. B) the emission of light. C) gravitational expansion. D) a catastrophic increase in temperature. E) thermonuclear fusion.

A

53) The event horizon of a black hole is: A) the surface below which no matter or energy can escape. B) the point in time when a black hole comes into being. C) the physical surface of the black hole. D) the surface where light becomes trapped in a circular orbit around the black hole.

A

7) The two measurements necessary for calculating average speed are: A) velocity and distance. B) velocity and time. C) distance and acceleration. D) distance and time. E) acceleration and time.

A

9) A force is a vector quantity because it has both: A) magnitude and direction. B) action and reaction counterparts. C) mass and acceleration.

A

Calculate the acceleration of a 200 kg object experiencing a force of 19000 Newton.

A

Calculate the attractive force between a 100 kg person and the Earth. Use ,where mass of the Earth is

A

Explain the process of thermonuclear reaction at the core of the Sun.

A

State and explain Newton's law of universal gravitation.

A

10) Action and reaction forces comprise the parts of: A) two interactions. B) a single interaction.

B

11) A player catches a ball. Consider the action force to be the impact of the ball against the player's glove. The reaction to this force is the: A) friction of the ground against the player's shoes. B) force the glove exerts on the ball. C) muscular effort in the player's arms. D) player's grip on the glove. E) none of these

B

12) A moving object on which no forces are acting will continue to move with constant: A) momentum. B) impulse. C) acceleration. D) all of these E) none of these

B

20) A rock is thrown upward at 50° with respect to the horizontal. As it rises, its vertical component of velocity: A) remains unchanged. B) decreases. C) increases.

B

21) For the astronauts inside the orbiting space shuttle, there is no force of Earth's gravity acting on them. This statement is: A) always true while in orbit. B) always false. C) sometimes true while in orbit

B

25) Atmospheric pressure is caused by: A) effect of the Sun's energy on the atmosphere. B) weight of the atmosphere. C) temperature of the atmosphere. D) density of the atmosphere.

B

28) To be safe in the unlikely case of a lightning strike, it is best to be inside a building framed with: A) wood. B) steel. C) both the same.

B

29) You can touch a 100,000-V Van de Graaff generator with little harm because although the voltage is high, the relatively small amount of charge means there is a relatively small amount of: A) conduction. B) energy. C) polarization. D) electric field.

B

30) An ampere is a unit of electrical: A) resistance. B) current. C) pressure. D) all of these E) none of these

B

37) Which doesn't belong to the same family? A) longitudinal waves B) radio waves C) ultrasonic waves D) shock waves E) infrasonic waves

B

48) Is the rate of Earth's rotation increasing or decreasing? A) It is decreasing B) It is increasing C) It is increasing and decreasing in cyclic fashion. D) It is remaining relatively steady.

B

69) Cosmology is the study of the overall structure and evolution of: A) galaxies. B) the universe. C) beauty. D) stars.

B

Distinguish between a transverse wave and a longitudinal wave. Give examples of each.

B

17) Which requires more work: lifting a 50-kg sack vertically 2 m or lifting a 25-kg sack vertically 4 m? A) lifting the 50-kg sack B) lifting the 25-kg sack C) Both require the same amount of work.

C

24) What is the buoyant force acting on a 10-ton ship floating in the ocean? A) less than 10 tons B) more than 10 tons C) 10 tons D) depends on density of seawater

C

3) An object is pulled northward with a force of 10 N and southward with a force of 15 N. The magnitude of the net force on the object is: A) 10 N. B) 15 N. C) 5 N. D) 0 N. E) none of the above

C

32) When a battery does 24 J of work on 10 C of charge, the voltage it supplies is: A) 4.2 V. B) 240 V. C) 2.4 V. D) 24 V. E) none of these

C

33) The source of all magnetism is: A) tiny pieces of iron. B) ferromagnetic materials. C) moving electric charge. D) tiny domains of aligned atoms. E) none of these

C

34) Moving electric charges will interact with: A) an electric field. B) a magnetic field. C) both of these D) none of these

C

38) The source of all electromagnetic waves is: A) vibrating atoms. B) changes in atomic energy levels. C) accelerating electric charges. D) crystalline fluctuations. E) none of these

C

39) Color depends on what characteristic of light? A) its frequency B) its wavelength C) both of these D) neither of these

C

40) Radioactivity is a tendency for an element or a material to: A) radiate heat B) emit light C) emit radiation D) glow in the dark E) emit electrons

C

52) A star's size stabilizes when: A) the star's gravitational attraction is balanced by the gravitational attraction to neighboring stars. B) it reaches temperatures of about 3 million K. C) the star first ignites. D) thermal pressure and gravitational attraction balance each other.

C

5) A man weighing 800 N stands at rest on two bathroom scales so that his weight is distributed evenly over both scales. The reading on each scale is: A) 800 N. B) 1600 N. C) 200 N. D) 400 N. E) none of the above

D

50) A star's brightness tells us: A) its surface temperature. B) both how much energy it produces and its surface temperature. C) how much energy a star produces. D) its rotational speed.

D

6) The force of friction on a sliding object is 10 N. The applied force needed to maintain a constant velocity iS: A) 10 N. B) less than 10 N. C) more than 10 N.

D

8) A sheet of paper can be withdrawn from under a container of milk without toppling it if the paper is jerked quickly. This best demonstrates that: A) there is an action-reaction pair of forces. B) gravity tends to hold the milk carton secure. C) the milk carton has no acceleration. D) the milk carton has inertia. E) none of these

D

Calculate the momentum of an asteroid of mass 1234 kg moving at a velocity of 3900 km/s.

D

Distinguish between the concepts of heat, temperature, and thermal energy.

D

The scientist to first introduce the concept of inertia was: A) Newton. B) Copernicus. C) Aristotle. D) Galileo.

D

15) When an object is lifted 10 m, it gains a certain amount of potential energy. If the same object is lifted 20 m, its potential energy gain is: A) four times as much. B) more than four times as much. C) less. D) the same. E) twice as much.

E

19) Consider two planets in space that gravitationally attract each other. If the masses of both planets is doubled, and the distance between them is also doubled, then the force between them is: A) four times as much. B) twice as much. C) half as much. D) one-quarter. E) none of these

E

A kilogram is a measure of an object's: A) weight. B) force. C) gravity. D) center of mass. E) mass

E