Physical Science Final Exam
What are the three branches of science?
Earth, life, and physical science
Physical Science is:
is the study of matter and energy
What is the fundamental unit of length in the metric system?
meter
Density of the object is defined to be its ___ divided by its ____.
mass and volume
How do you find volume?
By multiplying its length, width, and height together.
What is the curving of the surface of a liquid?
meniscus
What is the difference between mass and weight?
An object weight can change depending on where the object is located. The mass of the object stays the same.
Define inertia.
Inertia is the ability of an object to resist a change in its motion.
How can elements be classified?
Based on their properties
What is a chemical change? What is a physical change?
Chemical change is when substances change into new substances that have different properties. Physical change is any change that affects the physical properties of a substance.
The three states of matter are:
solid, liquid, and gas
What do the gas laws describe?
How the temperature, pressure, and volume of a gas are related to each other.
Which law states that the volume of a gas is directly related to its Kelvin temperature when the pressure stays the same?
Charles's Law
What is the mixture where the particles are not large enough to settle out?
colloid
Define reference point.
An object that seems to stay in one place.
How can you describe the motion of an object?
Standard reference directions (north, south, east, west, right, left).
Explain the difference between speed and velocity.
Speed is the rate at which an object moves. Velocity is the speed of an object and its direction.
Define acceleration.
How quickly velocity changes.
What two properties do all forces have?
Direction and size
When does kinetic friction occur?
When force is applied to an object and the object moves.
What is the unit that describes the size of a force?
(N) Newton
What is the Law of Universal Gravitation?
Newton's ideas
How can terminal velocity be defined?
It falls at a constant velocity.
State and describe Newton's three laws of motion.
First law: the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass.
Second law: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Third Law: when one object exerts a force on another object, the second object exerts an equal and opposite force back on the first.
What happens when work is done on an object?
It causes the object to move in the direction of the force.
What is Law of Conservation of Energy?
A law that states energy cannot be created or destroyed. But can be changed from one form to another.
What is pulley?
Is a simple machine with a grooved wheel that holds a rope or a cable.
Define Kinetic Energy.
Is the energy of motion.
What is potential energy?
Is the energy an object has because of its position.
Define thermal energy.
Is all the kinetic energy from the movement of the particles in an object.
What are fossil fuels?
Are energy resources that formed from buried plants and animals that lived a very long time ago.
Explain the difference between nonrenewable and renewable energy resources.
Nonrenewable energy resources are resources that can never be replaced or are replaced more slowly than they are used. Renewable energy resources can almost produce an endless supply of energy.
List examples of renewable energy resources.
Solar energy, energy from water, wind energy, geothermal energy, and biomass.
What is the lowest temperature on the Kelvin scale called?
absolute zero
What is the transfer of energy as heat through a material?
conduction
What is the greenhouse effect?
When the atmosphere traps radiated energy.
What are changes of state? List examples.
Is a change of a substance from one state of matter to another. Freezing (liquid to solid), melting (solid to liquid), boiling (liquid to gas), and condensing (gas to liquid) and vaporization.
Define these terms: radiation, conduction, insulation, convection.
Radiation: is the transfer of energy by electromagnetic waves.
Conduction: is the transfer of thermal energy when two objects touch each other.
Insulation: a material that reduces or prevents the transfer of heat.
Convection: the transfer of thermal energy by the circulation or movement of a liquid or gas.
The smallest particle into which element can be divided and still keep its properties is known as a(n) _______.
Atom
What is the charge on electrons? Protons? Neutrons?
Electron- negative charge
Proton- positive charge
Neutron- no charge
Which scientist studied atoms reacting to light?
Niels Bohr
What particles are atoms made of?
Protons, neutrons, and electrons.
What is the atomic number of an element?
The number of protons in the nucleus.
Why must nuclei with more than one proton also have neutrons?
Because the protons repel each other, the atoms of every element, except hydrogen, must have neutrons in their nuclei.
What is electromagnetic force?
A force that causes objects with like charges to repel each other.
What do elements in the same group share?
They tend to share chemical and physical properties.
What categories of elements are found on the periodic table.
Metals, nonmetals, metalloids, and inert gases.
List the characteristics of a metal.
Tend to be shiny.
Most are ductile.
Good conductors.
Malleable.
What four pieces of information about an element are shown in the periodic table?
Atomic number, chemical symbol, element name, and atomic mass.
How many protons does Chlorine have?
17
What elements have properties similar to lithium (Li)?
Na (sodium), K (potassium), Rb (rubidium), Cs (cesium), and Fr (francium).
What is a chemical bond?
The bond that forms when two atoms join.
What is an ionic bond?
The attractive force between oppositely charged ions, which form when electrons are transferred from one atom to another.
