Unit 7: Oscillations
Physics 1 · Unit 7 · Paper 3

Oscillations unit test

A test on this unit alone, marked as a percentage and a letter grade — for the test your class is actually sitting, rather than for May. Answer everything, then submit once: seeing the answer to question 3 before attempting question 4 makes the final percentage meaningless.

Paper 1Paper 2Paper 3
Each paper is built from this unit’s 39 terms and is the same for everyone, so a teacher can assign “Unit 7, Paper 3” and every student sits the identical test. Multiple choice is marked objectively; the written sections you mark yourself against the model answer and rubric.
Suggested time 34 min 31 points0/17 attempted
1

Limits of the pendulum formula

2

Amplitude independence

3

Maximum speed in SHM

4

A spring keeps the same period on the Moon

5

What makes an oscillation simple harmonic

6

The two extremes of an oscillation

7

Period of a simple pendulum

8

Determining k from a graph

9

Where speed is maximum

10

Amplitude

11

Squaring a period to linearize it

12

Driven oscillation and resonance

Short answer 1. Define or explain: Velocity leads displacement by a quarter cycle

3 pts

Short answer 2. Define or explain: Pendulum on another planet

3 pts

Short answer 3. Define or explain: Where acceleration is maximum

3 pts

Short answer 4. Define or explain: Period from a T² graph

3 pts

Free response

7 pts

A student is given a spring of unknown stiffness, a set of known masses, a stand and a stopwatch, and is asked to determine the spring constant k experimentally. (a) Describe a procedure the student could follow, stating the quantities measured and how measurement uncertainty would be reduced. (b) Explain how the data should be graphed so that a straight line is produced, and state what the slope represents. (c) The student's graph has a small positive vertical intercept rather than passing through the origin. Give one physical reason this could occur.

Describe a procedure the student could follow, stating the quantities measured and how measurement uncertainty would be reduced.

Explain how the data should be graphed so that a straight line is produced, and state what the slope represents.

The student's graph has a small positive vertical intercept rather than passing through the origin. Give one physical reason this could occur.