Cracking the SAT Physics Subject Test

force.) Since Fnet = ma, and m is a positive scalar, the direction of a always matches the direction of Fnet. Finally, since F = ...

Here’s How to Crack It The first law says that any object will continue in its state of motion unless a force acts on it. Theref ...

THE THIRD LAW If object 1 exerts a force on object 2, then object 2 exerts a force back on object 1, equal in strength but in th ...

A woman riding a bicycle collides head-on with a parked school bus. Which object feels greater force? Here’s How to Crack It N ...

NEWTON’S LAW OF GRAVITATION Newton put forth another important theory about the Universe: Any two objects in the Universe exert ...

THE GRAVITATIONAL ATTRACTION DUE TO AN EXTENDED BODY Newton’s law of gravitation is really a statement about the force between t ...

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Therefore, r is the distance between the centers of mass of the two objects. For objects with uniform density, this is merely th ...

as simply as possible. If M is the mass of Earth, then the mass of the Moon is about M/80 and the mass of the Sun is about 330, ...

value , which cancels out when compared. We now see that the gravitational force exerted by the Sun is greater than that exerted ...

Notice that the satellite’s speed doesn’t depend on its mass; even if it were a baseball, if its orbit radius were R, then its o ...

WEIGHT For this test, remember that although they are used interchangeably in everyday life, mass and weight are not the same th ...

What is the mass of an object that weighs 500 N? Here’s How to Crack It Since weight is m multiplied by g, mass is Fw (weight) ...

We have the tension force in the rope, FT (also symbolized merely by T), which is upward, and the weight, Fw, which is downward. ...

what must be the tension in the rope? Here’s How to Crack It The phrase “constant velocity” automatically means a = 0 and, there ...

THE NORMAL FORCE When you stand on the floor, does the floor exert a force on you? Yes! As you stand, you exert a weight on the ...

A book whose mass is 2 kg rests on a table. Find the magnitude of the normal force exerted by the table on the book. Normal vs ...

Fnet = ma to calculate it. Here’s How to Crack It The book experiences two forces: The downward pull of Earth’s gravity and the ...

FRICTION When an object is in contact with a surface, the surface exerts a contact force on the object. The component of the con ...

between it and the surface it’s on is 0.5. Then, the maximum force that static friction can exert is (0.5)(100 N) = 50 N. Howeve ...