Study Guide

Field 243: Science: Physics 
Sample Multiple-Choice Questions

Recommendation for individuals using a screenreader: please set your punctuation settings to "most."

Expand All | Collapse All

Each multiple-choice question has four answer choices. Read each question and its answer choices carefully and choose the ONE best answer.

During the test you should try to answer all questions. Even if you are unsure of an answer, it is better to guess than not to answer a question at all. You will NOT be penalized for choosing an incorrect response.

The following reference material will be available to you during the test:

Periodic Table PDF opens in a new window.

Objective 0001 
Understand practices of science and engineering.

1. Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

Alcohol % Water % Measured Freezing Point (°C)
10 90 25
20 80 20
30 70 5
40 60 0
50 50 negative 5
60 40 negative 10
70 30 negative 20
80 20 negative 35
90 10 negative 70
100 0 negative 130

A student designs a study to determine how adding isopropyl alcohol to water changes the freezing point of the solution. The table shows the freezing points measured by the student for each condition. The student uses this information to draw a number of conclusions. The teacher, however, notices that the student measured the freezing points in Fahrenheit and not in Celsius as labeled in the table. Which of the following conclusions by the student is most affected by the student's mislabeling of the temperature unit?

  1. Increasing the percentage of alcohol in a solution decreases the freezing point of water.
  2. The freezing point of pure water is different from the freezing point of pure isopropyl alcohol.
  3. A solution of 40 percent isopropyl alcohol and 60 percent water has the same freezing point as pure water.
  4. Changing the percentage of water in the solution results in an inversely linear change in the measured freezing point.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
The freezing point of pure water is 32 degreesF or 0 degreesC. When analyzing the table, a student might conclude that a solution of 40 percent isopropyl alcohol and 60 percent water has the same freezing point as pure water. This type of misconception is formed when data is mislabeled. In this case, the table is labeled in Celsius but the data were measured in Fahrenheit. Therefore, in reading the table, the student will infer that the 40/60 solution has a freezing point of 0 degreesC, when in actuality the freezing point is 0 degreesF, which is not the freezing point of pure water.

Objective 0002 
Understand crosscutting concepts and their applications across science and engineering disciplines.

2. Which of the following sequences best describes the changes in energy forms as first a plant grows, then it is consumed by a rabbit, and finally the rabbit runs through a field?

  1. radiant energy becomes chemical energy becomes kinetic energy
  2. geothermal energy becomes radiant energy becomes chemical energy
  3. potential energy becomes mechanical energy becomes kinetic energy
  4. geothermal energy becomes potential energy becomes chemical energy
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
The radiant energy from the sun is transferred into chemical energy during the process of photosynthesis when sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide are taken in by the plant to produce sugar and oxygen. The energy is stored as a sugar and can be either used for the function and/or growth of the plant. When the plant is consumed by the rabbit, the plant is digested as food and converted into chemical energy through metabolic processes. These chemical reactions produce and store energy in the form of macromolecules. As the rabbit begins to run, that stored chemical energy is converted into kinetic energy, enabling the rabbit to move and function.

Objective 0003 
Understand the process of reading, and apply knowledge of strategies for promoting students' reading development in the science classroom.

3. Students in a chemistry class will be reading a text that focuses on the complex process of reaction mechanisms and transition states. The teacher wants to teach students how to use visualization as a strategy to improve their comprehension of the text. The teacher begins by explaining that visualization is used to create a mental picture of an object, concept, or process described in a text. Which of the following steps should the teacher take next in teaching this comprehension strategy?

  1. reading aloud a section of the text to students and prompting them to make a detailed drawing of the text's main idea
  2. using think-aloud to model the strategy while reading a section of the text aloud to students
  3. asking students to read the text and analyze how the author uses graphic features to support comprehension
  4. having students read the text silently and then point to a key illustration or graphic in the text
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
A think-aloud process allows teachers to describe things they are doing to monitor comprehension while reading a text orally. By modeling how to use visualization as a comprehension strategy, the teacher shows students how skilled readers construct meaning from a text by generating mental images as they read. The students can then apply the teacher's visualization strategy to create their own images to help them understand the text they are reading.

Objective 0003 
Understand the process of reading, and apply knowledge of strategies for promoting students' reading development in the science classroom.

4. An environmental science teacher would like to promote students' ability to use evidence from a text to support their writing and class discussions about assigned informational and expository texts. The teacher could best achieve these goals by providing the students with explicit modeling and practice in which of the following strategies?

