PHYSICS RIDDLES

1) 1. I am a type of electric circuit. 5) 1.I am a type of logic gate.

2. I am named for a hinged device whose function [Link] output is high when all my inputs are low.
is to close an opening. [Link] output is low when all my inputs are high.
3. I am characterized by a set of inputs whose [Link] output is again high when at least one input
states determine my output. is low.
4. My simplest kind has only one input and 5. If my output is only low when all my inputs are
one output. high
5. I am the electrical realization of the operators What type of gate am I?
in Boolean algebra. ANSWER: NAND
6. Everything about me is logical.
Who am I? 6) 1. I am a physical quantity you may have first
ANSWER: LOGIC GATE encountered in your study of mechanics.
2. I have dimensions of work But the joule is not
2)1. I am a property of a periodic propagating my SI unit.
disturbance. 3. I quantify the turning effect of a force.
2. Therefore, I am a property of a wave. 4. I am to force what angular momentum is to
3. I describe a relationship that can exist between linear momentum.
particle displacement and wave propagation Who am I?
direction in a mechanical wave. ANSWER: Torque
4. I am only applicable to waves for which
displacement is perpendicular to the direction (7)1. I am a type of spectrum emitted by matter.
of wave propagation. 2. I am also observed in absorption spectra.
5. I am that property of an electromagnetic wave 3. I am characterized by discreteness,
which is demonstrated using a polaroid film. 4. Because of which I can form series.
Who am I? 5. For hydrogen, portions of me form series that are
ANSWER: Polarization given names such as Lyman, Balmer, and so on.
Who am I?
3) 1. I am a tubular device that usually contains a gas
ANSWER: Line spectrum
at low pressure.
2. I have a central electrode wire which is held at
8) 1. I am a city near the border between Ukraine and
a high potential relative to the case of the device.
Belarus.
3. Ions are produced when suitable particles enter a
2. I gained world-wide notoriety for an event which
window that I have.
occurred April 26, 1986.
4. In this way, I indicate the presence and intensity
3. Since then, I have been associated with the
of ionizing radiation.
world’s most catastrophic nuclear power event.
Who am I?
4. That event showed that a major nuclear accident
ANSWER: Geiger-Müller tube
at one location can spread radioactive
1.4) My name has been used for electricity. contaminants throughout the world.
2. And persons capable of accomplishing much are 5. Today, I am a ghost town, a tourist destination,
said to have lots of me. and a wildlife haven.
3. But I am simply a physical quantity. Who am I?
4. I am to work what jerk is to acceleration. ANSWER: Chernobyl
5. Work is to me what displacement is to velocity.
Who am I?
ANSWER : Power
1
 (9) 1. I am a type of surface. 2. That was the first to directly demonstrate
2. I can be a plane surface, a spherical surface, or a quantization of atomic energies.
cylindrical surface. 3. I bear the names of the two gentlemen, James
3. Indeed, I can have complicated geometry. and Gustav,
4. I am a surface in a region where an electric field 4. Who first carried me out.
exists. 5. In a student laboratory, I come as a tube with
5. No work is done when a point charge is moved cathode and anode and all
from one point on me to another. 6. So that electrons undergo inelastic collisions with
6. Wherever you find yourself on me, the value is atoms only at particular energies.
the same. Who am I?
Who am I? ANSWER: Frank-Hertz experiment
ANSWER: Equipotential surface
(15) 1. I am a scalar quantity closely associated with a
(10)1. Thrust, field, current: particular vector quantity.
2. Thumb, first finger, second finger! 2. I am an electromagnetic quantity.
3. I am only a rule, 3. I am featured in Faraday’s law of electromagnetic
4. A left-handed rule. induction.
5. I determine direction relationships for an electric 4. Induced emfs equal my rate of decrease.
motor. 5. My SI unit is the weber.
Who am I? Who am I?
ANSWER: Fleming left hand rule ANSWER: Magnetic flux

