test # 1 one hundred twenty ultrasound physics practice

Copyright 2009 Sound Diagnostics, Inc. PO Box 17328 Clearwater, FL 33762

www.sonoreview.com Sound Diagnostics, Inc. PO Box 17328 Clearwater, FL. 33762

Test # 1 One Hundred Twenty

Ultrasound Physics Practice Questions

Copyright Notice

This is copyright protected intellectual property. Phillip Crooms RDCS, RVT, RDMS

PO Box 17328 Clearwater, FL. 33762

In my experience, most multiple choice tests begin with the statement

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS: For each question, select the best answer

That is double speak for select the least wrong answer. It does not say the CORRECT answer. Of the 4 or 5 choices, the correct answer may not be there. Choose the least incorrect answer.

This gives the question writer latitude in answer choices. Get used to it. Short practice exams are available at the ARDMS website for a fee. You can get a feel for the exam format there.

Strategy to defeat a multiple choice test:

1) Read the question (do not look at the answer choices) cover with your hand 2) If you think you know the answer, uncover the choices. If the answer is there select it 3) If you cannot understand the question or don’t know the answer, skip the question

4) Repeat steps 1-3 until all questions have been answered. 5) When you have answered all the questions that you think you know the answer to, you end up with a

few that you have to “guess” DO NOT guess “C”

I made an honest effort to error check these questions, but there has to be an undetected error somewhere. If you find one and would like to share that

with me, e-mail from www.sonoreview.com. I will not argue ultrasound physics by telephone. You will find some of the answers arguable. That is in the nature

of the material. Real ultrasound physics is a very complex subject. The diagnostic medical sonographer only needs enough physics to pass the examinations



1. Regions of lower particle concentration in a sound wave are called called regions of (A) compression (B) reflections (C) rarefaction (D) decreased pressure 2. Phased array transducers suffer from (A) side lobes (B) grating lobes (C) lateral lobes (D) lobar degradation 3. Which is not a receiver function (A) D to A conversion (B) demodulation (C) compression (D) none of the above 4. Demodulation is a performed by the (A) transmitter (B) receiver (C) amplifier (D) pulser 5. Color Doppler is subject to aliasing (A) true (B) false 6. The intensity reflection coefficient is expressed in what units (A) watts/cm/sec (B) watts/sec (C) watts/cm2 (D) percent 7. A minimum frame rate of ______ is necessary for flicker free viewing



(A) 30 (B) 60 (C) 16 (D) 32 8. Absorption directly proportional to (A) frequency (B) wavelength (C) elasticity (D) none of the above 9. The Q value of a transducer is related to (A) pulse duration (B) damping duty (C) transmission factor (D) frequency bandwidth (E) transmission fluid 10. When ultrasound strikes a curved surface ________can occur (A) scattering (B) ghost image (C) edge artifact (D) comet tail artifact 11. The acoustic impedance of the backing material has nothing to do with transmission fluid (A) True (B) False 12. The operator control that adjusts transmitted intensity is (A) gain (B) reject (C) compression (D) depth of field (E) none of the above 13. Distance is not an acoustic variable



(A) True (B) False 14. Propagation speed is not affected by the source (A) True (B) False 15. Axial resolution is equal to (A) beam width (B) pulse length (C) display resolution (D) none of the above 16. Electronically steered scanners (A) have better resolution (B) have no moving parts (C) produce grating lobes (D) none of the above 17. Ultrasound equipment has better __________ than ___________ (A) lateral resolution, temporal gain (B) signal to noise ratio, output power (C) axial resolution, lateral resolution (D) lateral resolution, axial resolution 18. A transducer crystal used in research laboratory high frequency work would likely be (A) quartz (B) zirconium (C) PZT-5 (D) none of the above 19. A beam intensity profile is plotted with a (A) phantom (B) phonograph (C) gramaphone (D) hydrophone