  1. defining new vocabulary in their own words
  2. using visualization during reading
  3. identifying a text's organizational structure
  4. annotating a text during reading
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
The process of annotating a text during reading enables students to engage in a close reading—a thoughtful, critical analysis of a text that focuses on significant details—to develop a deeper understanding of the text. When annotating a text, students highlight/underline key information and make notes of key ideas and questions. These notes help students formulate their thoughts for expression in writing and class discussions.

Objective 0004 
Understand the disciplinary core ideas of chemistry.

5. Use the incomplete chemical equation below to answer the question that follows.

3 M G C L 2 + 2 F Ee yields 2 F E C L with an unknown subscript  + 3 M G

In order to complete the equation shown, the subscript on chlorine on the product side of the equation must equal which of the following values?

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Chemical equations must follow the law of conservation of mass. Therefore, the number of atoms for each element on the reactant side is equal to the number of atoms for each element on the product side. In this example, magnesium chloride has a coefficient of three and chlorine has a subscript of two. Since there is no subscript on magnesium, the number of atoms is determined by what its coefficient is. In this case, there are three magnesium atoms on the reactant side of the equation. Similarly, there are two iron atoms on both the reactant and product sides. To determine the number of chlorine atoms, the coefficient number and the subscript number of that element are multiplied together, giving a total of six chlorine atoms in this compound. Thus, there needs to be six chlorine atoms on the product side of the equation. As the equation is presented, iron chloride has a coefficient of two, giving a total of two chlorine atoms. However, in order to balance this equation, there needs to be a total of six chlorine atoms. This is achieved by placing a subscript of three on the element chlorine. This will result in there being two molecules of iron chloride that each contain three atoms of chlorine. This equals a total of six chlorine atoms on the product side, which equals the reactant side and balances the chemical equation.

Objective 0005 
Understand the disciplinary core ideas of physics.

6. Use the graph below to answer the question that follows.

graph showing the velocity of a person on a bike

A graph of velocity in M per S versus time in S is shown. From 0 to 3 S, there is a flat line at 2 M per S. Then, there is a line with a negative slope from 3 to 6 S that goes from a velocity of 2 M per S to 1 M per S. Next, from 6 to 9 S, there is a flat line at 1 M per S. Finally, between 9 and 12 M per S, the line has a positive slope that goes from a velocity of 1 M per S to 2 M per S.

The graph shows the velocity of a person on a bicycle traveling on a straight, flat road. Within which of the following ranges is there a net force on the bicycle in a direction that is opposite to the velocity of the bicycle?

  1. 0to3 s
  2. 3to6 s
  3. 6to9 s
  4. 9to12 s
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
On a velocity versus time graph, a negative slope, as shown between 3 and 6 seconds on the graph, indicates a decrease in velocity over time. The bicycle is slowing down because the net force is in the opposite direction of the velocity of the bicycle. This is due to the fact that the magnitude of the frictional force is greater than the magnitude of the applied force. However, the bicycle is still moving forward because velocity is the amount of displacement of the bicycle over a given time.

Objective 0005 
Understand the disciplinary core ideas of physics.

7. A physical science teacher wants to relate motion and kinematics concepts to real-world events that occur in daily life. Which of the following student activities would best accomplish the teacher's goal?

  1. Students carry out an imaginary car ride and analyze changes in displacement and velocity that occur.
  2. Students measure the work done in pulling a box filled with books across a rough floor.
  3. Students analyze the forces acting on a piece of classroom furniture and construct a free-body diagram.
  4. Students visit a commercial power plant and describe the ways in which energy changes forms.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
The best activity to demonstrate motion and kinematics concepts in a classroom is to have students relate to these concepts by using real-world experiences. Students can use their real-world experience to perform an imaginary car ride and analyze what will happen to a car's displacement and velocity when it changes speeds, reverses, stops, or maintains a constant speed.

Objective 0006 
Understand the disciplinary core ideas of biology.

8. Students use a molecular model kit with various colors of beads and are asked to create six carbon dioxide molecules and six water molecules. These bead molecules are then used to represent the process of photosynthesis. This bead model directly shows which of the following aspects of photosynthesis?

  1. The number of molecules of water produced in photosynthesis is equal to the number of reactant molecules of water.
  2. The oxygen that is produced as a result of the photosynthetic process is derived from both carbon dioxide and water.
  3. The splitting of water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen in photosynthesis is driven by the absorption of light energy.
  4. There is a conservation of matter during the reaction that produces one glucose molecule.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
The activity described directly shows the conservation of matter because students can observe the number of atoms per element before and after a chemical reaction. When students build the carbon and water molecules, they are able to observe and count how many atoms of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are present before the reaction occurs. Then, as the students represent the products of these reactions, they can observe that the atoms representing these elements were neither removed nor added but rearranged to form a glucose molecule during the reaction.