(12) 1. I am an object which under ideal conditions may (16) 1. I am a physical property of a material.
follow a path that is a conic section. 2. I am closely associated with speed;
2. In some common cases you have witnessed, my 3. However, I am a dimensionless quantity.
path is a parabola. 4. I characterize the change in velocity an
3. I am the object of study in ballistics. electromagnetic wave undergoes when it crosses
4. I am that which is launched into space. the boundary between two media.
5. I am a projected object. 5. I am the ratio of speed of light in vacuum to
Who am I? speed of light in a medium.
ANSWER: Projectile Who am I?
ANSWER: Refractive index
(13)1. I am a force.
2. You would be right in calling me the force (17)1. I am a phenomenon that occurs in close
3. Because I am everywhere you look. association with change.
4. I am electromagnetic. 2. Indeed, you only observe me when change is
5. I specify the force on a charged particle occurring.
6. Moving in a region where both electric and 3. I am an inductive phenomenon.
magnetic fields may be present. 4. I produce electromagnetic fields.
Who am I? 5. I am the principle underlying the operation of a
ANSWER: Lorentz force transformer.
Who am I?
ANSWER: Electromagnetic induction

1. I am a phenomenon that occurs in damped

(14)1. I am an experiment
2
(18)
oscillatory systems. 2. I am an idealization.
2. I am observed in driven oscillatory systems. 3. Distance between any two parts of me never
3. I am characterized by large amplitude oscillations. varies.
4. Those large amplitude oscillations are most 4. I am incapable of deformation.
prominent at a specific driving frequency. 5. I am that body whose elastic modulus is infinite.
5. I am credited with the collapse of the Tacoma Who am I?
Narrows Bridge. ANSWER: Rigid body
Who am I?
ANSWER: Resonance (23)1. I am an object that transmits electromagnetic
(19)1. I am a periodic disturbance radiation.
2. That propagates in a direction parallel to the 2. I transform a plane wave front into a wave front
oscillatory motion I produce. that converges towards a point;
3. I am therefore a wave phenomenon. 3. And I transform a spherical wave front centered
4. I only propagate in material media: in gases, on that same point into a plane wave.
liquids, and solids. 4. You own two of me, each of which is rather more
5. If you can hear me, sophisticated than the version of me you
Who am I? encounter in physics laboratories.
ANSWER: Sound 5. I am the eye of a camera.
Who am I?
(20)1. I am a property of a moving object. ANSWER: Converging lens
2. My value depends on the mass of the moving
object. (24)1. I am a process in which energy is transmitted
3. I change when a force does work on an object. between two regions.
4. I am the energy possessed by an object because 2. I am also a process in which energy is emitted
of its motion. from an object.
5. At low speeds of an object, I am proportional 3. Further, I am the energetic emissions that emanate
to the square of the object’s speed. from an object.
Who am I? 4. I can be particulate or electromagnetic in nature.
Kinetic energy 5. I am the principal mode of energy transfer from
the sun to the planets.
(21)1. I am a phenomenon that occurs at the boundary Who am I?
between two media. ANSWER: Radiation
2. I also occur in a medium whose density is not
uniform. (25)1. I am a force but I am not a vector quantity
3. I am the change in direction of propagation of a 2. And my SI unit is not the newton.
wave that occurs because of differences in 3. Yet I am associated with motion.
propagation velocity at different points. 4. I am the line integral of the electric field.
4. I occur in such a manner that the waves and 5. I am the rate of decrease of magnetic flux.
normal at a boundary all lie in the same plane. Who am I?
5. I am the deflection that occurs when light passes ANSWER: Electromotive force
from one medium into another of different
propagation speed.
Who am I?
ANSWER: Refraction
(22) 1. I am an object of many parts. (26)1. I am an interference phenomenon.
3 2. I am characterized by periodic variations in wave
 amplitude. waves.
3. I occur when waves of slightly different frequency 3. I account for differences between the wavelength
are superposed. of a spectral line emitted by a stationary and a
4. I am characterized by a frequency which equals moving atom of the same element.
the detuning between the superposed waves. 4. I am exploited in a device for determining the
5. I am what you hear when two notes of slightly speed of vehicles travelling on a highway.
different frequency are sounded together. 5. I am the phenomenon in which an approaching
Who am I? siren sounds different from a receding siren that
ANSWER: Beats sounds the same note as the approaching one.
Who am I?
(27)1. I am a physical property of a rigid body. ANSWER: Doppler effect
2. I have the dimension of the product of mass and
length squared. (31)1. I am a property of an atomic nucleus.
3. I am a measure of the tendency of a body to resist 2. I am not the atomic number of the nucleus
changes in its rotational state. 3. Neither am I the mass number of the nucleus.
4. I relate angular velocity and rotational kinetic 4. But I am determined by both the atomic number
energy. and the neutron number of the nucleus.
5. I am the ratio of angular momentum to angular 5. I am the difference between the mass of a nucleus
velocity. and the total mass of the nucleons it contains.
Who am I? Who am I?
ANSWER: Moment of inertia ANSWER: Mass defect

