Physics Trivia Questions

If the Sun collapsed to become a black hole Planet Earth would

• Acontinue in its present orbit.
• BBoth C and D.
• Clikely be sucked into the black hole.
• Dbe pulled apart by tidal forces.

During an isothermal expansion, a confined ideal gas does 150 J of work against its surroundings. Which of the following describes the heat transfer during this process?

• A300 J of heat was added to the gas.
• B150 J of heat was removed from the gas.
• C150 J of heat was added to the gas.
• D300 J of heat was removed from the gas.

The process of boiling water tends to

• Awarm the water
• BNeither
• Ccool the water
• DBoth

In which of the following situations involving a source of sound and a detector of the sound is it possible that there is NO perceived Doppler shift?

• AThe source travels toward the stationary detector.
• BBoth the source and detector travel in opposite directions, with the source and detector moving away from each other.
• CThe detector travels toward the stationary source.
• DBoth the source and detector travel in the same direction.

Which of the following is NOT equal to one tesla?

• A1 A*N/V
• B1 N/(A*m)
• C1 J/(A*m^2)
• D1 kg/(C*s)

A pipe full of air is closed at one end. A standing wave is produced in the pipe, causing the pipe to sound a note. Which of the following is a correct statement about the wave's properties at the closed end of the pipe?

• AThe pressure and the particle displacement are both at antinodes.
• BThe pressure is at a node, but the particle displacement is at an antinode.
• CThe pressure is at an antinode, but the particle displacement is at a node.
• DThe pressure and the particle displacement are both at nodes.

The sign of the charge carriers in a doped semiconductor can be deduced by measuring which of the following properties?

• ASpecific heat
• BElectrical resistivity
• CHall coefficient
• DThermal conductivity

Which of the following changes to a circuit will always bring about an increase in the current?

• AIncreased voltage and increased resistance
• BDecreased voltage and increased resistance
• CIncreased voltage and decreased resistance
• DDecreased voltage and decreased resistance

Most of the radiation in Earth's biosphere is

• Anatural background radiation
• Bfrom nuclear power plants
• Cthe result of military activities
• Din the form of cosmic rays

The color of light most intense in the solar radiation curve is

• Ared
• Byellow-green
• Cinfrared
• Dviolet

An astronaut lands on a planet whose mass and radius are each twice that of Earth. If the astronaut weighs 800 N on Earth, how much will he weigh on this planet?

• A200 N
• B1600 N
• C800 N
• D400 N

A sound wave with frequency f travels through air at speed v. With what speed will a sound wave with frequency 4f travel through the air?

• Av/4
• B2v
• C4v
• Dv

Heat is added to a cylindrical aluminum rod of radius Q and length ℓ. The temperature difference between the two ends of the rod varies from 10°C to 20°C. What geometric factors will influence the rate heat is transferred along the rod?

• ANeither the length nor area
• BBoth the length and area
• COnly the length
• DOnly the area of the rod

The coefficient of static friction between a small coin and the surface of a turntable is 0.30. The turntable rotates at 33.3 revolutions per minute. What is the maximum distance from the center of the turntable at which the coin will not slide?

• A0.121 m
• B0.242 m
• C0.024 m
• D0.048 m

Any atom that emits an alpha particle or beta particle

• Aincreases its mass.
• Bmay become an atom of a different element.
• Cbecomes an atom of a different element always.
• Dbecomes a different isotope of the same element.

A torque is a force

• Athat accelerates things
• Bthat is fictitious
• Clike any other force
• Dmultiplied by a lever arm

In a nonrelativistic, one-dimensional collision, a particle of mass 2m collides with a particle of mass m at rest. If the particles stick together after the collision, what fraction of the initial kinetic energy is lost in the collision?

• A0
• B1/3
• C1/4
• D1/2

The plates of a capacitor are charged to a potential difference of 5 V. If the capacitance is 2 mF, what is the charge on the positive plate?

• A0.5 C
• B0.005 C
• C0.02 C
• D0.01 C

Noise-canceling devices make use of sound

• Adestruction
• Bamplification
• Cinterference
• Dresonance

According to general relativity,

• AAll of these.
• Blight can't escape from a black hole.
• Cgravity affects clocks.
• Dmass distorts spacetime.

When a wave moves from shallow water to deep water, the

• Afrequency decreases, the wavelength increases, and the speed increases
• Bfrequency does not change, the wavelength decreases, and the speed decreases
• Cfrequency does not change, the wavelength increases, and the speed decreases
• Dfrequency does not change, the wavelength increases, and the speed increases

Which of the following gives the total spin quantum number of the electrons in the ground state of neutral nitrogen (Z = 7)?

• A5/2
• B3/2
• C1
• D1/2

Imagine you're standing on the surface of a shrinking planet. If it shrinks to one-tenth its original diameter with no change in mass on the shrunken surface you'd weigh

• A1/100 as much
• B1000 times as much
• C100 times as much
• D10 times as much

A model airplane flies slower when flying into the wind and faster with wind at its back. When launched at right angles to the wind a cross wind its groundspeed compared with flying in still air is

• Agreater
• Bthe same
• Cless
• Deither greater or less depending on wind speed

Which of these does NOT belong in the family of electromagnetic waves?