Objective 0007 
Understand the disciplinary core ideas of Earth and space science.

9. Which of the following wind patterns is produced when warm air rises under high pressure and deflects right as Earth rotates about its axis?

  1. Doldrums
  2. Polar easterlies
  3. westerlies
  4. northeast trade winds
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
The northeast trade winds, also known as prevailing winds, develop when the warm air at the equator rises under high pressure and Coriolis forces. As the air rises and flows toward the north, Earth is also rotating about its axis, which produces the Coriolis effect and deflects winds to the right. Around 30-degrees North latitude, the air begins to cool and descend, while still continuing to deflect to the right. The wind moves from a northeasterly direction to a southwesterly direction, and eventually returns back to the equator.

Objective 0007 
Understand the disciplinary core ideas of Earth and space science.

10. Use the passage below to answer the question that follows.

When developing earthquake-resistant buildings, many newer designs follow a base-isolation model. This technology enables buildings to remain suspended above the foundation as an earthquake hits, allowing for the foundation to move and not the building. This design relies upon the use of bearings that contain a lead core wrapped in alternating layers of steel and rubber and move with the building and the foundation's movement.

Which of the following improvements would optimize this base-isolation design?

  1. adding shock absorbent materials to the building
  2. changing all metals in the building structure to titanium
  3. surrounding all of the building's bearings with concrete
  4. adding points along the building that can fold with movement
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
The base-isolation model is used to prevent damage to a building during an earthquake by displacing and isolating the motion of the building to its foundation. The functioning of this type of design is dependent on the material and height of the building. Shock absorbent materials are added to the design to prevent and minimize further damage to the building in the event that the original design fails and the building would move. The shock absorbent materials function by absorbing the kinetic energy, instead of displacing that energy, in order to protect the building from damage.

Objective 0008 
Understand the disciplinary core ideas of environmental science.

11. Compared with other forms of environmental regulation, policies that promote full-cost pricing, such as taxation of pollutants, have the primary advantage of:

  1. coordinating the efforts of many nations to maximize the global impact.
  2. having more transparent and visible benefits.
  3. relying on the power of incentives to encourage efficient responses.
  4. working in a more time-efficient manner.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Full-cost pricing is a policy wherein the price of a product is adjusted to account for any external costs, such as the costs associated with pollution. The taxation of pollutants has the effect of raising the price paid by consumers for a polluting product, or reducing the revenues and profits that its producers receive, or both. Consumers and producers then respond to these price incentives by finding ways to change the quantity of the product that they buy or sell, which reduces the quantity of pollution in the most efficient possible way.

Objective 0008 
Understand the disciplinary core ideas of environmental science.

12. Students are using the engineering design process to create a filtration system that removes microplastic beads from a local freshwater aquatic ecosystem in order to reduce the presence of these beads in top-level predators. Background research needed to develop this filtration system would most likely include obtaining information about the:

  1. production and use of plastics in various consumer products.
  2. movement of microplastics through the food chain.
  3. availability of alternative plastic-free consumer products.
  4. current sources of microplastic pollution in global ecosystems.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
To accomplish the goal of this activity, the students need to have an understanding of how matter moves through the local watershed, including through the aquatic ecosystem. Therefore, the students must research the movement of microplastics to determine where the microplastics are in the environment and in which organisms they are concentrated. This will allow them to discover the best design and place for the filter.

Objective 0009 
Understand skills required to practice physics.

13. Students in an introductory physics class are finding the magnitude of the sum of two force vectors acting on an object. This activity could be used to create a connection between physics and which of the following topics in mathematics?

  1. the zeros of a quadratic equation
  2. the length of the diagonal of a parallelogram
  3. the slope of line tangent to a curve
  4. the equation of a circle in polar coordinates
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
If two vectors each originate at a common point, then the sum of the two vectors can be found by translating copies of the two vectors to create a parallelogram, and then drawing the diagonal of the parallelogram. The diagonal of the parallelogram represents the vector sum of the two forces. The magnitude of the sum of the two vectors is the length of the diagonal.

Use the information below to answer the two questions that follow.

diagram of a lawn mower

The diagram shows a lawn mower on a horizontal surface with a handle extending diagonally up and to the right at an angle of 40 degrees with respect to the horizontal. An arrow representing a force vector of 125 Newtons points parallel to the length of the handle. The arrow is in line with the handle, pointing toward the lawn mower engine. It indicates that a 125-newton force is being applied to the handle directed toward the engine.

