Physics Questions
Physics is the science that seeks simple laws to explain matter, energy, space, and time. It studies motion, forces, fields, waves, heat, electricity, magnetism, light, and the quantum and cosmic scales. Using experiments, maths, and models, physicists reveal patterns that predict phenomena from atoms to galaxies. Physics drives technology such as lasers, electronics, imaging, materials, and deepens our understanding of nature, enabling safer, cleaner, and more connected societies. It inspires curiosity. Please note that the questions require knowledge and not all questions are the same difficulty level. Ready for my physics questions?
Multiple choice: Which quantity is a vector?
A) Speed
B) Distance
C) Work
D) Velocity
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Short answer: State Newton’s first law of motion in clear words.
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Fill in: Displacement can be negative because it includes ____ .
True or False: Average speed can never be less than the magnitude of average velocity for the same trip.
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Multiple choice: The slope of a position versus time graph equals:
A) Acceleration
B) Velocity
C) Force
D) Power
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Short answer: Define acceleration.
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Fill in: For constant acceleration, the area under the acceleration versus time graph equals the change in ____ .
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True or False: In free fall near the surface of Earth, all objects have the same acceleration when air resistance is negligible.
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Multiple choice: Which statement about mass and weight is correct?
A) Mass depends on location, weight does not
B) Weight depends on location, mass does not
C) Both mass and weight depend on location
D) Neither depends on location
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Short answer: State Newton’s third law using two interacting bodies.
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Fill in: The net force on an object equals its mass multiplied by ____ .
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True or False: Kinetic friction is usually greater than static friction for the same surfaces.
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Multiple choice: Work done by a constant force that is parallel to displacement equals:
A) Force times displacement
B) Force times displacement times sine of the angle
C) Force times displacement times cosine of the angle
D) Zero for any parallel force
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Short answer: Define kinetic energy.
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Fill in: The change in kinetic energy equals the net ____ done on an object.
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True or False: Power is the rate at which work is done.
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Multiple choice: A block slides down a frictionless incline. Which statement is correct as it moves?
A) Potential energy increases and kinetic energy decreases
B) Potential energy decreases and kinetic energy increases
C) Both energies increase
D) Both energies decrease
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Short answer: Define conservation of mechanical energy for a system with no nonconservative forces.
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Fill in: Impulse equals force multiplied by time and equals the change in ____ .
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True or False: In an isolated system, total linear momentum is conserved during a collision.
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Multiple choice: In a perfectly inelastic collision in one dimension, which quantity is conserved?
A) Kinetic energy only
B) Momentum only
C) Both kinetic energy and momentum
D) Neither kinetic energy nor momentum
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Short answer: Define center of mass for a system of particles.
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Fill in: Torque equals the product of lever arm length and the component of force ____ to the lever arm.
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True or False: An object in static equilibrium must have zero net force but can have nonzero net torque.
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Multiple choice: The moment of inertia of a rigid body depends on:
A) Total mass only
B) Shape and how mass is distributed relative to the axis
C) Speed of rotation only
D) The material but not its distribution
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Short answer: State the rotational work–energy relation for a rigid body about a fixed axis.
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Fill in: Angular momentum equals moment of inertia multiplied by ____ .
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True or False: In the absence of external torque, total angular momentum of a system remains constant.
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Multiple choice: The gravitational force between two masses is:
A) Directly proportional to the sum of the masses
B) Inversely proportional to the square of the distance between centers
C) Independent of distance
D) Directly proportional to the square of distance
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Short answer: Define gravitational potential energy for two point masses.
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Fill in: For a satellite in a circular orbit, the required centripetal force is provided by ____ .
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True or False: For a given central mass, a satellite in a lower circular orbit has a shorter period than one in a higher circular orbit.
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Multiple choice: Pressure in a static fluid at depth depends on:
A) Depth and fluid density and gravitational acceleration
B) Volume of the container only
C) Shape of the container only
D) Surface area only
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Short answer: State Archimedes’ principle.
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Fill in: The equation of continuity for incompressible steady flow states that area times flow speed is ____ along a streamtube.
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True or False: Bernoulli’s equation for steady, incompressible, nonviscous flow represents conservation of mechanical energy per unit volume along a streamline.
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Multiple choice: Temperature is a measure of:
A) Total internal energy
B) Average translational kinetic energy per particle
C) Total kinetic energy per mole
D) Heat contained in a body
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Short answer: Define specific heat capacity.
