Miscellaneous

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the largest particle accelerator in the world. To which of the following countries would you have to travel in order to visit the LHC?

(A) Germany
(B) Italy
(C) Switzerland
(D) United States
(E) Russia

Of the following choices, which best describes a rapidly rotating neutron star emitting radiation ?

(A) Supernova
(B) Quasar
(C) Nebula
(D) White Dwarf
(E) Pulsar

The largest particle accelerator in the world is called the LHC. What does LHC stand for?

(A) Large Hadron Conductor
(B) Light Hadron Container
(C) Light Hadron Collider
(D) Large Hadron Container
(E) Large Hadron Collider

The transistor is a solid piece of semiconducting material with many applications in electronics. The initial development of transistors and the Nobel Prize awarded for its invention occurred closest to which calendar year?

(A) 1890
(B) 1920
(C) 1950
(D) 1980
(E) 2005

During the New Moon phase of the lunar cycle, approximately what percent of the Moon's surface receives light from the Sun?

(A) $0$ %
(B) 25.0 %
(C) 50.0 %
(D) 75.0 %
(E) 100 %

For the inclined plane shown, a force of150 $N$ applied parallel to the incline's surface is needed to pull the object of mass $M=10.0kg$ along the entire length of the incline's surface at a constant speed. What is the actual mechanical advantage (AMA) for this scenario?

(A) $\frac{2}{3}$
(B) $\frac{3}{2}$
(C) $\frac{2}{5}$
(D) $\frac{3}{5}$
(E) $\frac{5}{3}$

Which one of the following phases of the lunar cycle immediately follows First Quarter"?

(A) Waxing Gibbous

(B) Waning Gibbous

(C) Waxing Crescent

(D) Waning Crescent

(E) New Moon

“Both the position and momentum of an electron cannot be known exactly at the same instant of time." To whom is this concept attributed?

(A) Pauli
(B) de Broglie
(C) Einstein
(D) Dirac
(E) Heisenberg

To whom was the first Nobel Prize in physics awarded?

(A) Isaac Newton for his contributions to physics and calculus.

(B) James Chadwick for the discovery of the neutron.

(C) Wilhelm Rontgen for the discovery of $\mathrm{X}$-rays.

(D) Marie Curie for her work in radioactivity.

(E) Albert Einstein for his explanation of the photoelectric effect and for the theories of relativity.

Some standard household lights are being replaced with LEDs. LED is the acronym for which one of the following choices?

(A) Low Emission Dial

(B) Light Emitting Diode

(C) Light Energy Divider

(D) Lower Edge Disc

(E) Limiting Emission Diode

There was great excitement in the physics community because of an announcement from the LHC during the summer of 2012. Which one of the following choices best represents the reason for the excitement?

(A) The announcement that life was found on Mars.

(B) The announcement that dark matter had been created and studied in the laboratory.

(C) The announcement that the Hubble Telescope discovered a spaceship-like" object near Alpha Centauri.

(D) The announcement that the mass of a neutrino had been determined.

(E) The announcement that there was experimental evidence of a particle consistent with a Higgs Boson.

Which physicist won the Nobel Prize in physics partly for the explanation of the photoelectric effect?

(A) Isaac Newton

(B) Steven Hawking

(C) Albert Einstein

(D) Marie Curie

(E) Neil deGrasse Tyson

The principal quantum number of an electron is $n=5$. How many possible values of the orbital magnetic quantum number $m_{l}$ are there for this electron?

(A) 25
(B) 11
(C) 9
(D) 5
(E) 4

Which one of the following terms/quantities is most closely associated with the measure of the resistance of an object to length change under lengthwise tension or compression.?

(A) Bulk modulus
(B) Plastic deformation
(C) Shear modulus

(D) Elastic limit
(E) Young's modulus

Which one of the following quarks was the last to be confirmed experimentally?

(A) Charmed
(B) Up
(C) Strange
(D) Down
(E) Top

MRI is a commonly used acronym for a medical diagnostic technique. MRI stands for which one of the following choices?