20. If reflected intensity is subtracted from incident intensity __________ remains (A) transmission fluid (B) transmitted intensity (C) transmission coefficient (D) one 21. The minimum number of bits in a display system to display 16 shades of gray is (A) 2 (B) 4 (C) 8 (D) 16 22. Impedance differences at a boundary will cause (A) reflection (B) refraction (C) attenuation (D) diffraction (E) scattering 23. The transducer matching layer purpose is to (A) reduce refriction (B) reduce abzorption (C) reduce pulse length (D) reduce reflectivity 24. Image artifacts appearing as equally spaced parallel lines are probably from (A) reverberation (B) enhancement (C) multitissue (D) refraction (E) shadowing 25. In a phased array transducer, elements of the array are excited by altered time delays to steer the beam (A) True (B) False



26. The operator control that adjusts the range of the display gray scale (A) gain (B) power (C) smoothing (D) compression 27. Which are acoustic variables (A) temperature (B) distance (C) pressure (D) density (E) all of the above 28. Spatial pulse length is _____________ to the number of cycles in the pulse (A) inversely proportional (B) directly proportional (C) not related to (D) NASA 29. Lateral resolution is equal to (A) beam width (B) pulse length (C) display resolution (D) none of the above 30. An example of mechanical beam steering technology is (A) linear array (B) annular array (C) array shifting (D) none of the above 31. The average pulse repetition frequency of an ultrasound machine is (A) 1000 Hz (B) 100 Hz (C) 10 MHz (D) 1 MHz



32. The advantage of PZT over other manufactured materials is (A) inexpensive (B) shapes easily (C) sensitive at low voltages (D) all of the above 33. If the amplitude of a wave is doubled, intensity is (A) halved (B) doubled (C) quadrupled (D) increasee 6 times 34. Snell's Law predicts the angle of (A) reflection (B) refraction (C) scatter (D) none of the above 35. A 64 shade gray scale display requires a ______ bit memory system (A) 4 (B) 6 (C) 8 (D) 16 36. Perpendicular incidence of an ultrasound beam on an interface will not result in (A) refraction (B) attenuation (C) absorption (D) diffraction 37. Processing to reject weak echoes is called (A) FFT (B) TTF (C) integrating (D) thresholding 38. Structures that have lower amplitude echoes than surrounding tissue are



(A) hypoechoic (B) hyperechoic (C) anechoic (D) echogenic (E) hypogenic 39. Blue in color doppler represents venous flow. (A) True (B) False 40. Calculate the approximate velocity of a reflector if the Doppler shift is 4000 Hz , the angle is 60 degrees and the transducer is 5.0 MHz. (A) 120 cm/s (B) 50 cm/sec (C) 300 cm/s (D) 360 cm/s 41. In a transverse wave, particles move __________ to the direction of the wave (A) parallel (B) perpendicular (C) vertical (D) none of the above 42. Intensity is equal to (A) power multiplied by beam area (B) power divided by beam area (C) SPTP (D) SPTP times beam uniformity coefficient 43. If frequency is increased, the wavelength (A) increases (B) decreases (C) increases twice (D) remains constant



44. Which rod group would be used to test axial resolution ? (A) A (B) B (C) C (D) D (E) E 45. B-Mode means (A) body modulation (B) brightness motion (C) beam height modulation (D) brightness modulation 46. The common name for lead zirconate titanate is (A) lead oxide (B) false quartz (C) PZT-5 (D) Synth-P 47. The ____________ for a pulse to occur is the pulse duration (A) time (B) space (C) gate (D) distance