(28)1. I am a theorem in mechanics

(32)1. I am a model of the atom.
2. That is named after a French scientist named
2. That was proposed in 1904 soon after the
Bernard.
discovery of the electron.
3. I apply to the equilibrium state of an object.
3. I predate the discovery of the nucleus
4. I give the relationship between three coplanar
4. So I can be forgiven for likening the positive
concurrent forces that act on a body in
charge distribution in an atom to soup or pudding.
equilibrium.
Who am I?
5. I recall the sine rule.
ANSWER: Thomson model
Who am I?
ANSWER: Lami’s theorem
(33)1. I am a parameter used in the description of
collision phenomena.
(29)1. I am a German scientist
2. Who deduced the nature of planetary orbits. 2. I am attributed to Isaac Newton.
3. I discovered three empirical laws that accurately 3. I am a dimensionless parameter
describe planetary motion. 4. With a value of unity for perfectly elastic
4. One of my laws gives the geometry of the orbit of collisions.
a planet. 5. I am the ratio of the relative velocity after a
5. Another one of my three laws relates orbital collision between two particles to the relative
period of a planet to a linear dimension of the velocity before the collision.
orbit. Who am I?
Who am I? ANSWER: Coefficient of restitution
ANSWER: Johannes Kepler
(30)1. I am a phenomenon associated with waves. (34) 1. I am a tension.
2. I occur for both transverse and longitudinal 4 2. Not the axial load in a rod or the tension in a
string but a tension all the same.
 3. I operate on the surface of liquids. whereas my conduction band is empty.
4. I am responsible for the phenomenon of capillary 4. My electrical conductivity increases as
rise. temperature is increased from absolute zero.
5. I am the force per unit length that acts 5. I am the type of material that is used in fabricating
perpendicular to a line drawn on the surface of a active electronic devices.
liquid. Who am I?
Who am I? ANSWER: Semiconductor
ANSWER: Surface tension
(39)1. I am a relatively weak fundamental force.
(35)1. I am a property of a material. 2. Unlike the weak force, I am not implicated in any
2. I have the same dimension and SI unit as pressure. decay processes.
3. I am the stress at the peak of a stress-strain curve. 3. I am a long-range force
4. For ductile materials, I occur before fracture. 4. And I obey an inverse-square law.
5. I am ultimate. 5. I am the fundamental force that is responsible for
Who am I? the attractive interaction between photons and
ANSWER: Ultimate Tensile Strength massive objects.
(Or tensile strength) Who am I?
ANSWER: Gravity
(36)1. I am a physical property of a substance. (Or gravitation)
2. I am a measure of the ability of a material to
conduct electricity. (40)1. I am electromagnetic radiation
3. I am the ratio of electric current density to electric 2. Emitted by a charged particle as it decelerates and
field strength. loses energy in the field of another charged
4. For most metals, my value decreases as particle.
temperature increases. 3. Because of this, my name contains the German
5. The SI unit of my reciprocal is Ω m. word for braking.
Who am I? 4. I am characterized by a continuous spectrum.
ANSWER: Electrical conductivity 5. I accompany characteristic x-rays emitted from
an x-ray tube.
(37)1. I am a quantity that characterizes propagation of Who am I?
electromagnetic waves. ANSWER: Bremsstrahlung
2. I am a dimensionless number
3. Which for a given material varies with (41)1. I am an experiment in science.
wavelength. 2. I was first conducted by Michael Faraday.
4. My dependence on wavelength gives rise to 3. So I am named after him.
chromatic dispersion. 4. I demonstrate that electric charge resides on the
5. I am the property of a material that determines the surface of a conductor.
degree to which a ray is bent on passing from Who am I?
vacuum into the medium. ANSWER: Faraday ice pail experiment
Who am I?
ANSWER: Refractive index
(42)1. I am a project
(38)1. I am a type of material that is distinguished by 2. I was born in 1942 and died in 1946 during World
band gap size. War (II)
5
3. My hometown is Los Alamos
2. I cease to conduct electricity at absolute zero
4. I am associated with the strongest fundamental
3. Because at absolute zero, my valence band is full
 forces in the universe 4. I am a passive two-terminal component
5. I am also associated with the famous phrase, 5. I am also implemented within integrated circuits
“I am now become death, the destroyer of 6. Think about the Ohm’s law and there I am
worlds”.
7. If I am used to reduce current flow,
6. You still don’t know me, the head of my family is
R. J Oppenheimer. then who am I?
Who am I? ANSWER: RESISTOR
ANSWER: MANHATTAN PROJECT
(47) 1. I am a very common surname especially in France
