Physical Science Final Exam Review Guide

  1. Color in the west side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to illustrate the polarity recorded in the rocks.

  1. When do the Sun’s rays strike Earth at their northernmost and southernmost positions?

  1. When does summer occur in terms of tilt of the Earth?

  1. According to the law of conservation of mass, what must be true before and after a chemical reaction?

  1. What kind of radiation is made of helium nuclei?
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  1. What kind of radiation can be stopped by a piece of paper?

  1. What kindof radiation is made of electrons?
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  1. What kind of radiation is most penetrating?

  1. What happens in a fission reaction? a fusion reaction?

  1. What does the stability of an isotope depend on?

  1. When will an earthquake cause resonance in a building?

  1. When you built your walls in the Structural Reinforcement Activity which floor collapsed first?

  1. What is the relationship between the height of a building (or a rod in the BOSS Model Activity) and its natural frequency?

  1. What kinds of reactions are shown below:
2H2O  2H2 + O2
2H2 + O2 2H2O
Na + LiCl  Li + NaCl
NaCl + AgNO3 NaNO3 + AgCl
  1. Where are the products and reactants in a chemical equation?
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  1. What is an endothermic reaction? exothermic reaction?

  1. List three things that are caused by the unequal heating of Earth’s surface.

  1. What kind of plate sinks in a subduction zone? Why?

  1. In what kind of plate boundary do the plates slide past each other?

  1. What kind of gas causes global warming?

  1. What kind of energy transfer does not require matter?

  1. What state of matter has atoms held tightly in place?

  1. Describe what happens (in terms of movement of energy) when you touch a piece ice with your finger.

  1. Which numbers represent infiltration and transpiration?
  1. Why do clouds form?
  1. What must be true in order for infiltration to occur?

  1. Identify the phase/s of matter present in each line segment:

AB: ______
BC: ______
CD: ______
DE: ______
EF: ______
  1. Describe how a mountain range can affect climate.

  1. Draw a diagram illustrating the movement of surface winds around a high pressure system in the Northern Hemisphere.
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  1. List three things that keep Earth’s temperatures within a suitable range for life as we know it.

  1. How old is island B in comparison to islands A and C?
  1. How old is island D in comparison to islands A and C?

  1. Cool air over the poles will ______.

  1. What process transfers energy primarily as electromagnetic waves?
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  1. What do we call drops of water or ice that are too large to stay suspended in the air?

  1. What causes high pressure systems?
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  1. What kind of pressure systems do we find near the poles?

  1. Describe what is happening to the air as it flows down the leeward side of the mountain range.

  1. Why is the ozone layer important to life on Earth?
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  1. Earth’s earliest atmosphere was lacking in what element necessary for life as we know it?

  1. Where is the ozone layer? be specific.
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  1. What causes summer days to be longer than winter days here in Piedmont?

  1. Why does it take less time to get a sunburn on a summer day than it does on a winter day? (assuming it is sunny out!)
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  1. Why is it usually warmer at the equator than it is at the poles?

  1. What dirrection do the prevailing westerly winds move ocean water?
/
  1. As air rises pressure decreases and what happens to its volume?

  1. Give an example of two isotopes of the same element using the following format, .

  1. Why are atoms electrically neutral?

  1. What were the first elements created after the Big Bang?
/
  1. List six factors of weater.

  1. Why do clouds form?
/
  1. How do moutain ranges affect climate?

  1. Uranium-235 decays through a long but relatively fast series into Lead-206 which is stable. In the following diagrams, the black dots represent U-235 atoms and the white dots represent Pb-206 atoms. According the principle of radioisotope dating, which of the following rocks is the youngest? oldest?
a. b. c. d.
  1. Which element is in Group 14 and Period 2 of the Periodic Table.

  1. Where are the metals on the Periodic Table? the nonmetals?

  1. Which group on the Periodic Table is rarely found in compounds? Why?

  1. How is the periodic table organized?

  1. How many electrons does an atom of oxygen have?

  1. Describe the difference between solids and liquids in terms of molecular motion and spacing.

  1. Do gases release or absorb energy as they condense and form liquids?
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  1. What do we call the process of liquid water becoming water vapor?

  1. A whale bone that originally contained 100 grams of radioactive carbon-14 now contains 25 grams of carbon-14. How many carbon-14 half-lives have passed since this whale was alive?

  1. When you squeeze together the coils of a spring (like a slinky) and then release them, what kind of wave are you creating?
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  1. What part of the world receives the most solar radiation?

  1. What is another term for earthquake waves?
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  1. What kind of forces cause strike-slip faults?

  1. Describe P-waves.

  1. What is the difference between magma and lava?

  1. How can you identify a shield volcano in terms of shape and type of eruption?

  1. What happens at a transform plate boundary?
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  1. What makes climate different from weather?

  1. What particle moves around the nucleus?
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  1. What is the mass number of an atom with 26 protons, 30 neutrons and 26 electrons?

  1. What makes an ion different from an atom?
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  1. Where do intrusive igneous rocks form?

  1. What kind of bond forms when atoms share electons?
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  1. How many atoms are present in Al(NO3)3?

  1. What must be true of a balanced chemical equation?
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  1. How many electrons are needed to make an atom stable?

  1. How can you tell if a rock is foliated?
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  1. What kinds of things cause metamorphism in rocks?

  1. What makes minerals different from rocks?
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  1. What is the name of the compound with the formula NaCl?

  1. What do B and C represent?

  1. What kind of plate boundary is illustrated by this picture?
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  1. 50. Label the different phases of matter and phase changes occurring on the graph below.

  1. Why does a water filled paper cup held in a flame not catch fire?
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  1. What causes global warming (list three things)?

  1. What type of substance warms up very quickly?
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  1. A substance that heats up quickly has a ______specific heat.

