Physics MCQ series - 41

401:  A wooden board 2 meters long, 30 centimeters wide and 4 centimeters thick floats in water with 1 centimeter of its thickness above the surface.  The mass of the board is:

w)  1.8 kilograms

x)   18 kilograms

y)   24 kilograms

z)  176 kilograms

ANSWER:  X -- 18 KILOGRAMS 

402:  The minimum number of forces with unequal magnitudes whose vector sum can equal zero is:

w)    1

x)    2

y)    3

z)    4

ANSWER:  Y -- 3

403:  A hiker stands at the bottom of steep hill.  The hiker may follow a straight line path to the top of the hill, a distance of 300 feet, or she may follow a zig-zag path to the top of the hill and walk a distance of 600 feet.  The work done by the force of gravity along the zig-zag path is how many times the work going along the straight path?  Is it:

w)  equal

x)  twice

y)  4 times

z)  8 times?

ANSWER:  W -- EQUAL

404:  A pendulum is displaced through an arc of 1o.  When the pendulum is released, it takes the pendulum 1 second to swing through the 1o arc.  How long would it take the pendulum to swing through a 2o arc? Is it:

w)  1/2 second

x)  1 second

y)  2 seconds

z)  4 seconds

ANSWER:   X -- 1 SECOND

405:  A perfectly spherical bubble of air is suspended in a tank of water.  A beam of light consisting of parallel rays passes through the bubble.  As the light emerges from the opposite side of the bubble the light rays:

w) diverge

x) converge

y) are unaffected

ANSWER:  W -- DIVERGE

406:  An explorer is riding his camel in the desert.  Up ahead he sees what appears to be a pool of water.  He can tell if it is a real pool of water or a mirage by putting on his polarized sun glasses because:

w)  the mirage is polarized and reflections from the water are not

x)  reflections from water are polarized while the mirage is not

y)  neither are polarized so one will not be able to discern a difference

z)  both are polarized so one will not be able to discern a difference 

ANSWER:   X -- REFLECTIONS FROM WATER ARE POLARIZED WHILE THE MIRAGE S NOT

407:  What name is given to the class of subatomic particles which include the proton, the neutron, and several heavier particles, such as the lambda, the sigma and the omega.

ANSWER:   BARYONS

408:  What is the SI unit for pressure?

w)  Torr

x)  pounds per square inch

y)  Pascal

z)  Kelvin

ANSWER:   Y -- PASCAL

409:  A virtual image always appears: 

w)  larger than object

x)  inverted

y)  erect

z)  same size as object

ANSWER:  Y -- ERECT

410:  How many quarks make up a proton?

ANSWER:   3

Read More

Physics MCQ series - 40

391: Ice skating is possible and practical because of a unique property of water.  Is it because:

w)  The coefficient of kinetic friction of steel on frozen water decreases with decreasing temperature

x)  Ice readily sublimes

y)  The melting point decreases with increasing pressure

z)  Ice is a good thermal insulator

ANSWER:  Y -- THE MELTING POINT DECREASES WITH INCREASING PRESSURE

392: 1 kilogram of boiling water is poured into an empty thermos whose mass is 1 kilogram and whose temperature is 25o Celsius.  No heat is lost from the thermos.  The specific heats of water and the thermos are 1 and 0.5 kilocalories per kilogram degree Celsius, respectively. Their final temperature is:

w)  50^o Celsius

x)  65^o Celsius

y)  75^o Celsius

z)  90^o Celsius

(Read: "degrees Celsius")

ANSWER:  Y -- 75o CELSIUS

393: An aluminum rod at a temperature of 100o Celsius radiates energy at a rate of 10 watts.  If its temperature is increased to 200o Celsius, at approximately what rate will it radiate energy?

w)  15 watts

x)  20 watts

y)  26 watts

z)  80 watts

ANSWER:  Y -- 26 WATTS

394: The coating on the plastic tape you use in your cassette players is

w)  Diamagnetic

x)  Paramagnetic

y)  Ferromagnetic

z)  A permanent magnet

ANSWER:  Y -- FERROMAGNETIC

395:  Which color light has the highest frequency?