2. But the scientist I was named after had nothing to
(43)1. I am an English scientist born on 22 September do with France
1971
3. I am an SI unit system
2. Though a chemist, I am highly associated with the
world of physics 4. The American scientist I was named after lived
3. For this achievement I have a quantity in physics about the same time as Michael Faraday
named after me 5. In fact, I discovered electromagnetic induction
4. I discovered benzene independently
5. Think of electromagnetism and my name comes 6. If a current of 1A flows through a coil, producing
to mind a flux linkage of 1 weber turn, you can clearly
6. If you still don’t know me, my name suggests I
say that the coil has a self-inductance of 1 of me
am day of the week.
Who am I? 7. If I am the unit of electrical inductance,
ANSWER: MICHEAL FARADAY then who am I?
ANSWER: HENRY
(44)1. I am a law of nature.
2. I am a conservation law. (48) 1. I was a Renaissance polymath, active as a
3. I am a law of mechanics and of heat. mathematician, astronomer and a catholic canon
4. I express the relationship between internal energy,
2. I was born on 19th February 1473 in Torun,
heat, and work.
Who am I? Poland and died on 24th May 1543 in Frombork,
ANSWER: First Law of Thermodynamics Poland
3. I was the youngest of four children and attended
(45) 1. I am just a 4-letter word the University of Bologna, Italy.
2. But I play a very important role in our everyday 4. I am noted for my works on the earth and
conversations especially as science students
heavenly bodies
3. Think about the number 1
4. Or the identity element 5. I wrote six books Concerning the Revolution of
5. I am a definite magnitude of a physical quantity Heavenly Orbs
defined and adopted by a convention or by law 6. In 1543 (just two months before my death), I
6. Have you heard of the meter, the pascal, the henry publish my manuscript ‘De Revolutionibus
etc Orbium Coelestium’ (On the Revolution of
7. Well, you cannot measure your mass or weight Heavenly Spheres).
without adding me to the figure you obtain. 7. I proposed the theory that, the planets revolved
around the sun, when most people believed that
8. So, who am I?
Earth was the center of the universe.
ANSWER: UNIT (do not accept the plural) Who am I?
ANSWER: Nicolaus Copernicus
(46)1. My name may indicate to you that, I am part of a (49) 1. I am a realm of science.
rebel government group, but 6 2. My foundational scale is a limit first theorized by
2. In reality, I am just an electrical component Richard Feynman in his famous 1959 lecture
3. I am very important electronic circuits "There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom."
 3. I thrive in a realm where quantum effects become 3. I am often used to describe the distances between
significant, and surface interactions dictate atoms in a solid.
behavior more than bulk properties. 4. I am not an SI unit.
4. I enable carbon to form tubes over 100 times 5. I am used in crystallography and spectroscopy.
stronger than steel yet just a few nanometers 6. I exist at a scale where atomic radii, bond lengths,
wide, revolutionizing materials science. and X-ray wavelengths are commonly measured.
5. My name comes from a prefix meaning "dwarf," 7. My symbol is a capital letter from the
yet my impact is anything but small. Scandinavian alphabet, and my value is precisely
0.1 nanometers.
6. My advancements have led to molecular
8. My length is exactly 10−10 meters, making me
machines, targeted drug delivery, and self- one-tenth the size of a nanometer.
cleaning surfaces, mimicking nature at an Who am I?
atomic level. ANSWER: Ångström
7. I make possible transistors smaller than a virus,
allowing modern microprocessors to contain (52)1. My formulation in 1924 helped lay the foundation
tens of billions of them. for quantum mechanics, bridging the gap between
8. My name combines a metric prefix denoting one- waves and particles.
billionth and a discipline dedicated to 2. I reveal that motion and wave-like behavior are
manipulating matter at this minuscule scale intertwined, even in the realm of particles.
9. I am a branch in physics. 3. My existence challenged classical intuition,
Who am I? suggesting that matter exhibits properties once
ANSWER: Nanotechnology thought exclusive to light.
4. I am inversely proportional to momentum,
(50)1. I am a physical quantity meaning faster objects have shorter versions of
2. I am measured relative to a fundamental reference me.
that cannot be reduced any further. 5. My namesake was awarded the Nobel Prize in
3. Unlike my counterpart, I never take negative Physics in 1929 for proposing that all matter has
values, no matter how extreme the conditions. an associated wave.
4. I am preferred over my relative counterpart 6. My equation shows that I describe the wavelength
