Physics Final Exam Review
1. If two negative charges are held close together and
then released, the charges will ___
a. Accelerate toward each other
b. Accelerate away from each other
c. Not move at all
2. Heat transfer by conduction occurs when ___.
a. Atoms give off heat in the form of
electromagnetic waves
b. Electromagnetic waves travel through space
c. Fluids move from place to place
d. There is direct contact between two
substances
3. Which has more weight, a balloon filled with
helium or the same size balloon filled with air?
a. The helium balloon
b. The air balloon
c. Neither. Both have the same weight
4. When a river narrows, the water in the river flows
a. Faster
b. Slower
c. At the same rate
5. Which of the following would be most likely to
transmit sound the best?
a. Water in a swimming pool
b. Water in the ocean
c. Air in your classroom
d. Steel in a bridge
6. As the sound of a car’s horn passes and recedes
from you, the pitch of the horn
a. Increases
b. Decreases
c. Stays the same
7. Suppose a hollow metal sphere has a large
negative charge on it. The electric field strength
inside the sphere is
a. Weak and positive
b. Large and negative
c. Weak and negative
d. Zero
8. The three primary colors of light addition are
a. Red, yellow, and green
b. Red, yellow, and blue
c. Red, green and blue
d. Yellow, green, and blue
9. When red and green light shine on a white sheet,
the resulting color is
a. Blue
b. Cyan
c. Green
d. Yellow
10. Electromagnetic waves are
a. Transverse waves
b. Longitudinal waves
11. Which of the following is NOT an electromagnetic
wave?
a. Sound
b. Radio
c. Light
d. X-ray
12. Compared to the average speed of light in air, the
average speed of light in water is
a. Less
b. Faster
c. The same
13. The speed of sound in dry air at 20 degrees Celsius
is 340 m/s. How far away is a jet plane when you
notice a 2 second delay between seeing the plane
and hearing it?
a. 6800 m
b. 680 m
c. 340 m
d. 40 m
14. If two polarized filters are held with their
polarization axes at right angles to each other, the
amount of light transmitted compared to when the
axes are parallel is
a. Twice as much
b. The same
c. Half as much
d. Zero
15. The reason an ocean’s temperature doesn’t vary
much from one season to the next is that ___.
a. Oceans are located in mild regions of the earth
b. Oceans are located next to large land areas
c. Water has a high specific heat capacity
d. Water has a low specific heat capacity
e. There are a large number of fish in the ocean
1
Physics Final Exam Review
16. In the picture below, the person sees the image of
the fish in a different location than the actual fish.
This happens because …
17.
18.
19.
20.
21. A wave created by shaking a rope up and down is
called a
a. Longitudinal wave
b. Transverse wave
c. Standing wave
d. Constructive
22. How many different kinds of force would act on a
proton placed in both an electric field and a
gravitational field?
a. One
b. Two
c. None
23. Which instrument is a human eye most similar to?
a. Telescope
b. Microscope
c. Camera
d. Slide projector
24. A specific heat capacity is related to the amount of
heat
a. A specific object has
b. One molecule contains
c. Transferred by one molecule
d. Needed to change the temperature of one
gram of a substance one degree
25. Current from a battery is
a. DC
b. AC
26. Which is denser, ice at 0 degrees C or water at 4
degrees C?
a. Ice
b. Water
c. They both have the same density
27. At high altitudes, the boiling point of water
a. Is lower
b. Is higher
c. Stays the same
28. Increased air pressure on the surface of hot water
tends to
a. Prevent boiling
b. Promote boiling
c. Neither
a. The fish moves very fast from one place to
another
b. The water absorbs some of the light rays
reflected from the fish
c. The light rays reflected from the fish bend at
the surface of the water
d. The water acts like a mirror and bounces the
light rays back down to the fish
Which of the following is NOT a transverse wave?
a. Sound
b. Light
c. Radio wave
d. All of these
e. None of these
The distance between successive identical parts of
a wave is called its
a. Frequency
b. Period
c. Wavelength
d. Amplitude
The period of an ocean wave is 10 seconds. What
is the wave’s frequency?
a. 10 Hz
b. 1.0 Hz
c. 0.5 Hz
d. 0.1 Hz
A certain ocean wave has a wavelength of 10
meters and a frequency of 0.05 hertz. What is the
wave’s speed?