48. What is necessary for refraction to occur ? (A) normal incidence and dissimilar acoustic impedances (B) normal incidence and dissimilar densities of the media (C) oblique incidence and similar propagation speeds (D) oblique incidence and dissimilar propagation speeds 49. Pixel density is related to (A) temporal resolution (B) spatial resolution (C) data density (D) processor speed 50. A 5 MHz pulse passing through 4 cm of tissue will be attenuated by _____ (A) 1.5 dB (B) 3 dB (C) 5 dB (D) 10 dB (E) 15 dB 51. Which is the most common material for piezoelectric elements ? (A) POT (B) PZT (C) PST (D) QZ (E) OZR 52. Shadowing occurs because of (A) Doppler shift (B) superverberation (C) perpendicular reflectors (D) weakly attenuating tissues (E) strongly attenuating tissues 53. Fast Fourier transform of doppler signals is the most common way to process color doppler images (A) True (B) False



54. Which device can be used for hardcopy of M-mode ? (A) multiformat camera (B) thermal printer (C) color printer (D) strip chart recorder (E) all of the above 55. In a transverse wave, particles move parallel to the direction of the wave (A) True (B) False 56. Which is specific to pulsed ultrasound only (A) SATA (B) SPTA (C) SAPA (D) PTA 57. If frequency is decreased, wavelength (A) increases (B) decreases (C) increases twice (D) remains constant



58. Which rod group would be used to test lateral resolution ? (A) A (B) B (C) C (D) D (E) E 59. The percentage of time a pulsed ultrasound machine is in receive mode (A) 10% (B) 50% (C) 75% (C) 99% (D) 100% 60. How many shades of gray can be represented with a 4 bit scan converter ? (A) 8 (B) 16 (C) 128 (D) 256 61. Frame rate is not dependant on (A) propagation speed (B) depth of view (C) line density (D) frequency



62. Refraction occurs only with oblique incidence. (A) true (B) false 63. Multiple identical reflectors at different depths are caused by (A) ring down (B) mirror effect (C) reverb (D) slice effect 64. Low frequency transducers have (A) better resolution and less penetration (B) better resolution and more penetration (C) reduced resolution and higher intensity (D) better resolution and more penetration (E) reduced resolution and less penetration 65. What is the appx. maximum frame rate with 150 scan lines and an image depth of 5 cm ? (A) 10 frames per second (B) 15 frames per second (C) 30 frames per second (D) 100 frames per second 66. Which may cause acoustic shadowing ? (A) gall stones (B) bone (C) renal calculi (D) all of the above 67. Rarefaction zone refers to an area of (A) low particle density (B) low pressure (C) low amplitude (D) all of the above



68. What is the peak pressure gradient across an aortic valve if the peak velocity is 3.5 m/s ? (A) 10 mmHg (B) 25 mmHg (C) 50 mmHg (D) 100 mmHg 69. In a longitudinal wave, particles move parallel to the direction of the wave (A) True (B) False 70. With higher the frequency, the greater the amount of ____________ (A) amplifier gain (B) specular refraction (C) Rayleigh scattering (D) reflectivity 71. If frequency is increased, penetration (A) increases (B) decreases (C) is halved (D) remains constant



72. Which rod group would be used to test dead zone ? (A) A (B) B (C) C (D) D (E) E 73. If frequency is doubled, wavelength___________ (A) is squared (B) is doubled (C) is halved (D) none of the above 74. Lateral resolution is equal to (A) PRP (B) period (C) wavelength (D) beam diameter 75. SPTA is expressed in (A) intensity (B) dB/cm2 (C) W/cm2 (D) Rayles



76. A sound beam is traveling from medium A to medium B. Medium A has a propagation speed of 1500 m/sec. Medium B has a propagation speed of 1600 m/sec. The angle of incidence is 40 degrees. What is the angle of transmission ? (A) greater than 45 degrees (B) equal to 45 degrees (C) less than 45 degrees (D) cannot be determined 77. Mirror image artifacts are caused by (A) side lobes (B) ring down (C) refraction (D) reflection 78. The intensity of ultrasound as it propagates through tissue, is reduced by (A) absorption (B) scattering (C) divergence (D) all of the above 79. Acoustic pressure is directly proportional to (A) intensity (B) amplitensity (C) acoustic velocity (D) acoustic impedance 80. An ____________ structure produces no echoes (A) anechoic (B) echogenic (C) sonologist (D) hypoechoic (E) hyperechoic