because I account for all contributions of moving particles, from electrons to baseballs—
5. My standard reference is the near-perfect vacuum though only noticeable at atomic scales.
of space, at approximately 10−12 Pa in the Who am I?
interstellar medium. ANSWER: de Broglie wavelength
6. I am the sum of two components: one caused by
molecular collisions with a surface and another (53)1. I am a physical quantity, appearing often in
from atmospheric influence. Mechanics.
7. My name reflects my totality, incorporating 2. May people confuse me with force,
atmospheric pressure rather than measuring 3. But they only have part of the story because I am
deviation from it. involved with surface area as well,
Who am I? 4. And the smaller the area is, the larger I am.
ANSWER: Absolute pressure Who am I?
ANSWER: Pressure, or Stress.
(51) 1. I was named after a Swedish physicist who made (54)1. I am a common neurological disease
groundbreaking contributions to the study of light 7 2. I was discovered in 1879
and spectral lines. 3. I was first isolated from the mineral called
2. I bridge the gap between nanometers and euxenite
picometers, 4. I am now known to be abundant in the sun and
 certain stars than here on earth constructive too.
5. I occupy a strategic position on the periodic table Who am I?
being the gateway to the d transition elements. ANSWER: interference
So who am I?
(59)1. Though I am not a wave, I am described using
ANSWER: SCANDIUM
terms like frequency and period.
2. I prefer to move about freely, but sometimes I do
(55)1. I am an expression of time.
not have my way when friction appears and
2. In fact, the direction of turn of the hands of a dampens my spirits
clock has a link with me. 3. If you can hear a sound, then I am at work inside
3. My SI unit is the newton meter. your ears.
4. I am a turning effect. Who am I?
5. I am applied in levers such as seesaws and ANSWER: Vibration
crowbars.
WHO AM I? (60)1. I am a fundamental force of nature.
ANSWER: MOMENT 2. Even though I have a very small constant, I am
the most powerful of all forces because
(56)1. If all pretensions are removed, I am just a beam of 3. I can crush matter into the unknown, and lock
light. energy up for ever.
2. I am found in homes, offices, hospitals, 4. However, you would be deceived by my looks
supermarkets, laboratories and so on. because I am purely attractive.
3. I find widespread use in communications and Who am I?
entertainment. ANSWER: Gravity
4. When I was invented, I was called the “Death
Ray”.
5. But I have rather brought life and joy to many. (61) 1. I am a device
2. When there is no air resistance, I am extremely
6. I am special because the photons in my beam are
time conscious.
all in phase and have the same energy. 3. All that I require is the right length,
WHO AM I? 4. And I can keep the time for as long as you please.
ANSWER: Laser 5. I am found in student laboratories and in certain
clocks.
(57)1. If you only look at my units, you could easily Who am I?
confuse me with my friend because we are both ANSWER: Pendulum
concerned with changing positions,
(62)1. I am a phenomenon
2. But whereas my friend does not mind where he
2. Whenever I occur, I seem to violate the
ends up, I am very concerned about where I am
going! conservation of energy
3. When a force is applied, we both respond by 3. But in reality, I only steal from mass
changing, 4. I can cause an element to be transformed into
4. But whereas my friend can only change in another element.
magnitude, I can change direction as well! 5. I was discovered by a very curious couple.
Who am I? Who am I?
ANSWER: velocity, [friend is speed] ANSWER: Radioactivity
(58)1. I am a phenomenon associated with waves. (63) 1. I am expressed as the cosine of an angle
2. I do not discriminate between transverse and 8 2. And the angle can be found from a phasor
longitudinal waves diagram.
3. I prefer dealing with two or more waves at the
3. Even though I have no effect on pure resistance,
same time, my business is in how they interact.
4. I can be destructive at times, but I can be 4. The efficiency of your electrical appliances depend
 on me, electrons on one side of an object.
5. Because I modify the power delivered from an 4. I create excess electric charge on an object when
alternating current source. it is brought near to but not touching a charged
Who am I? ANSWER: Power Factor. object. Who am I?
ANSWER: Charging by induction
(64)1. I am a law of physics,
2. Proposed by two scientists after whom I am (68)1. I am a dynamical property of an object.
named. 2. I depend on the mass of an object and its state of
3. I am expressed as a differential; I must be motion.
3. I am conserved when external forces add up to
integrated to be fully effective.
zero.