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Fill in: The first law of thermodynamics states that the change in internal energy equals heat added to the system minus the ____ done by the system.
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True or False: In an isothermal process for an ideal gas, the internal energy remains constant.
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Multiple choice: Entropy is best described as:
A) A measure of total kinetic energy
B) A measure of disorder or the number of accessible microscopic arrangements
C) A measure of total momentum
D) A measure of temperature only
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Short answer: Define simple harmonic motion.
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Fill in: For a mass on a spring with spring constant k and mass m, the period equals 2π times the square root of ____ .
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True or False: Doubling the amplitude of a mass–spring oscillator doubles the period.
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Multiple choice: A wave’s speed on a stretched string depends on:
A) Frequency only
B) Wavelength only
C) Tension and linear mass density
D) Amplitude only
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Short answer: Define constructive interference.
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Fill in: The intensity of a wave is proportional to the square of its ____ .
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True or False: Sound waves in air are longitudinal waves.
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Multiple choice: Coulomb’s law states that the electric force between two point charges is:
A) Directly proportional to the product of charges and inversely proportional to the square of distance
B) Directly proportional to the square of distance
C) Independent of distance
D) Only attractive
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Short answer: Define electric field at a point in space.
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Fill in: The electric potential difference between two points equals the negative of the line integral of the electric field along a path, which represents work per unit ____ .
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True or False: Equipotential surfaces are always perpendicular to electric field lines.
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Multiple choice: The equivalent resistance of resistors in series is:
A) The smallest resistance
B) The largest resistance
C) The sum of all resistances
D) The reciprocal of the sum of reciprocals
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Short answer: State Ohm’s law in words.
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Fill in: Electric power delivered to a device equals potential difference times ____ .
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True or False: In a closed circuit, charge is used up as it flows through resistors.
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Multiple choice: A bar magnet is cut into two equal halves. Each piece becomes:
A) A north pole only
B) A south pole only
C) A complete magnet with a north and a south pole
D) Not magnetic at all
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Short answer: State the direction of magnetic force on a moving positive charge using the right-hand rule.
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Fill in: The magnetic flux through a loop equals magnetic field strength times area times the cosine of the angle between the field and the loop’s ____ .
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True or False: According to Faraday’s law, a changing magnetic flux through a loop induces an electromotive force in the loop.
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Multiple choice: The induced current in a loop due to a changing magnetic flux has a direction that:
A) Enhances the change in flux
B) Is random
C) Opposes the change in flux
D) Is always clockwise
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Short answer: Define capacitance.
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Fill in: The energy stored in a capacitor equals one half times capacitance times the square of the potential ____ .
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True or False: Adding a dielectric material between the plates of an isolated capacitor increases the capacitance.
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Multiple choice: In geometrical optics, the law of reflection states that:
A) The angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence
B) Light always bends toward the normal when entering a denser medium
C) The angle of reflection is always ninety degrees
D) The angle of incidence equals the angle of refraction
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Short answer: State Snell’s law in words.
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Fill in: Total internal reflection occurs when light tries to go from a higher refractive index to a lower refractive index at an incidence angle greater than the ____ angle.
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True or False: A converging lens can form a real image or a virtual image depending on object distance.
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Multiple choice: The photoelectric effect shows that:
A) Light consists only of waves
B) The kinetic energy of emitted electrons depends on light intensity
C) The maximum kinetic energy depends on light frequency with a threshold frequency
D) No electrons are emitted from metal surfaces
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Short answer: Define de Broglie wavelength for a particle.
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Fill in: The nucleus of an atom is composed of ____ and ____ .
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True or False: In radioactive decay, the total number of nucleons is conserved in alpha decay and beta decay.
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Multiple choice: The period of a simple pendulum of small amplitude depends on:
A) Mass of the bob only
B) Length of the pendulum and gravitational field strength
C) Amplitude only
D) Air resistance only
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Short answer: Define mechanical resonance.
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Fill in: The quality factor of an oscillator describes how slowly energy is lost; higher quality factor means ____ damping.
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True or False: In ideal gases at the same temperature, all molecules have the same speed.
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Multiple choice: The average translational kinetic energy of an ideal gas molecule is:
A) Proportional to pressure
B) Proportional to absolute temperature
C) Proportional to volume
D) Independent of temperature
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Short answer: Define heat conduction.
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Fill in: The rate of heat conduction through a slab is proportional to thermal conductivity, area, temperature difference, and inversely proportional to ____ .