A lawn mower of mass 22 kg is pushed on frictionless level ground with a handle that makes an angle of 40° with the horizontal. A force of 125 N is applied along the direction of the handle as shown.

Objective 0010 
Understand kinematics and mechanics.

14. Neglecting friction, what is the acceleration of the lawn mower?

  1. 3.7  m slash s squared 
  2. 4.4  m slash s squared 
  3. 5.7  m slash s squared 
  4. 6.2  m slash s squared 
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
The acceleration can be found from Newton's second law of motion. Since force is a vector, it is necessary to analyze the vertical and horizontal components of the forces on the lawn mower. In this case, the lawnmower moves only horizontally, so in the vertical direction, the forces pushing up must cancel out forces pushing down on the lawn mower. The force of gravity acting downward plus the downward vertical component of the applied 125-newton force must be equal in magnitude to the upward normal force on the lawn mower from the ground. Since the surface is considered frictionless, the only horizontal force on the lawn mower is the horizontal component of the 125-newton applied force. This can be found by calculating  F equal to 125 N times the cosine of 40 degrees equals 95.8 N . Then the acceleration is a = F divided by mass = 95.8 N divided by 22 k g  which is approximately equal to  4.4  m slash s squared .

Objective 0010 
Understand kinematics and mechanics.

15. What is the normal force exerted by the ground on the lawn mower?

  1. 1.0  times 10 to the second power N 
  2. 1.4  times 10 to the second power N 
  3. 2.2  times 10 to the second power N 
  4. 3.0  times 10 to the second power N 
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
The lawn mower accelerates in the horizontal direction only; there is no motion in the vertical direction. Therefore, the sum of all forces in the vertical direction must equal zero, i.e., the magnitude of the normal force is equal to the sum of the magnitudes of the force of gravity and the vertical component of the applied 125-newton force:  the magnitude of F sub N is equal to the magnitude of F sub g plus the magnitude of the sum of 125 N and the cosine of 40 degrees, which is approximately equal to 3.0 times ten to the second power N .

Objective 0011 
Understand momentum, work, and energy.

16. A teacher is introducing the concepts of conservation of momentum and kinetic energy to students. Which of the following hands-on approaches would likely best help illustrate these concepts?

  1. rolling a small ball bearing down an inclined plane and observing its collision with a bowling ball
  2. using a Newton’s cradle to experiment with different outcomes from different inputs
  3. using an air table to calculate the resultant vectors following the collisions of pucks
  4. dropping various objects such as clay and tennis balls from a set height and measuring their rebound levels
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
A Newton's cradle is a device that demonstrates the conservation of momentum and energy using a series of swinging spheres. When one sphere at the end is lifted and released, it strikes the stationary spheres, transmitting a force through the stationary spheres that pushes the last sphere upward.

Objective 0012 
Understand properties of mechanical and electromagnetic waves.

17. Use the diagram below to answer the question that follows.

diagram of the wave fronts of two sound waves

The diagram shows two speakers along a horizontal line facing the same direction separated by a distance of about three times the width of the speaker. Five concentric, equally-spaced semicircles that are centered on each speaker represent wave fronts of sound waves emanating from the speakers. The semicircles are on the front side of each speaker; no part of the semicircles extend behind the speakers. The semicircles overlap in several places, four of which are identified as points A, B, C, and D. The locations of the points are described from left to right as follows with semicircles labeled with increasing values as they move away from the speaker. Point A is located in front of the left speaker, between semicircles two and three from the left speaker and on semicircle five from the right speaker. Point B is midway between the two speakers, on semicircle three from both speakers. Point C is midway between the two speakers, on semicircle five from both speakers. Point D is located in front of the right speaker, on semicircle five from the left speaker and between semicircles three and four from the right speaker.

The diagram represents the wave fronts of two sound waves. The waves are in phase and have the same frequency. At which point on the diagram is the sound loudest?

  1. point A
  2. point B
  3. point C
  4. point D
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
The sound will be loudest when the wave fronts from both speakers exhibit constructive interference when in superposition. Constructive interference occurs at points B and C. Sound waves decrease in intensity as the square of the distance from the source, so the closer of the two points, B, will sound the loudest.

Objective 0013 
Understand the principles of thermodynamics.

18. Which of the following physical quantities is most relevant to determining the degree to which a thermodynamic process is reversible?

  1. entropy change during the process
  2. the change in internal energy during the process
  3. the amount of work done by the system during the process
  4. the rate at which energy is added to the system during the process
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
In thermodynamics, a reversible process is an ideal process that can be carried out in both directions. In a reversible process, the entropy change is zero, since the system can be brought back to its initial state with no other changes in the surroundings (the universe). Hence, the degree to which a thermodynamic process is reversible is related to the entropy change of the systems.