4. I can be expressed as an inverse square law 4. I am a vector.
5. I yield a value for magnetic field strength. 5. I am linear. Who am I?
Who am I? ANSWER: Linear momentum
ANSWER: Biot-Savart Law
(Biot and Savant’s Law) (69)1. I am a process that changes the state of a system.
2. Pressure does not remain constant with me so I
(65)1. I am a device associated with optical instruments am not an isobaric process.
such as film projectors and microscopes. 3. I am neither an isothermal process.
2. I am also associated with steam engines, where I 4. I occur without heat being absorbed or rejected
act as a reservoir and collect the part of the by the system. Who am I?
steam’s internal energy that has not been used in ANSWER: Adiabatic process
doing work on the piston.
3. In a car engine I receive and store electricity. (70) 1. I am a law of nature.
4. In optical instruments, my job is to concentrate 2. I give a quantitative description of one of the
the light diverging from a compact source. fundamental forces of nature.
5. My name suggests that I cool vapor and make it 3. I govern the interaction between all particles that
change to liquid. In a light microscope, I am possess mass.
located just below the stage 4. I describe interactions between objects large or
Who am I ? small, near or far, charged or neutral.
ANSWER: Condenser 5. I am universal. Who am I?
(66) ANS: Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation
1. I am a process, often mentioned in the same
breath as another process, with whom I have (71) 1. Although my name suggests the process
much in common. responsible for the Sun’s heat
2. My compatriot has been exploited to produce 2. I have nothing to do with nuclear reactions.
useful energy, but I have only been put to
3. I am instead associated with a change of state.
destructive use.
3. I require huge amounts of energy to occur, 4. I alone can liberate the constituents of a solid
4. Which is why I occur naturally in stars. object and cause them to flow.
5. My compatriot and I both convert mass into 5. I am thermal. Who am I?
energy. Who am I? ANSWER: Latent heat of fusion
ANSWER: Nuclear fusion. (72)1. I am a law of nature.
(67) 1. I am a process in which fundamental particles are 9 2. I am an inverse-square law;
transferred to or from an object. 3. But I am not Newton’s law of gravity.
2. I am most effective on metals, in which I can be 4. I am neither Coulomb’s law.
used to induce electric charge of either sign. 5. I describe magnetic fields produced by electric
3. I operate by creating an excess or a deficiency of
 circuits. 4. I can make you see in the dark if you have a
6. Electric current is to me as charge is to device that converts me to the visible range of
Coulomb’s law. Who am I? wavelengths.
ANSWER: Biot-Savart law 5. I am emitted by warm objects.
Who am I?
(73)1. Although my name suggests the process ANSWER: Infrared radiation
responsible for the Sun’s heat
2. I have nothing to do with nuclear reactions. (77)1. I am a property of a moving object.
3. I am instead associated with a change of state. 2. I am constant when no forces act on an object;
4. I alone can liberate the constituents of a solid 3. Indeed, I am constant when the net force on an
object and cause them to flow. object is zero.
5. I am thermal. Who am I? 4. I change by the same amount as the work done
ANSWER: Latent heat of fusion on an object.
5. I am scalar. Who am I?
(74)1. I am a state of equilibrium. ANSWER: Kinetic energy
2. I am characterized by unique values of
temperature and pressure. (78) 1. I am a natural law
3. I describe the thermodynamic state in which three 2. Named for one Isaac whose last name I bear.
phases co-exist. 3. I am not universal, if you know what I mean.
4. On a phase diagram, I am the intersection of three 4. I am also not concerned with kinematics and
phase regions. dynamics.
5. I am just a point. Who am I? 5. Under suitable conditions, I relate rate of heat loss
ANSWER: Triple point from an object and the temperature difference
between the object and its surroundings.
(75)1. I am a device that stores energy. Who am I?
2. I come in various sizes and shapes. ANSWER: Newton’s law of cooling
3. Strange as it may sound, I can store energy
in vacuum. (79)1. I am a phenomenon associated with waves.
4. I am distinguished by a pair of plates that may 2. I occur for both transverse and longitudinal
be maintained at different electric potentials. waves.
5. I am thus also a charge storage device. 3. I am not related to polarization of waves.
Who am I? 4. I however have everything to do with the
ANSWER: Capacitor frequency of a wave.
5. I occur when there is relative motion between
source and observer.
6. I account for the pitch variation of a passing siren.
Who am I?
ANSWER: Doppler effect

