Science Skills Review for Physics Fundamentals
Part I – Measuring
1. What is the length of the arrow in centimeters?
1 cm
2 cm
3 cm
4 cm
5 cm
6 cm
7 cm
8 cm
9 cm
10 cm
11 cm
6 cm
7 cm
8 cm
9 cm
10 cm
11 cm
a. 28 cm
b. 2.08 cm
c. 2.8 cm
d. 2.53 cm
2. What is the length of the object in meters?
1 cm
2 cm
3 cm
4 cm
5 cm
a. 1.1 m
b. 0.11 m
c. 0.011 m
d. 11 m
3. What is the length of the object in millimeters?
a.
b.
c.
d.
0.3 mm
3.3 mm
33 mm
333 mm
Science Skills Review for Physics Fundamentals
4. What is the volume of the liquid in the graduated cylinder?
a. 81 mL
b. 82 mL
c. 80.1 mL
d. 80.2 mL
85
80
75
e.
Part II – Scientific Method
Use the following statements to answer questions 5-7.
1. On a cold morning, your car does not start.
2. You say, “Oh no! The battery is dead!”
3. Your friend, who works on cars, uses a battery tester and finds that the battery has a
full charge.
4. Your friend notices a lot of corrosion on the battery terminals.
5. Your friend says, “Maybe corrosion is causing a bad connection in the electrical
circuit, preventing the car from starting.
6. Your friend cleans the terminals and the car starts.
5. Which statement(s) are observations?
a. 1 only
b. 2 and 3
c. 1 and 4
d. 4 only
6. Which statement(s) are hypotheses?
a. 1 and 3
b. 2 and 4
c. 4 only
d. 2 and 5
7. Which statement describes an experiment?
a. 3
b. 2
c. 4
d. 5
Science Skills Review for Physics Fundamentals
8.
Science Skills Review for Physics Fundamentals
Part III – Problem Solving
9. How would the expression PV=nRT need to be arranged to solve for T?
a.
b.
c.
d.
nR/PV = T
PVnR = T
PV/nR = T
PVR/n = T
10. How would you rearrange the equation F=ma to solve for m?
a. F=ma
b. F/a=m
c. m/F=a
d. a/F=m
11. Using the triangle equation, which equation solves for a?
a.
b.
c.
d.
12.
v= at
t=av
a=vt
a= v/t
v
Science Skills Review for Physics Fundamentals
13.
Part IV – Graphical Analysis of Data
The graph shows how many grams of a compound can be dissolved in 100 g of water at different
temperatures.
Solubility Curve of Solids
240
220
200
180
160
NaClO3
Solubility
140
(grams per 100 g of water)
120
KNO3
KBr
100
80
60
40
NaCl
20
0
10
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Temperature (C)
Science Skills Review for Physics Fundamentals
14. A chemist wants to dissolve 80 grams of KBr in 100 g of water, what is the lowest water
temperature she can use?
a. 20 C
b. 40 C
c. 80 C
d. 100 C
The bird population on a remote island in the Caribbean shows the following growth during a
five-year period.
Number of Birds
Year
10
1999
50
2000
250
2001
1250
2002
6250
2003
15. Which of the following graphs best represents the data shown in the chart?
a.
b.
Number
of birds
Number
of birds
Year
c.
Year
d.
Number
of birds
Number
of birds
Year
Year
Science Skills Review for Physics Fundamentals
The daily high temperatures for Gotham City in the month of January were recorded and
graphed.
16. What as the high temperature in Gotham City on January 10th?
a. 8 oC
b. 11 oC
c. 14 oC
d. 17 oC
17. On which days was Gotham City’s high temperature of 7oC?
a. January 7th & January 24th
b. January 1st & January 31st
c. January 4th & January 30th
18. Which axis is also known as the independent axis?
a. Temperature
b. Y-axis
c. X-axis
d. Daily high temperature
Science Skills Review for Physics Fundamentals
Part V – Reading
Can We Get Rid of Some Zeros?
What’s the largest number you can think of? For most people, a number in the trillions is about
the largest quantity they will ever encounter. One trillion is 1 followed by 12 zeroes, or, written
out in numerals, a trillion is 1, 000, 000, 000, 000. Because numbers this large are awkward to
write out, they are usually abbreviated in some manner. Often a decimal and a word are used:
3.2 trillion means 3.2 times one trillion, or 3, 200, 000, 000, 000.
You might assume that everyday people could never do calculations with numbers this large;
after all, an ordinary calculator displays only eight digits. You could not even enter 3.2 trillion
into such a device. Even using a calculator with a 12-digit display, a person doing calculations
in the trillions would quickly run out of display space. It would seem that people working with
numbers this large would need expensive computers for their work.
However, there are methods for doing computations with huge numbers that employ pocketsized calculators and even paper-and-pencil techniques. The key to manipulating numbers of
this sort involves writing them in a form called scientific notation. Scientific notation eliminates
the need for writing out all the numerals in very large numbers and, what is even more useful; it
provides a way to do computations with these quantities. In scientific notation, 3.2 trillion is
written as 3.2 x1012, with the exponent 12 representing the 12 zeros in one trillion. Multiplying
numbers in scientific notation requires adding exponents. If 3.5 million people each got a tax
refund of $2,000, the computation would be 3.5 x106 times 2.0 x103 which equations 7.0 x109.
For anyone who works with really enormous quantities frequently, the effort required to learn
scientific notation is more than offset by the ease and accuracy this form of numeral writing can
provide.
19. What is the main idea of this passage?
a. A trillion is 1 followed by 12 zeroes.
b. Exponents have many uses in math.
c. Scientific notation is a short way of writing very large numbers.
20. This passage is mostly concerned with
a. explaining what exponents are.
b. the names for very large numbers.
c. why scientific notation is needed.
d. being accurate when using calculators.
21. Multiplying of very large numbers is usually done
a. on an eight-digit calculator.
b. on a twelve-digit calculator.
c. on a very large computer.
d. with scientific notation.
Science Skills Review for Physics Fundamentals
22. Which of these professions would most likely involve using scientific notation for
numbers?
a. Treasurer of a local block club
b. Law enforcement
c. Building construction
d. Astronomy
23. The writer shows that numbers in scientific notation can be multiplied by
a. demonstrating how to multiply two large numbers.
b. explaining the steps on a calculator.
c. writing long numbers in shorter forms.
d. explaining how many zeros are in a trillion.
24. In this passage, everyday means
a. done frequently
b. ordinary
c. poorly educated
d. routine