Your weight as measured on your bathroom scale is
A) equal to your mass.
B) the force due to gravity on you.
C) a property of mechanical equilibrium.
D) all of the above
A car traveling at 100 km/h strikes an unfortunate bug and splatters it. The force of
impact is
A) greater on the bug.
B) greater on the car.
C) the same for both.
The force required to maintain a constant velocity for an astronaut in free space is equal
to
A) zero.
B) the mass of the astronaut.
C) the weight of the astronaut.
D) the force required to stop the astronaut.
E) none of the above
Sound travels fastest in
A) air.
B) water.
C) steel.
D) a vacuum.
Compared with the mass of a uranium nucleus before splitting, the split fragments have
A) less mass.
B) the same mass.
C) more mass.
A wave oscillates up and down two complete cycles each second. If the wave travels an
average distance of 6 meters in one second, its wavelength is
A) 0.5 m.
B) 1 m.
C) 2 m.
D) 3 m.
E) 6 m.
In 1919 Rutherford performed the first historic artificial transmutations of
A) hydrogen to helium.
B) nitrogen to oxygen.
C) carbon 12 to carbon 14.
D) none of the above
The ideal efficiency for a heat engine operating between the temperatures 2700 K and
300 K is
A) 10%.
B) 24%.
C) 80%.
D) 89%.
E) none of the above
Compared to a sound of 30 decibels, the intensity of a sound of 60 decibels is
A) twice as intense.
B) 10 times as much.
C) 100 times as much.
D) 1000 times as much.
E) 10,000 times as much.
High-pitched sound has a high
A) speed.
B) rate of vibration.
C) both of these
D) neither of these
An object is dropped and freely falls to the ground with acceleration g. If it is thrown
upward at an angle instead, neglecting air drag, the acceleration along its path will be
A) less than g.
B) the same.
C) more than g.
Rainbows are not usually seen as complete circles because
A) the ground is usually in the way.
B) they are actually elliptical.
C) they have no bottom part.
D) rain drops are not perfectly round.
E) rainbows are actually arched shaped.
It is commonly thought that a can of beverage will cool faster in the coldest part of a
refrigerator. Knowledge of Newton’s law of cooling
A) supports this common knowledge.
B) contradicts this common knowledge.
C) is unrelated to this common knowledge.
In the process of fluorescence, the input is high-frequency light and the output is
A) higher-frequency light.
B) equally high-frequency light.
C) lower-frequency light.
D) none of the above
Biomagnetism has been detected in
A) bacteria.
B) pigeons.
C) wasps.
D) humans.
E) all of the above
The explanation for refraction must involve a change in
A) frequency.
B) wavelength.
C) speed.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
Resonance occurs with forced vibration that requires the
A) least amount of energy input.
B) maximum amount of energy input.
C) matching of wave amplitudes.
D) matching of constructive and destructive interference.
E) minimum beat frequency.
A blue shift for light indicates that the light source is moving
A) toward you.
B) away from you.
C) both of these
D) neither of these
Two vertical tubes of equal cross-sectional areas are filled with liquids to heights
producing atmospheric pressure at their bottoms. One liquid is water and the other is
mercury. Both liquids have equal
A) volumes.
B) densities.
C) weights.
D) viscosity.
E) none of the above
Stare at a red wall for a few minutes and then gaze at a white wall. Due to retina fatigue
you see
A) more red.
B) cyan.
C) black.
Which radiation has no association with electric charge?
A) alpha
B) beta
C) gamma
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
The end of a compass needle that points to the south pole of a magnet is the
A) north pole.
B) south pole.
C) both of these
Passengers in a high-flying jumbo jet feel their normal weight in flight, while
passengers in an orbiting space vehicle do not, because passengers in the space vehicle
are
A) beyond the main pull of Earth’s gravity.
B) above Earth’s atmosphere.
C) without support forces.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
A radio wave and a visible light wave differ only in
A) frequency.
B) energy per photon.
C) both of these
D) none of these
The cones in the retina of the eye are
A) most densely packed at the center of vision.
B) uniformly spread along the visual field.
C) concentrated along the periphery of vision.
Light travels through non-cubic transparent crystals
A) in mutually perpendicular directions.
B) without refracting.
C) and becomes polarized in the process.
D) at different speeds along different optic axes.
E) none of the above
If an electron vibrates up and down 1000 times each second, it generates an
electromagnetic wave having a
A) period of 1000 s.
B) speed of 1000 m/s.
C) wavelength of 1000 m.
D) frequency of 1000 Hz.
E) wavelength of 1000 km.
The dimmest part of sunlight is
A) red.
B) yellow.
C) yellow-green.
D) green.
E) violet.
When uranium emits a beta particle, the result is
A) a uranium ion.
B) a different isotope of uranium.
C) the first transuranic element.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
A 5000-kg freight car moving at 2 m/s collides with a 10,000-kg freight car at rest.
They couple upon collision and move away at
A) 2 m/s.
B) 1 m/s.
C) 2/3 m/s.
D) 1/3 m/s.