w)  Green

x)  Violet

y)  Red

z)  Yellow

ANSWER:  X -- VIOLET

396:  Your Minolta camera has a 50 millimeter lens.  The 50 millimeters is the lens'

w)  Diameter

x)  Focal length

y)  Magnification

z)  Aperture

ANSWER:  X -- FOCAL LENGTH

397:  You want to put up a mirror at a blind corner in a building.  Which of the following will give you the largest field of view? Is it a:

w)  Convex mirror

x)  Concave mirror

y)  Cylindrical mirror

z)  Plane mirror

ANSWER:  W -- CONVEX MIRROR

398:  Dr. Leon Lederman and two other physicists won the Nobel prize for discovering an elementary particle.  That particle is the:

w)  Positron

x)  Meson

y)  muon

z)  Neutrino

ANSWER:  Z -- NEUTRINO

399:  Neutrinos are a subset of which of the following categories?

w)  Photons

x)  Leptons

y)  Mesons

z)  Baryons

ANSWER:  X -- LEPTONS

400:  A flywheel rotating at 5 revolutions per second is brought to rest by a constant torque in 10 seconds.  How many revolutions does the flywheel make while coming to a stop?

w)   25

x)   50

y)   75

z)  100

ANSWER:  W -- 25

Read More

Physics MCQ series - 39

381:  There is evidence that quarks come in how many flavors?  Is it:

w) 1

x) 3

y) 5

z) 7

ANSWER:  Y -- 5Science Bowl PHYSICS

382: To develop the correct mathematical description of the distribution of radiated energy of a blackbody with respect to wavelength for a given temperature, Planck found it necessary to assume that the molecular oscillators of the blackbody emitted and absorbed: 

w) No radiant energy

x) Radiant energy in discrete units or quanta

y) Radiant energy in a continuous form

z) None of the above.

ANSWER:  X -- RADIANT ENERGY IN DISCRETE UNITS OR QUANTA 

383: How many torr are there in one atmosphere? 

ANSWER:  760

384: A stone weighing 10 Newton’s is sitting on the side of a hill that is at a 30^o angle with the horizontal.  What is the magnitude of the component of the stone's weight parallel to the side of the hill? 

ANSWER:  5 NEWTONS

385: A curve in the road has a radius of 500 meters, and is banked at an angle of O (read: "theta") for a traffic speed of 90 kilometers per hour, or 25 meters per second.  Is O:

w)  Less than 2^o

x)  Between 2^o and 5^o

y)  Between 5^o and 10^o

z)  Greater than 10^o

The tangent of 2o is 0.035, the tangent of 5o is 0.09 and the tangent of 10o is 0.18.

ANSWER:  Y -- BETWEEN 5^o AND 10^o

386: Laura weighs 50 Newton’s and pushes against a stationary brick wall that weighs 1,000 Newton’s.  Her arm is two-thirds of a meter long.  According to the laws of physics, how much work does she do? 

ANSWER:  NONE   or   ZERO

387:  A 45 kilogram bicyclist on a 5 kilogram bicycle rides down a 50 meter high hill with her brakes partially on.  Her speed at the bottom of the hill is 10 meters per second.  How many kilojoules of heat were dissipated by the cyclist's brakes?

ANSWER:  22.5 KILOJOULES   or   22.0 KILOJOULES (based on 9.8 m/s2) 

388: A two-stage rocket attains a velocity of 3,000 meters per second when it drops the first stage and ignites the second.  It consumes 1 kilogram of fuel per second and its exhaust speed is 2,000 meters per second.  What is the thrust on the spacecraft?

w)  2,000 Newton’s

x)  3,000 Newton’s

y)  2,000 Newton-seconds

z)  3,000 Newton-seconds

ANSWER:  W -- 2,000 NEWTONS

389: A round viewing window with a 20 centimeter diameter is installed in a tank at the Shed Aquarium.  It is 5 meters below the water surface.  The force on the window is approximately.

