Integrated Physical Sciences - Section 1 Test

Which term describes a research project in which scientists place microphones at the bottom of the seafloor to study the sounds orca whales make?

a field study

The Hubble space telescope was launched into orbit to take far sharper images than possible on Earth. It has since collected data that show some distant stars to have planets.

an observational study

The statement, "The total energy in a closed system stays constant," is based on many years of experimental observations. What is this statement an example of?

a law

What is a scientific procedure done in order to test a hypothesis?

an experiment

At a scientific conference, a researcher suggests that fossil fuels did not originate from the decomposition of organic materials but instead were produced by inorganic means. What does this statement represent?

hypothesis

While on a hiking trip, several children become sick after drinking water from a well. What is a hypothesis concerning this situation?

Bacteria in the well may have caused the sickness

How does a hypothesis compare with a law?

A law is supported by extensive evidence, but a hypothesis has not been tested enough to be supported by extensive evidence yet.

How do theories help scientists?

To explain large amounts of data

Scientists discovered that the pressure, volume, and temperature of any gas are all related by a simple mathematical equation to a good approximation, according to all available evidence.

What is this relationship an example of?

a law

What is true about scientific theories and scientific laws?

A law describes something specific that always happens, while a theory explains why or how a range of phenomena happen.

What has generally happened when new evidence was discovered that was inconsistent with a well-established theory?

The theory was usually modified

A car is moving forward, and its brakes are being applied. Which statement is true?

The car's velocity is forward, and its acceleration is backward.

Which statement describes inertia?

Inertia is an object's tendency to remain stationary

You are pushing a file cabinet across a floor in a straight line at a constant speed. What can you correctly conclude about the forces acting on the file cabinet?

The force that you are exerting on the file cabinet is equal and opposite to the force that friction is exerting on it.

You are seated in an airplane, facing forward. As you sip your coffee, the apple that has been sitting motionless on the level table in front of you suddenly rolls to your right.

Which statement do you know to be true about the airplane?

the airplane has accelerated toward the left

What does the mass of an object measure?

the object's resistance to being accelerated

Why might a hockey puck slow down as it slides along the ice?

The ice is applying a force in the opposite direction.

What is the force that keeps an astronaut on the surface of the moon instead of floating in space?

gravity

What is the force that slows down a person falling with a parachute?

Air resistance

If the distance between two objects increases, how does the force of gravity between them change?

it decreases

A car decreases its speed from 40 mph to 20 mph. What happens to the car's linear momentum?

it is half as much

In physics, how would you describe work?

The energy done on an object.

An object is lowered from a ledge to just above the floor.

What happens to the object's potential energy?

it decreases

A train traveling 50 mph slows down and stops once the brakes are applied. What happens to the train's kinetic energy?

It changes to the thermal energy of the brakes.

A truck increases its speed. What happens to its kinetic energy?

it increases

What happens to the total energy when energy changes from one type to another?

it remains constant

A jet flies overhead and produces sound waves. What is transported from the jet to your ears?

energy

The sun produces its energy in nuclear reactions. What does the radiation that arrives at Earth from the sun consist of?

electromagnetic waves

What does the speed of a sound wave depend on?

the medium

What is the wavelength of a transverse wave traveling in a rope?

The distance from crest to crest or trough to trough.

What is used in hospitals to sterilize medical instruments?

ultraviolet light

Why does ultraviolet light damage the skin, but visible light does not?

Ultraviolet light has a shorter wavelength than visible light.

Which has a greater thermal energy, coffee at 80°C in a cup or water at 80°C in a swimming pool?

The water in the pool has a greater thermal energy because it contains many more molecules, and thermal energy measures the total energy of all the particles.