(76) 1. I am electromagnetic radiation. 10 (80)1. I am a device for transporting heat from one
2. Because I do not stimulate visual response in region to another.
humans, I am not usually thought of as light. 2. I operate on the basis of phase change:
3. But I can still transmit information about objects. 3. At my heat absorbing end, a liquid-to-gas phase
change occurs;
 4. At my other end, a gas-to-liquid phase change of motion of the object.
occurs. 5. Changes in me only occur when a net force acts.
5. I am more than just a pipe. Who am I?
Who am I? ANSWER: Linear momentum
ANSWER: Heat pipe
(85)1. I am a type of periodic disturbance.
(81)1. I am a type of image produced by optical devices. 2. I am characterized by a wide range of frequencies.
2. I may be a magnified version of the object that 3. I only propagate in the presence of material
produces me. media.
3. I may equally be a diminished version of my 4. I transport energy by compressions and
object. rarefactions of the medium in which I propagate.
4. I am formed by both concave and convex mirrors. 5. My compressions and rarefactions occur parallel
5. I am upright and I cannot be received on a screen. to the direction in which I propagate.
Who am I? Who am I?
ANSWER: Virtual image ANSWER : Sound

(82) 1. I am a type of motion in which acceleration is not (86)1. I am a property of a pair of circuits.
in the same direction as velocity. 2. I am determined by the size, shape, and proximity
2. In my simplest realization, acceleration is of the circuits.
perpendicular to velocity; 3. I quantify an inductive phenomenon.
3. In that case, motion occurs at constant speed. 4. I relate electromotive force in one circuit and rate
4. I am motion in which acceleration is directed of change of current in the other.
towards a fixed point. 5. I am called mutual.
5. I generate a path every point of which is Who am I?
equidistant from a fixed point. ANSWER: Mutual inductance
Who am I?
ANSWER: Circular motion (87)1. I am a wave phenomenon that occurs at the
boundary between two media.
(83)1. I am a type of electromagnetic radiation. 2. I occur for both longitudinal and transverse
2. I do not stimulate visual response in humans; waves.
3. But I can still transmit information about objects. 3. I can polarize an unpolarized transverse wave.
4. I can help you see through opaque objects. 4. I return the incident wave into the medium of
5. I may be generated by bombarding a metal target incidence.
with high energy electrons. Who am I?
Who am I? ANSWER: Reflection
ANSWER: X-ray