81. The frequency of ultrasound waves is defined as (A) reciprocals of wavelengths (B) cycles per second (C) pulses per second (D) oscillations 82. Cineloop is the storage of __________ images for playback and review. (A) digital (B) video (C) frame averaged (D) analog 83. Sound is a __________ wave (A) hydroponic (B) mechanical (C) hydrostatic (D) energy 84. The attenuation coefficient is the amount of attenuation (A) per dB (B) per square centimeter (C) per centimeter squared (D) per centimeter 85. If frequency is increased, resolution (A) decreases (B) increases (C) is doubled (D) remains constant



86. Which rod group would be used to test range accuracy ? (A) A (B) B (C) C (D) D (E) E 87. In an ultrasound wave, particle concentrations change. The lowest concetration is (A) sonization (B) compaction (C) compression (D) rarefaction 88. Ultrasound beams can be focused with (A) optical lens (B) acoustic lens (C) fresnel lens (D) all of the above 89. The piezoelectric properties of a transducer are lost if it is (A) subjected to mechanical impact (B) heated above the Curie point (C) both (D) neither



90. High intensity ultrasound is most commonly associated with (A) heat (B) capitation (C) chromesome damage (D) cellular wall rupture 91. Shadowing is seen distal to structures with (A) low impedance (B) high amplitude (C) high attenuation (D) low attenuation 92. A 2.5 MHz crystal is ________ as thick as a 5.0 MHz (A) twice (B) half (C) the same as 93. Television refreshes images at a frame rate of (A) 16 frames per second (B) 32 frames per second (C) 64 frames per second (D) 30 frames per second 94. Acoustic shadowing occurs posterior to (A) fluid (B) calcium (C) bladder (D) all of the above 95. Going from a medium of low velocity to a medium of high velocity, the frequency of the sound (A) increases (B) decreases (C) remains the same



96. Which prefix means 103 ? (A) Kilo (B) Centi (C) Meter (D) Mega 97. Sound waves can be described in terms of (A) amplitude (B) power (C) intensity (D) all of the above 98. The higher the frequency, the greater the ____________ (A) amplifier gain (B) specular refraction (C) attenuation coefficient (D) reflectivity 99. If frequency is increased, beam width (A) decreases (B) increases (C) diverges (D) remains constant 100. Gasses are more compressible than liquids (A) True (B) False 101. Which of the most common material used in ultrasound transducers ? (A) lead zirconium titanium (B) lead zirconium titanal (C) lead xirconate tightanate (D) lead zirconate titanate (E) cubic zirconium



102. The range of wavelengths in diagnostic ultrasound is (A) 1-2 mm (B) 2-5 mm (C) 0.5-10 mm (D) 0.1-1.5 mm 103. Linear phased array transducers beam steer by (A) angle lens (B) spinning mirror (C) pulses in unison (D) time delay of pulses 104. Rate of blood flow is directly proportional to the (A) viscosity (B) pressure gradient (C) radius of the vessel (D) circumference times stroke volume 105. Enhancement is a result of sound traveling through an area of (A) low attenuation (B) low propagation speed (C) low impedance (D) none of the above 106. A difference in velocity at a tissue boundary wcan cause (A) scattering (B) reflection (C) refraction (D) diffraction 107. Focusing of phased array transducers is done by (A) concave face (B) acoustic lens (C) time delay circuits (D) pulse duration phaseing



