Freshman Physics Final Review
Name:
ANSWERS ON A SEPARATE SHEET!
Note #1: Remind yourselves that in the multiple choice section of the test, as usual, you will not be given credit for answers that
were not completely erased. I suggest you circle the correct answer on the exam itself and then fill in the scantron sheet once you
are confident about your answer. This is the way it’s done for the SAT and all standardized tests. Your final will be no different.
Note #2: Re-do all end of the chapter questions and tests with pen in hand on a blank sheet of paper. RE-READING TESTS IS
NOT STUDYING. Become active, not passive. Your brain needs activity to recall things. Explain a phenomenon to your parents
and see if they understand it. I don’t realize how little I know about a topic until I try to teach to somebody the first time!
Sound and Waves
1.) a) Draw a picture of a transverse wave and label the: amplitude, wavelength, crest, trough, node and baseline.
b) Explain how we measured wavelength in the lab. c) Explain how we measured frequency in the lab.
2.) Let’s say you want to increase the speed of transmission of a slinky pulse. You try the following things:
 Increase the amplitude
 Increase the wavelength
 Increase the frequency
 Increase the tension
Explain why each idea would work or not work and give two alternate ideas to increase the wave speed and explain why they
would work.
3.) If 7 crests pass your boat in one second and the distance between two crests is 11meters, then what is the:
a) frequency b) wavelength
c) wave speed
4.) A 60 Hz motor rotates inside a generator that produces waves in a pool that roll by at 240 meters per second. What is the:
a) frequency b) wavelength
c) wave speed
5.) There are 8 meters between the crests of water waves that pass by your boat at 32 meters per second. What is the:
a) frequency
b) wavelength
c) wave speed
6.) What is the speed of sound at 0 degrees Celsius?
7.) What is the speed of sound at 20 degrees Celsius?
8.) How does amplitude and frequency of the wave, and the temperature, humidity and density of the medium affect the speed of
sound?
9.) The bending of a wave when it goes from one medium to another is called
10.) The speed of sound is
11.) The
.
times slower than light.
the amount of air in a water filled test tube, the higher the pitch.
12.) Cite two examples in nature that prove that sound is slower than light?
13.) Draw a picture of a sound wave as it leaves your mouth and heads towards your dog, who is 50 m away. Assume it hot near the
blacktop you are standing on and cool above. Does it bend? If so, show how on the diagram.
14.) What is the speed of sound at 50 degrees Celsius? at 0 degrees Celsius?
15.) What does the speed of sound NOT depend on? Give some examples to support your answer.
16.) A sound wave enters a cold medium from a hot medium. What happens to the wave’s speed and direction. Draw a picture.
17.) When we first broke the sound barrier, why did America want to keep it a secret?
18.) What is a shockwave and a sonic boom? Are sonic booms only emitted once a source breaks the speed of sound? Explain.
19.) a) What is a “medium”? b) Why doesn’t an increase in either the frequency or wavelength result in an increase in wave speed?
Explain what I did in class to prove this.
20.) In class, we drew pictures of many different situations involving a source and a receiver. Draw a picture of each of the
following situations:
a) No movement between the source and receiver
b) Source begins to move to the right towards the receiver
c) Source moves very quickly towards to the right towards the receiver
d) Source moves at the speed of sound to the right towards the receiver
e) Source moves faster than the speed of sound to the right towards the receiver
f) Source moves much faster than the speed of sound to the right towards the receiver
21.) In which direction does the speed of sound bend when the speed is greater near the ground?
22.) Double the frequency of sound and you also double its
23.) Sound travels fastest in
?
?
24.) The speed of sound depends on
?
25.) A plane breaks the speed of sound and continues to increase its speed. The angle of its V-shaped shock wave will
26.) A wave barrier is produced when a wave source moves
?
?
27.) A bow wave or shock wave is produced when a source moves
?
28.) The Doppler Effect occurs in what types of waves?
29.) The Doppler Effect occurs when the sound source moves
relative to the listener?
Light
1.) Define the following: Diffraction
Interference
Constructive Interference
Destructive Interference
2.) Which color diffracts more, red or blue? Why?
3.) When waves travel through an opening, is there more diffraction through a small opening or a large opening? Give two reallife examples to support your claim. Draw the pictures we drew in class.
4.) What determines the amount of diffraction when a wave encounters an object in its path? a) Draw all three scenarios we laid
out in class and state which one will produce the most diffraction b) What is the size of the wavelength compared to the object
in each scenario? c) Give one real life example for each scenario
5.) Which is a longer wave, AM radio waves or FM? State the average size of each. Based on this, which wave will diffract
more?
6.) Dolphins take advantage of diffraction when needed. When would they need to and how could they do this?
7.) Why does light diffract through a slit but not through a wide opening?
8.) What is white light?
9.) How does a prism split up white light?
10.) a) What is refraction? b) Who first used this principle to create a telescope? c) What 7 heavenly bodies are visible to the naked
eye? d) Why did the invention of the telescope upset everyone so much?
11.) What is the main difference in the refraction of sound and the refraction of light?
12.) What medium causes light to decelerate the most? the least?
13.) How did Galileo attempt to measure the speed of light? Did it work? Why or why not?
14.) What is polarization?
15.) Is natural light from the sun and from our room lights polarized? How could we tell?
16.) Draw the picture of an unpolarized light wave becoming polarized by passing through one filter.
17.) Now draw that polarized wave from the previous question being blocked by a second filter.
18.) What type of surfaces polarize light? Name two surfaces from our lab that polarized light.
19.) Draw the picture of an unpolarized light wave becoming polarized by hitting the roof of a car.
20.) In which direction should the polarization axis of sunglasses be set up? Why? Draw a picture.
21.) How did we tell that light from the sky was partially polarized?
22.) What is the difference between regular sunglasses and polarized sunglasses?
23.) How did stress affect polarization patterns?
24.) What is light? What must occur for a light ray to be emitted?
25.) Draw a picture of the electromagnetic spectrum and label each type of wave included. What happens to the frequency as you
go from left to right? The wavelength?
26.) Are radio waves faster than television waves? Are blue light rays faster than red light rays? Why or why not?
27.) Is light faster in air or in glass? Why?
28.) Does visible light pass through glass? If so, how does this occur?
29.) What happens to the white light that hits the ink on this page? What happens to the white light that hits the white part of this
page?
30.) Which has a higher frequency: red light or violet light? Which one is faster in a vacuum? in glass?
31.) Is the formation of a rainbow an example of diffraction or refraction? Why?
32.) State 5 real life applications of anything we have learned this semester. Use NO examples that we have used before, all new
ideas, please. Here’s where you say: “Ahhh, Mr. Tamaccio…independent thought???? Are you crazy? I choose to not think b/c
this is the last question on the packet and I will still get credit if I do all of the other questions. Of course, I probably don’t
realize that this may be the most important question on the exam but… At least I bugged my neighbor for an answer not
realizing that the power of this question is that it forces me to think in new directions. Wait a second, Mr. Tamaccio always
asks questions like this on the test…”