Which is a covalent bond?
A bond formed when atoms share one or more pairs of electrons.
What are reactants?
A substance or molecule that particpates in a chemical reaction.
What is an acid? What is a base?
Acid is any compound that increases the number of hydronium ions when dissolved in water. A base is any compound that increases the number of hydroxide ions when dissolved in water.
What does the strength of an acid or base depend on?
The number of ions formed
List the three ways to charge an object.
Friction, conduction, and induction.
When does charging by conduction occur?
When electrons move from one object to another by direct contact or a spark.
What makes metals good conductors of electricity?
When they have electrons that are free to move.
What is static electricity?
Is the electric charge at rest on an object.
Describe the two types of circuits.
A series circuit is all the parts connect in a single loop. There is only one path for charges to follow. So the charges moving through a series circuit must flow through each part of the circuit. A parallel circuit is a circuit in which loads are connected side by side. Current in a parallel circuit flows through more than one path.
Define voltage.
Is the potential difference between two points in a circuit.
What converts light energy into electrical energy?
Solar cells
What is the relationship between voltage and current?
The voltage between two points on a wire causes charges to flow through the wire. The size of the current depends on the voltage. If the voltage between two points on a wire is increased more current will flow in the wire.
Explain how parts connect in a series circuit.
Parts connect in a series circuit in a single loop. There is only one path for charges to follow.
List the properties of magnets.
1. Magnetic poles (north and south)
2. Magnetic forces
3. Magnetic fields
What is an electric motor?
Is a device that changes electrical energy into mechanical energy.
Define wave.
Is any disturbance that transmits energy through matter or empty space.
Describe transverse waves and give an example.
Transverse waves are waves in which the particles vibrate in a up and down motion. All electromagnetic waves are transverse waves. Their wave vibrations are at the right angles to the direction the wave is traveling.
Define longitundinal waves and give an example.
Longitudial waves are waves in which the particles of the medium vibrate back and forth along the path of the wave. Ex; pushing together two ends of a spring causes the coils to crowd together. When you let go, a longitundinal wave is created in the spring that travels along the length of the spring.
Define frequency.
the number of waves produced in a given amount of time.
Define Amplitude
is the maximum distance the particles of the wave vibrate away from their rest position.
Define Wavelength
is the distance between any point on a wave and the identical point on the next wave.
Define Wave speed
is the speed at which a wave travels through a medium.
What is refraction?
Is the bending of a wave as the wave passes from one medium to another.
When does resonance occur?
When two objects naturally vibrate at the same frequency.
What does the pitch of sound depend on?
The frequency of the sound wave.
What is radiation?
The transfer of light or other forms of energy an EM waves.
Why is the sound of thunder often heard several seconds after the appearance of its corresponding lightning?
Because light travels faster.
List the following waves in order how fast they travel: gamma rays, sound waves, visible light, radio waves.
(fastest to slowest)
Gamma Rays
Visible Light
Radio waves
Sound waves
Define biology.
Is the study of life.
What are the characteristics of life?
Reproduction, growth, development, and environment
Define adaptation.
Any behavior, structure, or internal process that allows an organism to make changes in response to enviromental factors and live long enough to reproduce.
What is evolution?
Gradual change in a species through adaptations over time.
Name the four steps in the scientific method.
1. Observation
2. Hypothesis
3. Experiment
4. Conclusion
Define independent variable and dependent variable.
Independent variable: is the one condition in an experiment that is tested.
Dependent variable: is the condition that changes because of a change in the independent variable.
What are the two main types of scientific research?
Qualitative and Quantitative research
What is ecology?
The study of relationships between organisms and their environment.
What is the portion of the Earth that supports living things?
biosphere
What are abiotic factors?
The nonliving parts of the enviroment; ex: temperature, moisture, light, and soil.
List the correct order for the levels of organization in the biosphere.
Organism, population, community, and ecosystem.
Define the following relationships: Parasitic
Is a relationship in which a member of one species benefits at a expense of another species.
Define the following relationships: Mutualistic
is a relationship between two species that live together in which both species benefit.
Define the following relationships: Symbolic
a relationship in which there is a close and permanent association between organisms of different species.
What happens when energy is transferred between trophic levels?
heat
What is a food chain? What is a food web?
Food chain show how matter and energy move through an ecosystem. Food web are models that show all possible feeding relationships at each tropic levels in a community.
What percent of our atmosphere is made up of nitrogen?
78%
Define succession.
Is the process of graudual, natural change and species replacement that takes place in the communities of an ecosystem over time.
Describe the following: biome.
a group of ecosystems with the same climax communities biomes on land are called terrestrial biomes, those in water are called aquatic biome.