(A) Medical Radio Imaging

(B) Minimally Radioactive Intervention

(C) Multiaxis Radar Injection

(D) Magnetic Radioisotope Injection

(E) Magnetic Resonance Imaging

In 2013, the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded “for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider".

The winners were François Englert and

(A) Stephen Hawking
(B) Edward Witten
(C) Edwin Hubble
(D) Brian Greene
(E) Peter Higgs

There are several statements presented below that attempt to describe physical phenomena. Which one of the following statements is correct?

(A) The coefficient of friction is a value always less than or equal to one, but greater than or equal to zero.

(B) For horizontal surfaces, the normal force acting on an object always cancels the gravitational force.

(C) An ideal gas's temperature must change if both work is done and energy is exchanged as heat with it.

(D) Increasing the spacing between slits in the Young's double slit experiment results in an increase in the spacing between the dark regions on a distant viewing screen.

(E) In electrostatic equilibrium, an electric field is perpendicular to the surface of a charged conductor.

"No two electrons in an atom can have an identical set of the four quantum numbers." is a statement most closely associated with which one of the following scientists?

(A) Albert Einstein
(B) Enrico Fermi
(C) Sheldon Cooper
(D) Wolfgang Pauli
(E) Isaac Newton

Which one of the following choices best represents the work for which the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded?

(A) Landing the Rosetta Philae Lander on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

(B) The detection of dark matter

(C) The invention of the blue LED

(D) The creation of a tractor beam using sound

(E) The detection of neutrinos from the Sun which agreed with theory

In the history of physics, the names Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, James Clerk Maxwell, and Isaac Newton are very recognizable. Which one of the following choices correctly orders these names chronologically by the approximate dates of each person's scientific work (ending with the most recent)?

(A) Copernicus $\rightarrow$Galileo $\rightarrow$Newton $\rightarrow$Maxwell

(B) Copernicus $\rightarrow$Galileo $\rightarrow$Maxwell $\rightarrow$Newton

(C) Galileo $\rightarrow$Copernicus $\rightarrow$Newton $\rightarrow$Maxwell

(D) Galileo $\rightarrow$Newton $\rightarrow$Copernicus $\rightarrow$Maxwell

(E) Newton $\rightarrow$Copernicus $\rightarrow$Maxwell $\rightarrow$Galileo

For the inclined plane shown, which one of the following choices best represents the value of the incline's ideal mechanical advantage?

(A) 1.67
(B) 1.33
(C) 1.25
(D) 0.80
(E) 0.75

Recent excitement in the physics community came from the February, 2016 announcement from LIGO that

(A) alien life had been discovered on a distant planet.

(B) dark matter had been discovered.

(C) there was proof of dark energy's existence.

(D) gravitational waves had been detected.

(E) objects had been observed to travel faster than the speed of light.

According to currently accepted theory, dark matter makes up approximately what percent of the Universe?

(A) 5 %
(B) 25 %
(C) 50 %
(D) 80 %
(E) 99 %

For the hydrogen atom, which series describes electron transitions to the $\mathrm{N}=1$ orbit, the lowest energy electron orbit?

(A) Lyman series
(B) Balmer series
(C) Paschen series
(D) Curie series
(E) Bohr series

Which of the following terms/quantities is most closely associated with "the measure of resistance of an object to length change under lengthwise tension or compression"?

(A) Bulk modulus
(B) Plastic deformation
(C) Shear modulus
(D) Elastic limit
(E) Young's modulus

Related to the historical development of understanding gravity, which is the proper chronological order for the work of these three scientists, from earliest to latest?

(A) Cavendish, Galileo, Newton

(B) Galileo, Cavendish, Newton

(C) Galileo, Newton, Cavendish

(D) Newton, Galileo, Cavendish

(E) Newton, Cavendish, Galileo

Which of the following people was a recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics?

