Physical Science Investigations – Midterm - Part 1 Name_______________________
Matching
1. Your speedometer in a car reads this
A) average speed
2. An object’s change in position
B) instantaneous speed
3. Putting your car on cruise control will give you this C) displacement
4. Total distance traveled divided by the total time is
D) constant speed
5. Find the speed of a car that travels 500 miles in 10 hours.
A) 729 mph B) 9 m/s
C) 50 mph D) 0.11 mph
6. Find the time it takes to walk a distance of 15 meters at a speed of 3 m/s.
A) 450 seconds
B) 50 seconds
C) 50 m/s
D) 5 seconds
7. Find the distance traveled by a bird flying at 5 m/s for a time of 6 seconds.
A) 30 meters B) 30 minutes
C)30 seconds D) 30 hours
8. Which type of motion is described by the graph below?
distance vs time
35
distance (m)
30
25
20
Series1
15
10
5
0
0
5
10
15
time (s)
A) constant velocity
B) forward acceleration
C) no motion
D) forward negative acceleration
9. Velocity is defined as ______________________ divided by time.
a. displacement
C) speed
b. position
D) mass
10. ________________ is a measurement of speed and direction.
a. Mass
C) time
b. Position
D) velocity
11. _____ T/F, A car traveling at 60 mph turns right while its speedometer
continues to read 60 mph. Its speed has changed.
12. _____ T/F, A car traveling at 60 mph turns right while its speedometer
continues to read 60 mph. Its velocity has changed.
13. _____ Which of the following are not units to describe acceleration?
a. m/s
b. ft/s2
c. m/s2
d. ft/min2
14. Newton’s Second Law states that Force = mass x _______________________.
A) velocity
B) time
C) mass
D) acceleration
15. Solve this equation algebraically for “a”: F=ma
A) a = F m
B) a = m F
C) a =F/m
D) a = m/F
16. The acceleration due to gravity is ____________.
A) 9.8 ft/s
B) 32.2 m/s
C) 9.8 m/s
D) 9.8 m/s2
17. The Greek symbol “” in science and math means
____________________.
A) multiplied by
B) change of
C) in addition to
D) acceleration
18. The formula for velocity is v = ________________.
A) Change in position / Change in acceleration
B) Change in velocity / Change in time
C) Change in time / Change in position
D) Change in position / Change in time
19. Which of the following quantities does not contain direction?
A) Force
B) Acceleration
C) Displacement
D) speed
20. Which type of motion is represented by the below motion diagram if an object
is moving left to right and its position is shown below. (there are equal amounts
of time between dots)
    







A) acceleration
B) constant velocity
C) deceleration
21. T/F, The earth and the moon pull on each other with an equal amount of force.
22. T/F, The amount of matter in an object is called its mass.
23. T/F, The SI unit of mass is called the kilogram.
24. T/F, If a hockey puck slides on a perfectly frictionless surface, it will
eventually slow down because of its inertia.
25. T/F, Inertia is the reluctance any material object has to change its state of
motion.
26. T/F, The combination of all the forces that act on an object is called the
frictional force.
27.The law of inertia states that an object
A) at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an outside force.
B) Will continue moving at the same velocity unless an outside force acts on
it.
C) Will continue moving in a straight line unless an outside force acts on it.
D) All of the above
28.The law of inertia applies to
A) moving objects
B) objects at rest
C) both moving and nonmoving objects
29. After a cannon ball is fired into frictionless space, the amount of force required
to keep it moving equals
A) Zero, since no force is necessary to keep it moving.
B) The same amount of force with which it was fired.
C) One half the force with which it was fired.
D) Twice the force with which it was fired
30.Which has more mass, a kilogram of aluminum or a kilogram of iron?
A) The aluminum
B) The iron
C) Neither. They both have the same mass.
31. A 10-N force and a 30-N force act on an object in the same direction. What is
the net force on the object?
A) 40 N
B) 30 N
C) 20 N
32. “F
= ma” is which of the following in words
A) Force equals mass times amplitude
B) Force equal mass times acceleration
C) Force equals momentum times acceleration
33. .T/F, When you open a door with a 10-lb force, the door pushes back on you
with 10-lbs.
34. .T/F, A rocketship is pushed forward by gases that are forced out the back of
the ship.
35. All forces being balanced on an object make that object in a state of
______________________.
A) equilibrium
B) net force
C) acceleration
D) free-fall
36. Unbalanced forces cause an object to ______________________.
a. maintain its original motion
b. accelerate
37. _______________________ is the velocity at which falling objects no
longer accelerate toward the earth do to a balance of forces.