(84) 1. I am a property of a moving object. (88) 1. I am a property of a system of electrical

2. An object is in equilibrium whenever I am 11 conductors.
constant. 2. I quantify the capacity of a system of conductors
3. I am dependent on the mass and speed of a to store electric energy.
moving object. 3. I depend on the size, shape, and positions of the
4. I have a direction that is identical to the direction conductors.
 4. For a pair of plane parallel conductors, I vary as
the inverse distance between the conductors. (93)1. I might be called violence;
5. I am charge per unit potential. 2. But I am just a humble physical quantity.
Who am I? 3. I am a vector quantity.
ANSWER: Capacitance 4. I am the rate of change of linear momentum.
5. I am that which changes the state of rest of an
(89)1. I am a specific type of variation of certain object. Who am I?
physical quantities. ANSWER: Force
2. I am responsible for the claim that a photon has
zero mass. (94)1. I am an SI unit of a physical quantity.
3. I apply to the distance dependence of the 2. I am not a base unit.
electrostatic interaction. 3. My symbol contains the same two letters as in the
4. I also specify the distance dependence of the abbreviation for a state in the United States.
gravitational interaction. 4. I am named in honor of one Blaise.
5. If I am not direct, then 5. I am the SI unit for Young’s modulus.
Who am I? Who am I?
ANSWER: Inverse square ANSWER: Pascal

(90)1. I am a scientist for whom an SI unit is named. (95)1. I am a mode of heat transfer.
2. My name is also used for a coil 2. I can transport heat through solids, liquids, and
3. Which is used for transforming a high-frequency gases.
alternating signal into a high-voltage signal. 3. I transport heat without transporting the medium
4. I am among other things, an inventor, an electrical through which I operate.
engineer, and a physicist. 4. My distinguishing feature is my ability to
5. My last name is the SI unit for magnetic flux transport heat through vacuum.
density. Who am I? 5. I am the principal mode of heat transfer from the
ANSWER: Nikola Tesla sun to earth.
Who am I?
(91)1. My name suggests a one-to-one mathematical ANSWER: Radiation
relation;
2. But I am a physical quantity. (96) 1. I am a physical quantity used to describe an effect
3. My name calls up what happens when the point of forces produce.
application of a force moves in the direction of the 2. I am a vector quantity.
force. 3. I am given by the area under a force-time graph.
4. I am encountered in discussions of electron 4. For very short durations, I equal the product of
emission from heated or illuminated solids. force and duration.
5. I am the minimum photon energy required to eject 5. I am change in linear momentum. Who am I?
an electron from a surface. Who am I? ANSWER: Impulse
ANSWER: Work function (97)1. My name evokes a state of rest.
(92)1. I am a property of a wave. 2. However, I characterize moving objects as well as
2. I describe a periodic feature of a wave; 12 stationary ones.
3. But I have nothing to do with period. 3. I describe an object whose velocity is constant.
4. I relate frequency and wave velocity. 4. I describe a point on the path of an object at which
5. I have dimensions of length. acceleration is zero.
Who am I? 5. I describe the state of an object on which no net
ANSWER: Wavelength force acts.
 Who am I?
ANSWER: Equilibrium

(98)1. I am a physical property of a solid material.

2. I describe the behavior of a material that is subject
to tensile or compressive loads.
3. For small loads, I describe a linear relationship
between stress and strain.
4. However, I also describe a nonlinear stress-strain
regime.
5. I am that property of a material characterized by a
return to the original state when stress is removed.
Who am I?
ANSWER: Elasticity
Or elastic property

(99)1. I am electromagnetic radiation spanning a small

portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
2. My longest wavelength is about 750 nm.
3. My shortest wavelength is about 400 nm.
4. I am sandwiched between ultraviolet radiation and
infrared radiation.
5. I span the rainbow.
Who am I?
ANSWER: Visible radiation
Or light

(100) 1. I am an isotope of an element.

2. Deuterium and I are isotones.
3. Tritium and I are isobars.
4. I am not an isotope of hydrogen.
5. I am a decay product of tritium.
Who am I?
ANSWER: Helium-3

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