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True or False: In an adiabatic process, no heat is transferred to or from the system.
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Multiple choice: When two objects are in thermal contact and no net heat flows between them, they are:
A) In mechanical equilibrium
B) In thermal equilibrium
C) At the same density
D) Electrically neutral
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Short answer: Define efficiency of a heat engine in words.
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Fill in: The maximum possible efficiency of any heat engine operating between a hot reservoir at temperature Th and a cold reservoir at temperature Tc is 1 minus Tc divided by ____ .
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True or False: No real heat engine can be more efficient than a reversible Carnot engine operating between the same two temperatures.
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Multiple choice: The potential difference across an inductor that has a changing current is:
A) Proportional to the current
B) Proportional to the rate of change of current
C) Zero
D) Proportional to the square of current
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Short answer: Define resonance in an alternating current circuit containing an inductor and a capacitor.
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Fill in: In a simple direct current circuit with a battery and a resistor, the energy delivered by the battery is converted into ____ in the resistor.
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True or False: The direction of polarization of a transverse wave is the direction of the oscillations relative to the direction of travel.
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Multiple choice: The Rayleigh criterion for resolving two point sources with a circular aperture involves:
A) The angle where the first maximum equals the second maximum
B) The angle where the central maximum of one coincides with the first minimum of the other
C) The angle where both first minima coincide
D) The angle where the central maxima overlap completely
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Short answer: Define diffraction.
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Fill in: For a double-slit interference pattern with slit separation d and small angles, the bright fringes occur when d times sine of the angle equals ____ times the wavelength.
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True or False: Polarizing two ideal polarizers at ninety degrees to each other blocks the transmission of linearly polarized light completely.
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Multiple choice: The binding energy per nucleon is a measure of:
A) The total energy of the atom
B) The energy required to remove one nucleon on average
C) The kinetic energy of the nucleus
D) The electric potential energy only
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Short answer: Define half-life in radioactive decay.
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Fill in: The uncertainty principle states that the product of the uncertainty in position and the uncertainty in momentum is on the order of ____ .
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True or False: In atomic spectra, emission lines occur when electrons move from higher energy levels to lower energy levels.
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Multiple choice: In special relativity, as the speed of an object approaches the speed of light:
A) Its length increases along the direction of motion
B) Its time interval between events decreases for an observer at rest
C) Its relativistic momentum increases without bound
D) Its mass becomes zero
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Short answer: Define inertial reference frame.
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Fill in: Work is the line integral of force along a path and equals the change in ____ energy when only conservative forces act.
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True or False: The path of a projectile in a uniform gravitational field, neglecting air resistance, is a parabola.
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Multiple choice: The center-of-mass speed of a system after an internal explosion with no external force:
A) Increases
B) Decreases
C) Remains the same
D) Becomes zero
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Short answer: Define elastic collision in one sentence.
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Fill in: A rigid body rotates with constant angular acceleration; the angular displacement equals initial angular speed times time plus one half times angular acceleration times time ____ .
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True or False: A conservative force has zero work done around any closed path.
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Multiple choice: The terminal speed of a falling object through a fluid occurs when:
A) Weight is greater than drag force
B) Drag force is greater than weight
C) Drag force equals weight
D) Buoyant force equals weight
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Short answer: Define surface tension.
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Fill in: Pascal’s principle states that a pressure change applied to an enclosed incompressible fluid is transmitted ____ to every point of the fluid and to the walls of the container.
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True or False: A wave function in quantum mechanics gives the exact path of a particle at all times.
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Multiple choice: The magnetic force on a current-carrying wire in a uniform magnetic field is zero when:
A) The wire is parallel to the field
B) The wire is perpendicular to the field
C) The current is large
D) The wire is a closed loop
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Short answer: Define mechanical advantage of a simple machine.
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Fill in: The condition for static equilibrium of a rigid body is zero net force and zero net ____ .
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True or False: For two resistors in parallel, the equivalent resistance is less than the smallest individual resistance.
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Multiple choice: The energy of a photon is equal to:
A) Planck’s constant divided by frequency
B) Planck’s constant times frequency
C) Speed of light times wavelength
D) Wavelength divided by Planck’s constant
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Short answer: Define magnetic flux density in words.
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Fill in: The speed of light in a medium equals the speed of light in vacuum divided by the medium’s refractive ____ .
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True or False: The superposition principle states that when two or more waves overlap, the resulting displacement is the algebraic sum of the individual displacements.