A) falling
B) terminal velocity
C) critical mass
D) drag
38. When a skydiver first jumps out of an airplane, he/she begins to accelerate
at a rate of ______________________.
A) 19.6 m/s
B) 9.8 m/s2
2
C) 9.8 ft/s
D) 32 ft/s
39. A net force equal to zero will cause an object to ________________.
A) maintain a constant velocity
B) speed up or slow down.
40. An object’s resistance to change in motion is defined as ______________.
A) mass
B) inertia
C) net force D) time
41. _____ T/F, You weigh the same on the moon as you do on the planet
Jupiter.
42. How much does 6.8 kg weigh in Newtons? (w=m x 9.8m/s/s)
A) 67 N
B) 67 grams C) 1000 N
Matching – Match the physics quantity with the units that are used to represent it
43. displacement
a. Newtons (N)
44. Force
b. meters per second (m/s)
45. Kinetic Energy
c. Joules (J)
46. Power
d. meters (m)
47. velocity
e. Watts (W)
Matching – Match the physics quantity with the units that are used to represent it
48. Acceleration
a. seconds (s)
49. mass
b. kilograms (kg)
50. time
c. meters per second squares (m/s/s)
Part 2
A) drag
Name
B )friction C) parabola
D) Centripetal acceleration
E) isometric exercises
Fill in the correct word from the bank above.
43. All projectiles while in flight travel a path shaped like a ____________________.
44. Astronauts do these to prevent their muscles and bones from getting weaker while
in space. ___________________________
45. An object increasing its velocity toward the center of a curved or circular path is
undergoing ____________________________.
46. This is the scientific word used to describe air resistance. ___________________
47. This force acts to oppose motion between two surfaces in contact.
___________________
________________________________________________________________________
A) Newton’s Third Law
B) momentum
C) Tangential velocity
D) Projectile E) Law of Conservation of momentum
Fill in the correct word from the bank above.
48. A _____________________ is a flying object that once in flight, has no control
over its own flight path.
49. ____________________________ states that the total amount of momentum of a
group of objects does not change unless outside forces act on the objects.
50. A property a moving object has due to its mass and velocity is
____________________.
51. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction is a statement of
____________________
52. The instantaneous velocity for an object undergoing circular motion is the
tangential velocity (bubble in choice C on scan tron sheet)
53. T/F, The Law of Inertia says that if an object has a zero net force, its
motion will not change.
54. If more force is applied to an object, its acceleration will _______________.
A) increase
B) decrease
55. A force of 100 N is applied to objects A and B. Object A’s mass is 6 kg and object
B’s mass is 20 kg. Which mass will have the greater acceleration?
A) object A B) object B C) they will both have the same acceleration
58. If the acceleration due to gravity in the English system is 32 ft/s2, how fast is a
dropped object falling after 4 seconds? (neglect air resistance)
(A128 ft/s
(B)64 ft/s
(C)96 ft/s
(D) 32ft/s
59. If you throw a football straight up at a speed of 30 ft/sec going straight up. With
what speed does it have when it comes down?
A) 15 ft/s
B) –30 ft/s
C) –16 ft/s
D) 9.8 ft/s
60.. T/F, an object that is not moving still has inertia.
61. T/F, an object that is not moving still has momentum.
62. Find the momentum of a 15 kg toy truck moving at 2 m/s.
(momentum = mass x velocity)
A) 30 m/s
C) 0.26 kg m/s
B) 3.75 kg m/s
D) 60 kg m/s
63. Which is harder to stop?
A) a 150 lb. sprinter moving 4 m/s
B) a 150 lb. sprinter moving 8 m/s
C) neither, they both have the same momentum
64. Which is harder to stop?
A) A 25 kg dog running 6.5 m/s
B) A 35 kg dog running 6.5 m/s
C) neither, they both have the same momentum
65. The reason a roller coaster does not need a motor to speed it up after it goes down the
first hill is because of its ________________.
A) time of falling
B) momentum
C) drag force
D) friction
Matching – match the energy concept with the appropriate definition
________66. Potential energy
a. force times distance
________67. Kinetic energy
b. stored energy
________68. Work
c. the rate at which work is done
________69. Joule
d. the energy of motion
________70. Power
e. energy unit
Matching – match the physics term with the appropriate unit of measurement
________71. Force
a. m/s
________72. Energy
b. m/s2
________73. acceleration
c. N (Newton)
________74. velocity
d. W (watt)
________75. power
e. J (Joule)
For each of the following physics terms, state whether it is a vector or
scalar quantity. Bubble choice A for vector, B for a scalar.
(remember vectors have direction and scalars do not)
_______76. distance
_______77. displacement
_______78. speed
_______79. velocity
_______80. acceleration