a. 200 m/s
b. 10 m/s
c. 0.5 m/s
d. 0.05 m/s
2
Physics Final Exam Review
29. Heat travels from the sun to the earth by the
process of
a. Conduction
b. Convection
c. Radiation
d. Insulation
30. Electrical resistance in a wire depends on the
wire’s
a. Conductivity
b. Length
c. Thickness
d. All of the above
31. The total resistance of a 3-ohm resistor and a 6ohm resistor in series is
a. 18 ohms
b. 9 ohms
c. 6 ohms
d. 3 ohms
32. Compared to thin wires, electrical resistance in
thick wires is
a. Greater
b. Less
c. The same
33. When connected to a 120-volt power supply, how
much current exists in a light bulb that has a
resistance of 240 ohms?
a. 28800 A
b. 240 A
c. 120 A
36. If you accidentally grabbed the prongs of a partially
plugged in 120 V electrical plug on a day when
your skin resistance was 120,000 ohms, how much
current would pass through your body?
a. 12,000,000 A
b. 1000 A
c. 120 A
d. 0.001 A
37. An example of a voltage source is
a. A dry cell
b. Rubbing a rubber rod with fur
c. A car battery
d. All of the above
38. Resonance occurs when
a. Sound makes multiple reflections
b. Sound changes speed going from one medium
to another
c. The amplitude of a wave is amplified
d. An object is forced to vibrate at its natural
frequency
39. Beats can be heard when two tuning forks
a. Are sounded together
b. Have the same frequency and are sounded
together
c. Have almost the same frequency and are
sounded together
d. All of the above
e. None of the above
40. Freezing occurs when matter changes from a
a. Gas to a solid
b. Solid to a gas
c. Liquid to a gas
d. Liquid to a solid
41. When water freezes, it
a. Gives off energy
b. Absorbs energy
c. Neither gives off nor absorbs energy
42. What is the ultimate source of electromagnetic
waves?
a. TV antennas
b. Vibrating atoms
c. Vibrating charged particles
d. Vibrating molecules
d. 0.5 A
34. When resistors are put in series next to each other,
their overall resistance is
a. Larger than that of any individual resistor
b. The same as the resistance of one of the
resistors
c. Smaller than the resistance of any of the
resistors
35. When resistors are put in parallel with each other
their overall resistance is
a. Larger than that of any other resistor
b. The same as the resistance of one of the
resistors
c. Smaller than the resistance of any of the
resistors
3
Physics Final Exam Review
43. A 2 C charge and a 4 C charge attract each other
with 10 N of force. How much will a 2 C charge
and an 8 C charge attract each other when placed
the same distance apart?
a. 40 N
b. 20 N
c. 10
50. The three paint colors that are useful for color
subtraction are
a. Red, green, and blue
b. Red, blue, and yellow
c. Magenta, cyan, and yellow
d. Magenta, green, and yellow
51. The reason the sky is blue is that air molecules
a. Scatter blue light in all directions
b. Reflect blue light
c. Absorb yellow light
d. Absorb green light
52. A converging lens
a. Is thicker in the center than at the edges
b. Will converge parallel rays of light
c. Refracts parallel rays of light
d. All of the above
53. Farsighted people need to wear glasses using
a. Converging lenses
b. Diverging lenses
c. Neither converging nor diverging lenses
54. The common hydrogen atom consists of
a. One proton
b. One proton and one electron
c. Two protons, one neutron, and two electrons
d. One neutron and one electron
55. When two light bulbs are connected in series the
a. Same amount of current always flows through
each light bulb
b. Current through each light bulb is proportional
to its resistance
c. Neither of these
56. When one light bulb in a series circuit containing
several light bulbs burns out
a. The other light bulbs burn brighter
b. Nothing changes in the rest of the circuit
c. None of the other bulbs will light up
57. When one light bulb in a parallel circuit containing
several light bulbs burns out
a. The other light bulbs burn brighter
b. Nothing changes in the rest of the circuit
c. None of the other bulbs will light up
d. 8 N
44. In a good insulator, electrons are usually
a. Free to move around
b. Free to move around after an impurity has
been added
c. Semi-free to move around
d. Tightly bound in place
45. The reason a charged balloon will stick to a wall is
that
a. The charge is slightly sticky and acts like a glue
b. Electrons transfer back and forth between the
wall and the balloon
c. Induced opposite charges in the wall are closer
than other wall charges
d. Balloon material simply sticks to walls
46. An echo occurs when sound
a. Is reflected from a distant surface
b. Is transmitted through a surface
c. Changes speed when it strikes a distant surface
d. All of the above
47. Polly is standing on the bottom of a wide canyon,
leaning against its wall. She shouts “hello” toward
the opposite side of the canyon. If the speed of
sound is 340 m/s and Polly hears her own echo 4
seconds later, how wide is the canyon?
