Physics Quiz

Who was the first person to write about the causes of motion?

• Aristotle

• Archimedes

• Galileo

• Newton

Which of the following is the result of a contact force?

• A ball thrown into the air falls down to the ground.

• Two magnetic compass needles repel each other.

• A hammer drives a nail into a piece of wood.

• Your hair stands on end when you are touching a Van de Graaff generator.

Which of the following fundamental forces is comparatively the weakest?

• the strong nuclear force

• the weak nuclear force

• the electromagnetic force

• the gravitational force

Which of the following is the result of a field force?

• An apple press squeezes out apple cider.

• An airplane is jostled around because of wind shear.

• Girls win against boys in tug-of-war.

• When you jump into the air, you land on the ground.

In which case are all the forces acting on a system balanced?

• a baseball hit into left field

• a forklift lifting a pallet

• a meteorite that is falling through the earth's atmosphere reaching its terminal velocity

• your mom stirring a bowl of chocolate cookie dough

Which object has the most inertia?

• a peregrine falcon

• Mount Everest

• an ingot of gold

• the planet Jupiter

A wrecking ball strikes a brick wall. Which of the following would increase the force of the ball?

• increasing the mass of the wrecking ball

• slowing down the wrecking ball

• decreasing the mass of the wrecking ball

• decreasing the thickness of the brick wall

Which situation does not involve friction?

• a ball rolling down a hill

• a man walking on an even surface

• a raindrop sliding down a window

• an object free of gravitational pull

Which of the following are not directly proportional?

• distance and gravitational attraction

• speed and distance traveled

• mass and gravitational attraction

Galileo tested Aristotle’s theory of gravity by actual experiments dealing with

• balls on wooden ramps

• dropped weights

• air resistance

• a feather and a hammer