108. Structures with higher amplitude than surrounding tissues are (A) anechoic (B) echotoxic (C) hyperechoic (D) hypoechoic 109. Materials with higher _______________ have faster propagation speeds. (A) dB (B) compressibility (C) attenuation (D) density 110. What is left ventricular ejection fraction ? (A) the percentage of blood ejected at the QRS complex (B) the fractional change in LV volume from diastole to systole (C) the fractional change in LV diameted from diastole to systole (D) the fractional shortening times a constant 111. Sound waves can be described in terms of (A) period (B) frequency (C) wavelength (D) all of the above 112. 4.0 MHz ultrasound with an initial intensity of 10 milliwatts per square centimeter. What is the intensity at a depth of 5.0 cm ? (A) 0.8 milliwatts per square centimeter (B) 1.0 milliwatts per square centimeter (C) 0.1 milliwatts per square centimeter (D) 0.2 milliwatts per square centimeter 113. Which of the following can be used as a coupling medium ? (A) KY jelly (B) saline (C) jello (D) all of the above



114. Decreasing the spatial pulse length (A) reduces the field of view (B) reduces lateral resolution (C) improves axial resolution (D) improves lateral resolution 115. Which is not related ? (A) frame rate (B) frequency (C) lines per frame (D) pulse repetition frequency 116. A definition of density is (A) incompressibility (B) impedance times mass (C) mass per unit volume (D) force multiplied by area 117. Which describes the effects of ultrasound on tissue ? (A) cavitating effects (B) acoustic effects (C) biological effects (D) reverberation effects 118. The unit for the duty factor is (A) rayleigh's (B) mm/s (C) pulses per second (D) none 119. Increased amplitude of structures distal to a structure with low attenuation is (A) refraction (B) enhancement (C) shadowing (D) edge effect gain



120. Attenuation of ultrasound is a result of (A) absorption (B) divergence (C) refraction (D) scattering (E) all of the above

Copyright 2009 Sound Diagnostics, Inc PO Box 17328 Clearwater, FL 33762

WWW.SONOREVIEW.COM Answer worksheet and answer key for the Test #1 Ultrasound Physics Practice Questions

1________ 2________ 3________ 4________ 5________ 6________ 7________ 8________ 9________ 10________ 11________ 12________ 13________ 14________ 15________ 16________ 17________ 18________ 19________ 20________ 21________ 22________ 23________ 24________ 25________ 26________ 27________ 28________ 29________ 30________ 31________ 32________ 33________ 34________ 35________ 36________

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73________ 74________ 75________ 76________ 77________ 78________ 79________ 80________ 81________ 82________ 83________ 84________ 85________ 86________ 87________ 88________ 89________ 90________ 91________ 92________ 93________ 94________ 95________ 96________ 97________ 98________ 99________

100________ 101________ 102________ 103________ 104________ 105________ 106________ 107________ 108________

109________ 110________ 111________ 112________ 113________ 114________ 115________ 116________ 117________ 118________ 119________ 194________



1. C 2. B 3. A 4. B 5. A 6. D 7. C 8. A 9. D 10. C 11. A 12. E 13. B 14. A 15. B 16. B 17. C 18. A 19. D 20. B 21. B 22. A 23. D 24. A 25. A 26. D 27. E 28. B 29. A 30. B 31. A 32. D 33. C 34. B 35. C 36. A

37. D 38. A 39. B 40. A 41. B 42. B 43. B 44. A 45. D 46. C 47. A 48. D 49. B 50. D 51. B 52. E 53. B 54. E 55. B 56. C 57. A 58. B 59. C 60. B 61. D 62. A 63. C 64. C 65. D 66. D 67. D 68. C 69. A 70. C 71. B 72. B

73. C 74. D 75. C 76. A 77. D 78. D 79. A 80. A 81. B 82. A 83. B 84. D 85. B 86. E 87. D 88. D 89. C 90. A 91. C 92. A 93. D 94. B 95. C 96. B 97. D 98. C 99. A 100. A 101. D 102. D 103. D 104. B 105. A 106. C 107. C 108. C

109. D 110. B 111. D 112. B 113. D 114. C 115. B 116. C 117. C 118. D 119. B 120. E

test # 1 one hundred twenty ultrasound physics practice

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