  1. Why do islands experience moderate temperatues?
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  1. What happens when you put an ice pack on your knee (in terms of energy)?

  1. Compare the climate at A to that of B.
  1. If location C is on the equator, describe the pressure and precipation that area experiences.

  1. How would an reduction in surface ice cover affect the amount of solar radiation reflected by the surface of the Earth?
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  1. Describe a surface that would absorb a lot of electromagnetic energy from the Sun (in terms of texture, luster and color).

  1. What causes the Coriolis Effect?
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  1. Compare Earth’s continental crust and its oceanic crust.

  1. Label the seasons on the diagram.

  1. What kind of rocks are formed by cooling magma or lava from a molten state?
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  1. What kind of rocks are altered by heat and pressure beneath the Earth’s surface?

  1. Describe the term climate.
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  1. List the following from smallest to largest: universe, solar system and galaxy

  1. Compare protons and neutrons in terms of location, mass and charge.
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  1. Define the term ion.

  1. What would sprinkling snow with dark sand do to its melting rate? Would white sand have the same impact?
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  1. Why doesn’t the ocean mix by convection?

  1. How would reducing the surface ice cover change the surface temperature of the Earth?
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  1. Define the term half-life.

  1. What kind of radiation is emited by the Earth?
/
  1. Why don’t oceans mix by convection?

  1. What makes a compound different from a miture?
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  1. What are protons and neutrons made of?

  1. What kind of rock forms as a result of cooling from a molten state?
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  1. What kind of rock is formed as it is altered by heat and pressure beneath the Earth’s surface?

  1. Explain the difference between weight and mass. What does your weight measure?
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  1. One object is twice as massive as another object, describe the inertia of these two objects.

  1. Will your mass increase or decrease if you were to go to the moon?
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  1. If a hockey puck is set in motion across a frozen pond. If ice friction and air resistance are neglected, what force is required to keep the puck sliding at a constant velocity?

  1. Compare vector and scalar quantities.
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  1. If an object’s mass decreases while a constant force is applied to the object, the acceleration will
  1. ______.

  1. An object is pulled northward with a force of 25 N and southward with a force of 10 N. What is the magnitude of the net force on the object?
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  1. The force of friction on a sliding object is 10 N. What is the magnitude of the applied force needed to maintain a constant velocity?

  1. A tow truck exterts a force of 4000 N on a car, accelerating it at 2m/s/s. What is the mass of the car?
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  1. Hang from a pair of gym rings and the upward support forces of the rings will always
  1. ______.

  1. A boy pulls on a 15 kg with a constant force of 30 N. What is the wagon’s acceleration in meters per second per second?
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  1. A bag of groceries has a mass of 10 Kg and a weight of
  1. about ______.

  1. A 600 N skydiver opens her parachute and experiences an air resistance force of 800 N. What is the net force on the skydiver?
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  1. Why do we observe a shift of spectral lines toward the red end of the visible spectrum when we look at light from distant galaxies?

  1. What type of EM radiation does Earth radiate?
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  1. Describe the cause of winds.

  1. What causes the movement of tectonic plates?
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  1. Which type of air mass is associated with warm dry conditions? warm wet conditions? cool dry conditions?

  1. Describe how the rate of cooling impacts crystal size in igneous rocks.
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  1. Where is Earth’s magnetic field generated?

  1. Folding and erosion occurred after the formation of ______but before the formation of ______.

  1. In which diagram would the observer experiences the greatest intensity of insolation? the least intense insolation?

  1. Where does most seismic activity, volcanism and mountain building occur?
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  1. Describe a divergent boundary.

  1. What type of rock contains visible fossils?
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  1. Describe the relationship between temperature and the length of the radiation emitted.

  1. What layer do tectonic plates sit on top of?
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  1. What two variables are shown on a climatogram?

  1. Draw a rough graph of the depth of the earth quakes versus distance from the trench on the blank graph below.

  1. Desribe the sequence of events for this outcropping. Use terms like deposition, uplift, folding, erosion, intrusion, extrusion. Start with the most recent event at the top of your list.
  1. What would cause the folding of layester C, D, E, F and G?
  1. Which two layers represent rocks of the same age?

  1. Describe alocation that would have a climate similar to each of the graphs shown below.

  1. Use the diagrams in your rock packets to answer these questions:
  2. What name is applied to coarse grained, felsic igneous rock?
  1. What name is given to a sedimentary fragmental rock composed of pebbles or cobbles cemented together?
  1. What clastic sedimentary rock has the smallest grains of sediment?
  1. What sedimentary rock is primarily made of calcite?
  1. What sedimentary rock/s can change into marble?
  1. Which foliated metamorphic rock has the smallest crystasl?

  1. Why does convection occur?
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  1. Which variable is always plotted on the x-axis? the y-axis?

  1. What is quantitative data? qualitative data?
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  1. If Earth’s axis were tilted more than 23.5, what would happen to the seasonal average temperatures here in California?

  1. What is the magnitude of the frictional force acting on the object?

  1. Describe the motion of each of the carts shown below:

  1. What would be the best metric unit to measure the length of a dollar bill?

  1. One kilometer equals 1000 meters. What does the prefix kilo- mean?

  1. A person walks 1 mile every day for exercise, leaving her front porch at 9:00 am. and returning to her front porch at 9:25 am. What is the total displacement of her daily walk?

  1. Explain law of conservation of energy.

  1. Which of the following would change temperature most rapidly? Why?
  2. wood
  3. water
  4. metal
  5. wool

  1. What color sand could you sprinkle on snow to make it melt quickly?

  1. Describe the main difference between solids and liquids.

  1. What kind of electromagnetic radiation has wavelengths slightly longer than visible light?