a. 85 meters
c. 340 meters
b. 1360 meters
d. 680 meters
48. The first law of thermodynamics is a restatement
of the
a. Principle of entropy
b. Law of heat addition
c. Carnot cycle
d. Conservation of energy
e. None of these
49. The complementary color of blue is
a. Violet
b. Cyan
c. Green
d. Yellow
4
Physics Final Exam Review
58. Sometimes an atom has more or fewer electrons
than it does protons. Such an atom is called
a. A molecule
b. A compound
c. An ion
67. The photoelectric effect is evidence for light’s
a. Wave nature
b. Particle nature
c. Both
68. In a vacuum, electromagnetic waves travel at
speeds
a. Greater than the speed of light
b. Equal to the speed of light
c. Less than the speed of light
69. On the moon, the daytime sky looks
a. Blue
b. Yellow
d. An isotope
59. Most of the matter of the universe is in which
phase?
a. Liquid
b. Solid
c. Gas
d. Plasma
60. If you put a small compass in a magnetic field, the
compass will
a. Swing in any random direction
b. Line up in a direction perpendicular to the
magnetic field lines
c. Line up in a direction parallel to the magnetic
field lines
d. Seek electrical charge concentrations
61. Magnetic field strength is
a. Strongest close to a magnet
b. Strongest far from a magnet
c. Constant everywhere around a magnet
62. Magnetic fields are produced by
a. Charges at rest
b. Moving particles
c. Moving particles of earth
d. Moving charged particles
63. Magnetic domains are
a. Clusters of atoms randomly aligned
b. Blocks of materials
c. Regions that may or may not be magnetized
d. Regions of atoms magnetically aligned
64. Water is densest at
a. -20 degrees C
b. 0 degrees C
c. 4 degrees C
d. 32 degrees C
65. Styrofoam (plastic foam) is a good heat
a. Emitter
b. Absorber
c. Conductor
d. Insulator
66. A closed circuit is a circuit in which current
a. Can flow
b. Is prevented from flowing
c. White
d. Black
70. Which has the higher specific heat capacity, water
or sand?
a. Water
b. Sand
c. They both have the same specific heat capacity
71. A bimetallic strip will bend when heated because
a. Each metal expands at different rates
b. Metals bend when heated
c. Each side of the strip is at a different
temperature
d. Metals contract when heated
72. When an atomic electron goes from a high energy
state to a low energy state, it
a. Absorbs a photon
b. Emits a photon
c. Neither absorbs nor emits a photon
73. The energy states available to an electron are
a. Continuous
b. Quantized
74. The earth’s magnetic field is most likely due to
a. Millions of small magnets buried in the earth
b. Convection currents in the molten part of the
earth’s interior
c. The rotation of the earth acting on all of the
earth’s electrons
d. A magnetized solid inner core of the earth
75. If the north pole of one magnet is brought near the
south pole of another magnet, the poles will
a. Attract each other
b. Repel each other
c. Not interact with each other at all
5
Physics Final Exam Review
76. If two negative charges are held close together and
82. Sound waves cannot travel in
then released, the charges will
a. Air
a. Accelerate toward each other
b. Water
b. Accelerate away from each other
c. Steel
c. Move at a constant speed away from each
d. A vacuum
other
83. Sound waves in air are a series of
d. Not move
a. High and low pressure regions
77. The law of reflection says that
b. Periodic disturbances
a. All waves incident on a mirror are reflected
c. Periodic condensations and rarefactions
b. Waves incident on a mirror are partially
d. All of the above
reflected
e. None of the above
c. The angle a ray is reflected from a mirror is
True or false
random
d. The angle of reflection from a mirror equals
84. The lowest temperature possible in nature is 4K.
the angle of incidence
85. Sound can travel through solids, liquids, gases,
78. When a virtual image is created in a plane mirror
and even a vacuum.
a. Reflected rays diverge
86. When a charge is placed in an electric field, the
b. The image is located behind the mirror
charge will experience a force.
c. The image is upright
87. As a system becomes more disordered, entropy
d. All of the above
decreases.
79. A piece of metal will feel colder than a piece of
88. An ionized atom normally has the same number
wood at the same temperature. Why?
of protons as electrons.
a. Metal is colder than wood at the same
89. A fluid can be either a gas or a liquid.
temperature
90. Light exhibits a dual nature sometimes behaving
b. Metal has a higher specific heat capacity than
like a particle, sometimes as a wave.
wood
91. The energy of a photon is directly proportional its
c. Metals are better heat conductors than wood
wavelength.
d. Wood is a poor insulator
92. The photoelectric effect occurs whenever light is
80. Heat transfer by convection occurs when
reflected from a metal surface.
a. Electrons bump into other electrons
93. The unit of electric current is the ampere.
b. Large numbers of atoms move from place to
94. The unit of electric potential is the joule.
place
95. Most of the electromagnetic spectrum consists of
c. Atoms give off heat in the form of
visible light.
electromagnetic waves
96. Almost everything that exists has a natural
d. Electromagnetic waves travel from one place
frequency.
to another through a vacuum
97. Electrons and protons have the same charge and
81. Compared to the speed of light, sound travels
therefore attract each other.
a. Faster
98. A neutron that moves at right angles to a
b. Slower
magnetic field experiences a force.
c. About the same
99. A current-carrying wire experiences a force when
it is perpendicular to a magnetic field.
6
Physics Final Exam Review
100. The magnetic pole in the Northern hemisphere is
located at the geographic North Pole.
101. Even though a car may be struck by lightning,
people inside the car will be safe.
102. Heat is the energy that transfers from one object
to another because of a temperature difference.
103. When two or more substances reach a common
temperature, they are said to be in thermal
equilibrium.
104. When the number of electrons does not equal
the number of protons in an atom, the atom has
a charge and is called an ion.
105. A real image can be projected onto a screen.
106. The eye contains a converging lens that focuses
light.
107. Nearsighted people can clearly see objects that
are close to them.
108. A real image formed by a single converging lens
is always upside down.
109. The time for a complete to and fro swing of a
pendulum is called its frequency.
110. The number of times a wave vibrates each
second is called it period.
111. Sound waves are examples of longitudinal
waves.
112. When the high part of one wave fills in the low
part of another wave, constructive interference
occurs.
113. Some electrons in atoms vibrate at a
characteristic frequency that produces white
light.
114. Water contracts when heated from 0 degrees C
to 4 degrees C.
115. Two colors of light that add together to form
black light are called complementary colors.
116. The sky is blue because air molecules absorb
blue light.
117. Light sometimes acts as a wave and sometimes
as a particle.
Problem Solving
118. You note a 2 second delay for an echo in a
canyon. What is the distance to the wall of the
canyon? Speed of sound = 343 m/s
119. What is the equivalent resistance of a 10 ohm
and a 30 ohm resistor connected in parallel?
120. How much voltage is required to make 10
amperes flow through a 10 ohm resistor?
121. What is the power dissipated by a toaster that
has a resistance of 20 ohms plugged into a 120 V
outlet?
122. Waves in a lake are 5.00 m in length and pass an
anchored boat 1.25 s apart. What is the speed of
the waves?
123. A radio station broadcasts at a frequency of 660
kHz. Knowing that radio waves have a speed of
3.0 x 108 m/s, calculate the wavelength of these
waves.
124. 10,000 electrons are removed from a neutral
plastic ball. What is the charge of the ball?
125. What is the magnitude of the force on an
electron in an electric field of 200 N/C?
7
Physics Final Exam Review
Answer Key
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
B
D
B
A
D
B
D
C
D
A
A
A
B
D
C
C
A
C
D
C
B
B
C
D
A
B
A
A
C
D
B
B
D
A
C
D
D
D
C
D
A
C
B
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
D
C
A
D
D
D
C
A
D
A
B
A
C
B
C
D
B
A
D
D
C
D
A
B
B
D
A
A
B
B
B
A
B
D
D
C
B
B
D
D
F
F
T
F
F
89. T
90. T
91. F
92. F
93. T
94. F
95. F
96. T
97. F
98. T
99. T
100.
101.
102.
103.
104.
105.
106.
107.
108.
109.
110.
111.
112.
113.
114.
115.
116.
117.
118.
119.
120.
121.
122.
123.
124.
125.
8
F
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
F
F
T
F
F
F
F
F
T
343 m
7.5 ohm
100 V
720 W
4 m/s
454.5 m
1.6E-15 C
3.2E-17 N