w)  1,500 Newton’s

x)  10,000 Newton’s

y)  25,000 Newton’s

z)  50,000 Newton’s

ANSWER:  W -- 1,500 NEWTONS

390: The density of lead is 12 grams per cm3.  A lead brick has a mass of 1.5 kilograms.  Its dimensions are 10 cm by 5 cm by 4 cm.  Is it:

w)  More than 75% hollow

x)  Between 50 and 75% hollow

y)  Between 25 and 50% hollow

z)  Between 0 and 25% hollow

ANSWER:  Y -- BETWEEN 25 AND 50% HOLLOW Science

Read More

Physics MCQ series - 38

371:  In the mass spectrograph, two positively charged ions having the same velocity pass through a slit and enter a uniform magnetic field at right angles to their initial velocities.  The ions will NOT be separated if:

w) They have the same masses but different charges

x) They have the same charges but different masses

y) The products of their charges and their masses are equal

z) The ratios of their charges to their masses are equal

ANSWER:  Z -- THE RATIOS OF THEIR CHARGES TO THEIR MASSES ARE EQUAL

372:  A capacitor and a coil are connected in series. The capacitor is charged and allowed to discharge through the coil.  The current that will then flow through the capacitor-coil combination will do one of the following things.  Will it:

w) Flow in one direction, beginning at a maximum and decreasing rapidly to zero

x) Oscillate indefinitely

y) Oscillate but diminish steadily to zero

z) Oscillate at high frequency at first but then at slower frequency

ANSWER:  Y -- OSCILLATE BUT DIMINISH STEADILY TO ZERO

373:  The energy associated with one photon of a light beam is proportional to one of the following.  Is it proportional to?

w) The intensity of the light source from which it came

x) The number of photons in the beam

y) The frequency of the photon

z) The speed of the photon

ANSWER:  Y -- THE FREQUENCY OF THE PHOTON

374:  When a certain beam of light falls upon a metal surface, it ejects photoelectrons from it.  The number of photoelectrons ejected per second by the beam of light depends upon one of the following. Is it proportional to?

w) The threshold frequency of the metal

x) The work function of the metal

y) The frequency of the beam

z) The intensity of the beam

ANSWER:  Z -- THE INTENSITY OF THE BEAM

375:  In Rutherford's experiment involving the deflection of alpha particles by atomic nuclei, the fact that some of the alpha particles bombarding the thin gold foil were back-scattered, led to one of the following conclusions.  It was concluded that:

w) The charge of an electron is negative

x) The nucleus of a gold atom carries all its charge

y) Most of the mass of a gold atom is in its nucleus

z) The nucleus of a gold atom occupies nearly the entire space of the atom

ANSWER:  Y -- MOST OF THE MASS OF A GOLD ATOM IS IN ITS NUCLEUS

376:  Standing waves are formed when two sets of waves of equal amplitude and frequency

w) Are in phase

x) Are in opposite phase

y) Move through each other in opposite directions

z) Are reflected from the same surface

ANSWER:  Y -- MOVE THROUGH EACH OTHER IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS

377:  The common-emitter transistor circuit can amplify a small current signal because a small change in the signal current produces one of the following.  Does the change in signal produce a large change in the:

w)  emitter-base voltage

x)  Base current

y)  Collector current

z)  Collector voltage

ANSWER:  Y --  COLLECTOR CURRENT

378:  The binding energy of a nucleus is defined as one of the following.  Is this definition:

w) The energy equivalent to its mass

x) The mass difference between its neutrons and protons

y) The energy needed to remove a neutron from the nucleus

z) The difference between the mass of the nucleus and the sum of the masses of its protons and neutrons

ANSWER:  Z -- THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MASS OF THE NUCLEUS AND THE UM

379:  In the equation of a nuclear reaction, all but one of the following quantities are equal to each other on both sides of the equation.  Which quantity is NOT conserved:

w) The net electric charge

x) The total mass-energy

y) The number of protons

z) The number of nucleons

ANSWER:  Y -- THE NUMBER OF PROTONS

380:  Which of the following terms refer to the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of a unit mass of a substance through one degree?

w) Heat of fusion

x) Liquefaction heat

y) Internal heat

z) Specific heat

ANSWER:  Z -- SPECIFIC HEAT

Read More