• ALight
• BSound
• CRadio waves
• DX-rays

A 10-Ω resistor carries 10 A. The voltage across the resistor is

• Amore than 10 V
• Bmore than 0 but less than 10 V
• C10 V
• D0

When the color yellow is seen on your TV screen the phosphors being activated on the screen are

• Ared and green.
• Bmainly yellow.
• Cgreen and yellow.
• Dblue and red.

A rigid, solid container of constant volume holds an ideal gas of volume v1 and temperature T1 and pressure P1. The temperature is increased in an isochoric process. Which of the following is NOT true?

• AThe kinetic energy of the system increases.
• BThe volume increases.
• CThe average speed of the molecules increases.
• DThe pressure increases.

When energy is released by the process of fusion, the total mass of the material after the event is

• Athe same
• Bmore
• Czero
• Dless

Two traveling waves of equal frequency, one of amplitude 4 cm and the other of amplitude 6 cm, superimpose in a single medium. Which of the following best describes the displacement, D, of the resultant wave?

• AD = 10 cm
• BD = 5 cm
• C2 cm ≤ D ≤ 10 cm
• D10 cm ≤ D ≤ 12 cm

The second law of thermodynamics tells us that heat doesn't flow from

• Acold to hot without external energy
• Bcold to hot ever
• Chot to cold without external energy
• Dhot to cold ever

From quantum mechanics we learn that a radioactive nucleus is governed by

• Acertainty
• BNewton's laws
• Cno laws at all
• Dprobability

When white light enters a prism green light is bent more than

• ANone of these choices is correct.
• Bred light.
• Cblue light.
• Dviolet light.

A resistor in a circuit dissipates energy at a rate of 1 W. If the voltage across the resistor is doubled, what will be the new rate of energy dissipation?

• A0.5 W
• B0.25 W
• C4 W
• D1 W

It is observed that sounds can be heard around a corner but that light cannot be seen around a corner. What is a reasonable explanation for this observation?

• ALight travels at 3 × 10^8 m/s, which is too fast to change direction around a corner.
• BLight is an electromagnetic wave that is behaving as a particle.
• CSound has a longer wavelength, which increases the diffraction.
• DSound is a mechanical wave that can change direction in its propagation media.

When wind speeds up as it blows over the top of a hill, atmospheric pressure there

• Adecreases
• Bisn't affected
• Cincreases
• Dreduces to zero

The greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming are

• ABoth
• Bcarbon dioxide
• Cwater vapor
• DNeither

A 30 mF capacitor has 6 millicoulombs of charge on each plate. The energy stored in the capacitor is most nearly

• A0.6 J
• B5.4 × 10–10 J
• C12.5 J
• D9.0 × 10–8 J

The quantum efficiency of a photon detector is 0.1. If 100 photons are sent into the detector, one after the other, the detector will detect photons

• Aan average of 10 times, with an rms deviation of about 3
• Ban average of 10 times, with an rms deviation of about 4
• Can average of 10 times, with an rms deviation of about 0.1
• Dan average of 10 times, with an rms deviation of about 1

The charge on an oil drop is measured in the laboratory. Which of the following measurements should be rejected as highly unlikely to be correct?

• A8.0 × 10^-19 C
• B2.4 × 10^-19 C
• C4.8 × 10^-19 C
• D6.4 × 10^-19 C

Refraction occurs when a wave crosses a boundary and changes

• Aamplitude
• Bintensity
• Cfrequency
• Dspeed and direction

In the diamond structure of elemental carbon, the nearest neighbors of each C atom lie at the corners of a

• Acube
• Btetrahedron
• Csquare
• Dhexagon

A rock is dropped off a cliff and strikes the ground with an impact velocity of 30 m/s. How high was the cliff?

• A45 m
• B20 m
• C60 m
• D30 m

A stone is thrown horizontally with an initial speed of 10 m/s from a bridge. Assuming that air resistance is negligible, how long would it take the stone to strike the water 80 m below the bridge?

• A1 s
• B4 s
• C8 s
• D2 s

Mercury orbits the sun in about one-fifth of an Earth year. If 1 AU is defined as the distance from the Earth to the sun, what is the approximate distance between Mercury and the sun?

• A(1/9) AU
• B(1/25) AU
• C(1/5) AU
• D(1/3) AU

A principal source of the Earth's internal energy is

• Asolar radiation.
• Bgravitational pressure.
• Cradioactivity.
• Dtidal friction.

The pressure at the bottom of a pond does NOT depend on the

• Adepth of the pond.
• Bacceleration due to gravity.
• Csurface area of the pond.
• Dwater density.

A voltage will be induced in a wire loop when the magnetic field within that loop

• Aconverts to magnetic energy
• Bis at right angles to the electric field
• Cchanges
• Daligns with the electric field

The muon decays with a characteristic lifetime of about 10^-6 second into an electron, a muon neutrino, and an electron antineutrino. The muon is forbidden from decaying into an electron and just a single neutrino by the law of conservation of

• Aenergy and momentum
• Blepton number
• Ccharge
• Dmass

A particle decays in 2.0 ms in its rest frame. If the same particle moves at v=0.60c in the lab frame, how far will it travel in the lab before decaying?

• A150 m
• B288 m
• C360 m
• D450 m