Physics Exam Review
Spring Term – 2016
Exam will include:
1) 70 multiple choice questions
2) 15 short answer/calculations
Content:
1. Explain how static electricity is generated, how a charge forms, and how it discharges.
2. How do charged items interact? Why?
3. How do distances and charge sizes impact the force created by the charges?
4. How is static electricity different from current electricity?
5. Define and explain volts, current, and resistance. Give units for each.
6. Write the formula for Ohm’s law.
7. Calculate the following:
Volts for a circuit with 15 amps and 60 ohms.
Resistance for a 12 V circuit using 8 amps.
Amps flowing through a 200 ohm resistor attached to a 8 volt battery.
8. Define AC and DC. Give a source for each.
9. Describe properties to series circuits including what happens to lights in them, what happens to voltage, current, and resistance.
10. Draw the circuit and determine the volts, current, and resistance for each resistor in a series circuit with a 10 ohm resistor (R1) which has voltage of 3 volts and resistor 2 (R2) when a 9 volt battery is used.
Resistance / Current / VoltageResistor 1 / 10 ohm / 3 volts
Resistor 2
Total Resistance
11. Describe properties to parallel circuits including what happens to lights in them, what happens to voltage, current, and resistance.
12. Draw the circuit and determine the volts, current, and resistance for each resistor in a series circuit with a 10 ohm resistor (R1), a 40 ohm resistor (R2) which has voltage of 3 volts.
Resistance / Current / VoltageResistor 1 / 10 ohm / 3 volts
Resistor 2 / 40 ohm
Total Resistance
13. Explain the purpose of GFI and circuit breakers.
14. Explain the process of generating electricity and transferring it to a home, including voltage levels.
15. Explain how transverse and longitudinal waves are different?
16. Draw a compressional wave with a frequency of 2 hz, labeling compression, rarefaction, and wavelength.
17. Explain how amplitude and frequency are related to a sound’s pitch.
18. Explain how amplitude and frequency are related to a sound’s intensity.
19. What is the relationship between wavelength, frequency, and period?
20. Calculate the following:
The speed of a wave with a wavelength of 2 meters and a frequency of 45 hz.
The wavelength of a sound wave with a frequency of 600 hz.
21. How are light and sound waves similar? Different?
22. What happens to the speed of sound traveling in air? Water? Steel? Space?
23. What is the color spectrum, from longest wavelength to shortest wavelength?
24. Which color has the highest frequency?
25. List the electromagnetic spectrum from highest frequency to lowest frequency.
26. What electromagnetic waves are fastest? Slowest?
27. Why does a blue shirt appear blue?
28. Why does a sunset appear red?
29. What are additive colors, how do they work, and where are they used?
30. List the additive colors, and the complementary colors generated with each combination of additive colors.
31. What are subtractive colors, and where do we use it?
32. Draw a light ray coming in at 15 degrees and reflecting off a mirror. Label the incident, reflected ray, and the normal.
33. What happens to the speed of light as it passes from a less dense material to a more dense material? What does this due to a light ray?
34. What do convex and concave lenses do?
35. Compare the speeds of light and sound, and how long it takes for both to travel distances such as:
a) from a lightning strike
b) from the sun
c) from distant stars
36. What can change the speed of sound?
37. How is a radio wave generated in an antenna at a radio station?
38. Explain the Doppler Effect. Draw a diagram showing what is happening to sound waves from an emergency vehicle causing the Doppler Effect.
39. Under what conditions are gravitational forces the “king of the hill” – meaning they are the most important forces? Under what conditions are the gravitational forces the weakest?
40. When are electrical forces stronger than gravitational forces?
41. Explain the law of conservation of charge.
42. Explain what happens to a neutral balloon as it is brought near a Vande Graph machine, makes contact, and then is removed. Explain what is happening to charges in both items, and the attractions/repulsions between the two objects. (drawings are suggested)
43. How does brushing your hair with a plastic comb cause your hair to stand on end?
44. What is the basic concept of Archimedes Principle and what do we use it for?
45. Which has more buoyant force: 1 m3 of foam, 1 m3 of wood, or 1 m3 of concrete?
46. How tall would a 25 cm x 10 cm boat need to be to float 3,300 g? Where would the buoyancy line be if the total mass of the boat was 1850 g? (Show your work)
47. Explain what energy forms electricity is converted into in the following appliances – hair dryer, electric motor, light bulb.
48. Complete the following table.
Voltage / Current / Work100 V / 70 W
110 V / 2.3 A
/ .9 A / 100 W
220 V / 12 A
220 V / 3000 W
49. If a 110w light bulb is used for 10 hrs a day every day in January (30 days), and the price of electricity is $0.09/kWhr (kilowatt hours)
50. Draw the reflection in a concave mirror – the object is 2 cm tall at 20 cm from the mirror, the focal point is 15 cm from the mirror. Show where the image will appear.
51. Draw an object 10 cm in front of a convex lens with a focal point of 4 cm. Show where the image will appear.
52. Determine the index of refraction of a fluid if the speed of light in the fluid is 1.4X108 m/s
53. Compare elastic and inelastic collisions.
54. Draw the path of a ray entering a piece of glass – the ray strikes the glass at 25 degrees from the normal, and the glass has an index of refraction of 1.25. Continue the light ray through the back side of the glass
55. Draw a picture of a sea shell on the beach under water and someone on the beach seeing it . . . show where the shell is and where the person thinks the shell is. Explain why they are not the same location.
56. If a 40 kg deer runs through the woods at 12m/s, what is its momentum?
57. A group of students are playing “skating dodgeball.” A 65 kg skater going 6 m/s grabs a .5 kg ball sitting on the ice rink. What will the new speed of the skater and ball be after the ball is picked up?
58. A 60 kg student walking in the halls with a speed of 1.75 m/s is busy texting on his phone and runs into another student. If he stops in .3 seconds, how much force does he exert on the other student?
59. Maurice makes a billiard shot. Each of the pool balls have a mass of 80 grams. The cue ball has a speed of 3.2 m/s when it hits the other ball. It bounces back with a speed of 0.2 m/s. What is the speed of the other ball after the collision?