(A) Frances Arnold

(B) Donna Strickland

(C) Tasuku Honjo

(D) Kip Thorne

(E) Joachim Frank

In physics experiments located deep underground, the two types of cosmic rays that most commonly reach the experimental apparatus are:

(A) alpha particles and neutrons

(B) protons and electrons

(C) iron nuclei and carbon nuclei

(D) muons and neutrinos

(E) positrons and electrons

Which of the following scientists was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956 and again in 1972?
(A) John Bardeen
(B) Enrico Fermi
(D) Hans Bethe
(E) Wolfgang Pauli
(C) Murray Gell-Mann

A P-type semiconductor is doped to produce one of the following. What will it produce:
(A) both holes and electrons
(B) positive electrons
(C) negative electrons
(D) holes
(E) positive protons

Who was the last person to walk on the Moon?
(A) Buzz Aldrin
(B) Eugene Cernan
(C) Neil Armstrong
(D) Sally Ride
(E) Gus Grissom

The James Webb Space Telescope was launched on December 25, 2021 and arrived at its destination, LaGrange Point 2, on January 24, 2022. This point is approximately 1,500,000 km from the Earth and it is where the telescope will orbit the sun.
11. What was James Webb's former occupation?
(A) Astronomer
(B) Telescope designer/engineer
(C) Silicon valley entrepreneur and financier of the telescope project
(D) Space shuttle astronaut/pilot
(E) NASA Administrator
12. How long will it take the radio signal sent by the James Webb Space Telescope to reach the Earth?
(A) 0.005 s
(B) 0.05 s
(C) 5 s
(D) 50 s
(E) 5000 s

On October 4, the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three individuals, Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger, for experiments with entangled photons. In how many other categories are Nobel Prizes awarded?
(A) One
(B) Two
(C) Three
(D) Four
(E) Five

Two quantities are found to be inversely proportional to one another. When analyzing this relationship, a graph between $y$ and $\frac{1}{x}$ is plotted. This graph would show:
(A) a straight line bisecting the $y$-axis.
(B) a straight line through the origin.
(C) a parabolic curve.
(D) a hyperbolic curve.
(E) a straight line bisecting the $\frac{1}{x}$-axis.

The work of which of the following scientists is most closely associated with the discovery of the constancy of the speed of light?
(A) Albert Michelson and Edward Morley
(B) Christiaan Huygens and Augustin-Jean Fresnel
(C) Ernest Rutherford, Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden
(D) Heinrich Hertz
(E) Willebrord Snell

Which recent experiment in physics has provided further evidence supporting the existence of dark matter?
(A) Observation of gravitational lensing effects around a distant galaxy cluster.
(B) Detection of high-energy neutrinos from a distant astrophysical source.
(C) Measurement of the cosmic microwave background radiation with unprecedented precision.
(D) Discovery of a new particle with properties consistent with those predicted for dark matter.
(E) Detection of gamma-ray bursts from the collision of two neutron stars.

NASA launched Apollo 8 on December 21, 1968. What was unique about this mission?
(A) It was the first mission to land on the moon without a crew.
(B) It was the first mission to fly to the moon with a crew.
(C) It was longest mission to the moon.
(D) It was the shortest mission to the moon.
(E) It was a one-way mission to the moon.

Which of the following two quantities have the same dimensions?
(A) Work and torque
(B) Power and moment of inertia
(C) Work and angular displacement
(D) Force and angular momentum
(E) Power and radius of circular motion

Which of the following Physics Nobel Laureates does not have degree in physics?
(A) Albert Einstein
(B) Guglielmo Marconi
(C) Riccardo Giacconi
(D) George Smith
(E) Peter Higgs

Auroras produced in the Earth's atmosphere often occur following a phenomenon known as a CME, which is an abbreviation for ...
(A) Carbon Molecule Excitation
(B) Celestial Magnetic Event
(C) Coronal Mass Ejection
(D) Cosmic Microwave Energy
(E) Coupled Monopolar Electromagnetism