Objective 0014 
Understand static and moving electric charges.

19. Use the diagram below to answer the question that follows.

a schematic of an electronic circuit

The diagram shows a schematic of an electronic circuit. A capacitor, labeled C, with charged plates plus Q and negative Q are attached in series to an open switch, labeled S, and an unknown circuit element labeled as such. The unknown circuit element is represented by a blank rectangle in series with the rest of the circuit elements. The schematic is roughly in the shape of a rectangle with the capacitor on the left side, the switch on the top, the unknown circuit element on the right side, and no circuit elements on the bottom. The circuit elements are connected by wires represented in the diagram by black lines connecting all elements in series.

In the circuit shown, the capacitor is initially charged. If the switch is closed, an alternating current will be produced if the unknown circuit element is:

  1. a resistor.
  2. a diode.
  3. an inductor.
  4. a capacitor.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Assuming that the circuit has a negligible internal resistance, the circuit will be set into oscillation after the switch S is closed if the unknown circuit element is an inductor. The energy stored in the electric field in the capacitor C will begin to discharge through the circuit, creating a current through the inductor that stores energy in its magnetic field. An inductor opposes a change in current, and its magnetic field will create a voltage across its terminals as the magnetic field increases. When the capacitor's voltage drops low enough, the inductor creates a current in the opposite direction, charging the capacitor again. The process repeats while energy is kept in the system, creating an alternating current between the capacitor and the inductor.

Objective 0015 
Understand magnetism and electromagnetic radiation.

20. Late nineteenth-century classical theory predicted that an ideal blackbody in thermal equilibrium should emit a nearly infinite amount of energy at high frequencies. Known as the ultraviolet catastrophe, this theoretical prediction was not supported by experimental evidence. Max Planck's solution to the problem was to assume that electromagnetic radiation:

  1. exists as a probability wave at short wavelengths.
  2. has inherent uncertainties in position and momentum.
  3. can only be absorbed or emitted in discrete packets.
  4. is sufficiently described by Maxwell's equations.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
The classical model of blackbodies predicts that the components of an object can oscillate with any energy level with equal probability and, therefore, emit any corresponding level of radiation as they relax. Hotter objects can have higher oscillations and can emit high energy radiation. Eventually, as temperature increases, ultraviolet radiation would dominate and overwhelm the blackbody spectrum, which was not observed in laboratory experiments and led to the ultraviolet catastrophe. Planck postulated that a blackbody's components oscillated in quantized states, as multiples of some base value. Planck assumed that high frequency and, therefore, high energy radiation were rare because the probability of high energy oscillations was small compared to lower quantized oscillations. The components of a blackbody would rarely have enough energy to emit high frequency radiation by oscillating in discrete chunks, or packets of energy, compared to lower-energy radiation outputs. Planck solved the problem by assuming that the radiation was released as quantized packets instead of as a continuous release of energy. This mechanism set the groundwork for the field of quantum physics by describing a physical phenomenon with quantized values instead of a smooth, continuous function. Later, Albert Einstein and Satyendra Nath Bose solved Planck's equations by assuming that the energy was released as particles called photons instead of packets of waves.

Objective 0016 
Understand basic concepts of modern physics.

21. Use the diagram below to answer the question that follows.

The diagram shows three horizontal lines representing energy levels in a Bohr model. The first line is labeled as n = 1 at the bottom of the diagram. It is marked with a value of negative 13.6 eV. The second line is several spaces above the first, labeled as n = 2 with a value of negative 3.40 eV. The third line is on the next space above the second line, labeled as n = 3 with a value of negative 1.51 eV.

The diagram shows the first three energy levels in the Bohr model of the hydrogen atom. What is the highest frequency of light in the spectrum of an atom transitioning among these three energy levels in terms of Planck's constant, h?

  1. 12.1 divided by h eV
  2. (12.1 eV)h
  3. 15.1 divided by h eV
  4. (15.1 eV)h
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
The frequency of a photon can be found with the equation, f = E divided by h, where f is the frequency of the photon in Hertz, E is the energy of the photon in electron-volts, and h represents Planck's constant. As an electron transitions from one level to another, it gains or loses energy corresponding to the difference between the energy levels. In this case, the largest energy level occurs when the electron transitions between levels n = 3 and n = 1. This corresponds to a difference in energy of 12.1 eV. Then the frequency corresponding to this energy difference is given by f = E divided by h = 12.1 divided by h eV.