View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the fundamental particle, the smallest possible bundle of energy, for the electromagnetic force?
(a) The neutrino.
(b) The photon.
(c) The electron.
(d) The gluon.

2. What property did the double-slit experiment demonstrate that light has?
(a) It behaves as a wave.
(b) It has an infinite number of possible frequencies.
(c) It can be bent by gravity fields.
(d) It has a finite energy level at all frequencies.

3. Which of the following correctly describes the structure of an atom?
(a) A cloud of electrons orbiting a dense nucleus.
(b) A cloud of neutrons orbiting a nucleus of other particles.
(c) A cloud of protons, each with an electron orbiting it.
(d) A single nucleus composed of both electrons and protons.

4. What is the photoelectric effect?
(a) Photons can spontaneously decay into electrons in powerful magnetic fields.
(b) Electrons and photons only interact if they have the same frequency.
(c) Electrons follow quantum paths made by photons.
(d) When light shines on metals, the metals emit electrons.

5. What is the Planck tension?
(a) The attraction felt by a string through the strong force.
(b) The typical tension in a string.
(c) The pull between strings at the Planck length.
(d) The vacuum-energy of a matter and anti-matter string pair.

6. In Einstein's famous equation, E=mc^2, what does "c" represent?
(a) The object's density.
(b) The speed of the object.
(c) The speed of light.
(d) The frequency of light.

7. What is quantum foam?
(a) The mixture of short-lived particles observed after a matter and anti-matter collision.
(b) Particles that are scattered from their normal positions by quantum interference.
(c) The rapidly changing spatial distortions at the Planck length.
(d) The faint material ejected by black holes.

8. Black holes are dense and massive cosmological bodies. What unique distinction do they have?
(a) Neutrinos always flow towards them.
(b) Light cannot escape their gravitational well.
(c) They are the only types of stars that can produce uranium and heavier elements.
(d) They are the only objects that emit gamma rays.

9. The smallest possible unit of energy is referred to as _____.
(a) A quark.
(b) A muon.
(c) A quantum.
(d) A photon.

10. What spin do all particles of matter have?
(a) 1.
(b) 2.
(c) 1/2.
(d) 3/2.

11. According to Einstein's theory of general relativity, if two objects have a gravitational pull on one another, and one changes its mass or distance from the other, how quickly does the effect of this change travel to the other object?
(a) At exactly the speed of light.
(b) Near the speed of light, faster for lighter objects.
(c) Instantaneously.
(d) Near the speed of light, faster for more massive objects.

12. What discovery was made that incorporated gravitational force into quantum mechanics via string theory?
(a) A vibrational pattern with the properties of the graviton was discovered.
(b) Gravity was found to be supersymmetric.
(c) At extremely small scales, gravity is fused with the strong force.
(d) Gravity could be made symmetric only if the graviton is a string.

13. Quantum electroweak theory concerns quantum mechanics and _____.
(a) The strong force.
(b) The weak force.
(c) The electromagnetic force.
(d) Gravity.

14. What property of electromagnetic waves did Max Planck solve the thermodynamic problem of the oven by discovering?
(a) They have a minimum energy, proportional to their frequency.
(b) Waves are really particles.
(c) There are infinite numbers of waves, but each has an infinitely small energy.
(d) They can penetrate or "tunnel" through any surface.

15. Quantum physics began with the study of the energy inside a heated, closed container, such as an oven. The problem with theories at the time was that they predicted that _____.
(a) The oven can store more energy the smaller it is.
(b) The oven can only store energy if it has no mass.
(c) The oven contains no energy.
(d) The oven contains infinite energy.

Short Answer Questions

1. In which particle was spin first discovered?

2. What does the quantum electroweak theory state about the two fundamental forces it describes?

3. What is different about a particle of antimatter, compared to its normal counterpart?

4. What is the fundamental force responsible for keeping the nucleus of an atom "glued" together?

5. According to general relativity, all objects that have mass have what effect on space-time?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 737 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample