MCAT Physics Review

Translational Motion

• Units and dimensions
• Vectors, components
• Vector addition
• Speed, velocity (average and instantaneous)
• Acceleration
• Freely falling bodies

Force and Motion, Gravitation

• Center of mass
• Newton's first law, inertia
• Newton's second law (F = ma)
• Newton's third law, forces equal and opposite
• Concept of a field
• Law of gravitation (F = Gm1m2/r^2)
• Uniform circular motion
• Centripetal Force (F=mv²/r)
• Weight
• Friction, static and kinetic
• Motion on an inclined plane
• Analysis of pulley systems
• Force

Equilibrium and Momentum

• Equilibrium
  • Concept of force, units
  • Translational equilibrium (Sum of Fi = 0)
  • Rotational equilibrium (Sum of Torque = 0)
  • Analysis of forces acting on an object
  • Newton's first law, inertia
  • Torques, lever arms
  • Weightlessness
• Momentum
  • Momentum = mv
  • Impulse = Ft
  • Conservation of linear momentum
  • Elastic collisions
  • Inelastic collisions

Work and Energy

• Work
  • Derived units, sign conventions
  • Amount of work done in gravitational field is path-independent
  • Mechanical advantage
  • Work-kinetic energy theorem
  • Power
• Energy
  • Kinetic energy: KE = 1/2 mv^2; units
  • Potential energy
    • PE = mgh (gravitational, local)
    • PE = 1/2kx^2 (spring)
    • PE = -GmM/r (gravitational, general)
  • Conservation of energy
  • Conservative forces
  • Power, units

Waves and Periodic Motion

• Periodic motion
  • Amplitude, period, frequency
  • Phase
  • Hooke's law, force F= -kx
  • Simple harmonic motion; displacement as a sinusoidal function of time
  • Motion of a pendulum
  • General periodic motion: velocity, amplitude
• Wave Characteristics
  • Transverse and longitudinal waves
  • Wavelength, frequency, velocity
  • Amplitude, intensity
  • Supposition of waves, interference, addition
  • Resonance
  • Standing waves, nodes
  • Beat frequencies
  • Refraction and diffraction

Sound

• Production of sound
• Relative speed of sound in solids, liquids and gases
• Intensity of sound (decibel units, log scale)
• Attenuation
• Doppler effect (moving sound source or observer, reflection of sound from a moving object)
• Pitch
• Resonance in pipes and strings
• Harmonics
• Ultrasound

Fluids and Solids

• Fluids
  • Density, specific gravity
  • Buoyancy, Archimedes' principle
  • Hydrostatic pressure
    • Pascal's law
    • P = pgh (pressure vs. depth)
  • Viscosity: Poiseuille flow
  • Continuity equation (A·v = constant)
  • Concept of turbulence at high velocities
  • Surface tension
  • Bernoulli's equation
• Solids
  • Density
  • Elastic properties (elementary properties)
  • Elastic limit
  • Thermal expansion coefficient
  • Shear
  • Compression

Electrostatics and Electromagnetism

• Electrostatics
  • Charge, conductors, charge conservation
  • Insulators
  • Coulomb's law (F = kq₁q₂/r², sign conventions)
  • Electric field
    • field lines
    • field due to charge distribution
  • Potential difference, absolute potential at point in space
  • Equipotential lines
  • Electric dipole
    • definition of dipole
    • behavior in electric field
    • potential due to dipole
  • Electrostatic induction
  • Gauss' law
• Magnetism
  • Definition of the magnetic field B
  • Existence and direction of force on charge moving in magnetic field
• Electromagnetic Radiation (Light)
  • Properties of electromagnetic radiation (general properties only)
    • radiation velocity equals constant c, in vacuo
    • radiation consists of oscillating electric and magnetic fields that are mutually perpendicular to each other and to the propagation direction
  • Classification of electromagnetic spectrum (radio, infrared, UV, X-rays, etc.)
• Magnetism
  • Orbits of charged particles moving in magnetic field
  • General concepts of sources of the magnetic field
  • Nature of solenoid, toroid
  • Ampere's law for magnetic field induced by current in straight wire and other simple configurations
  • Comparison of E and B relations
    • force of B on a current
    • energy

Electronic Circuit Elements

• Circuit elements
  • Current (I = ΔQ/Δt, sign conventions, units)
  • Battery, electromotive force, voltage
  • Terminal potential, internal resistance of battery
  • Resistance
    • Ohm's law (I = V/R)
    • resistors in series
    • resistors in parallel
    • resistivity (ρ = RA/L)
  • Capacitance
    • concept of parallel-plate capacitor
    • energy of charged capacitor
    • capacitors in series
    • capacitors in parallel
    • dielectric
  • Discharge of a capacitor through a resistor
  • Conductivity theory
• Circuits
  • Power in circuits (P = VI, P = I²R)
• Alternating Currents and Reactive Circuits
  • Root-mean-square current
  • Root-mean-square voltage

Light and Geometrical Optics

• Light (Electromagnetic Radiation)
  • Concept of interference, Young double slit experiment
  • Thin films, diffraction grating, single slit diffraction
  • Other diffraction phenomena, X-ray diffraction
  • Polarization of light
  • Doppler effect (moving light source or observer)
  • Visual spectrum, color
    • energy
    • lasers
• Geometrical Optics
  • Reflection from plane surface (angle of incidence equals angle of reflection)
  • Refraction, refractive index n, Snell's law (n₁sinθ₁ = n₂sinθ₂)
  • Dispersion (change of index of refraction with wavelength)
  • Conditions for total internal reflection
  • Spherical mirrors
    • mirror curvature, radius, focal length
    • use of formula (1/p) + (1/q) = 1/f with sign conventions
    • real and virtual images
  • Thin lenses
    • converging and diverging lenses, focal length
    • use of formula (1/p) + (1/q) = 1/f, with sign conventions
    • real and virtual images
    • lens strength, diopters
    • lens aberration
  • Combination of lenses
  • Ray tracing
  • Optical instruments

Atomic and Nuclear Structure (Physics portion)

• Atomic Structure and Spectra
  • Emission spectrum of hydrogen (Bohr model)
  • Atomic energy levels
    • quantized energy levels for electrons
    • calculation of energy emitted or absorbed when an electron changes energy levels
• Atomic Nucleus
  • Atomic number, atomic weight
  • Neutrons, protons, isotopes
  • Nuclear forces
  • Radioactive decay: alpha, beta, gamma, half-life, stability, exponential decay, semi-log plots
  • General nature of fission
  • General nature of fusion
  • Mass deficit, energy liberated, binding energy

Basic Concepts and General Techniques (old aamc topic)

This entire section has been taken out of the official aamc topics list.

• Units and dimensions
  • Metric units:
    • conversions within metric system
    • conversion from metric to English units
    • conversion within English system
  • Dimensional balance, checking equations for dimensional correctness
  • Significant figures
  • Numerical estimation
• Basic concepts
  • Mass, length, time
  • Role of experiment and measurement
• Graphing techniques
  • Cartesian co-ordinate system
  • Use of semi-log graph paper
  • Use of log-log graph paper
• Error analysis
  • Random vs. systematic errors
  • Propagation of errors
  • Mean and standard deviation
  • Chi
  • Student t

Source: Official MCAT physics topics were obtained directly from the AAMC.