Oct/Nov 2024

A crane raises a heavy load at a constant rate. Which unit is appropriate for the output power of the crane’s motor?

Power

When a cyclist applies the brakes on a bicycle, energy is transferred from the kinetic store to the thermal store. What is the cause of this energy transfer?

Friction

The extension of a spring is recorded as the load causing the stretch is raised. The graph shows the results. Which point marks the spring’s limit of proportionality?

Elastic deformation

A satellite moves around the Earth in an orbit. In which direction does the force acting on the satellite that keeps this circular motion point?

Circular motion

A beam of uniform mass is supported at its midpoint and kept in balance by three weights, as illustrated. What is the value of distance $x$?

Turning effect of forces

A card with uniform thickness and density hangs freely from a horizontal pin. The diagram shows the card in equilibrium. Which cross marks the centre of gravity of the card?

Centre of gravity

Trolley X, with mass $2.0\,\text{kg}$, is travelling rightwards at $2.0\,\text{m s}^{-1}$. Trolley Y, with mass $1.0\,\text{kg}$, is travelling leftwards at $1.0\,\text{m s}^{-1}$. The trolleys collide and then remain stuck together. The collision lasts for a total of $0.20\,\text{s}$. What is the average force acting on trolley X during the collision?

Momentum

A body with mass $5.0\,\text{kg}$ is travelling at steady speed. Its kinetic energy is $10\,\text{J}$. What is the object's speed?

Energy

A wind-up radio is used in places where mains electricity is unavailable. A person turns a handle to wind a spring inside the radio. As the spring unwinds, it causes a small coil to rotate in a magnetic field. Which energy transfer is not useful for this radio?

Efficiency

A filament lamp transfers energy at a rate of $60\,\text{W}$. It dissipates energy at a rate of $46\,\text{W}$. Which ratio should be used to determine the efficiency of the lamp?

Efficiency

A cylindrical container contains a liquid. The diameter of the cylinder’s base is $d$. The liquid has mass $m$ and depth $h$. Which expression gives the pressure exerted by the liquid on the base of the cylinder?

Pressure

Which statement concerning mass is correct?

Mass and weight

The diagram shows an instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure. The density of mercury is $1.4 \times 10^4\,\text{kg m}^{-3}$. What is the atmospheric pressure?

Pressure

Air at atmospheric pressure and room temperature is confined in an insulated container by a frictionless piston of negligible weight. By putting masses on the top of the piston, the air can be compressed. A mass of $1.0\,\text{kg}$ is placed on the piston and the volume of the trapped air falls from $100\,\text{cm}^3$ to $90\,\text{cm}^3$. Which statement is correct?

Particle model

The melting temperature of a substance is $-17\,^{\circ}\text{C}$ and its boiling temperature is $117\,^{\circ}\text{C}$. At $-10\,^{\circ}\text{C}$ and at $110\,^{\circ}\text{C}$, in what state is the substance?

Melting, boiling and evaporation

A fixed mass of a substance, initially in the solid state, receives thermal energy at a steady rate. The graph illustrates how the temperature of that fixed mass changes with time. At which parts of the graph does the substance take in latent heat?

Melting, boiling and evaporation

A torn sheet from an exercise book is shown. “As the average kinetic energy of the molecules drops, the distance between them decreases and they move downwards.” What process does this describe?

Convection

A ray of light travels from glass into air. Which arrow indicates the direction of the ray in the air?

Refraction of light

A student with short-sightedness is viewing a distant object. Which row gives the position of the image in a short-sighted eye, together with the type of lens used to correct short-sightedness?

Thin lenses

A student gives four claims about infrared waves. 1. They can be detected by the human eye. 2. They move at $330\,\text{m s}^{-1}$ in air. 3. They are transverse waves. 4. They are used in intruder alarms. Which of the statements are correct for infrared waves?

Electromagnetic spectrum

Identify the waves that are longitudinal.

General properties of waves

A person hears an echo when a sound reflects off a solid cliff face. What produces the echo?

Sound

A force equal to the weight $W$ of the bob acts horizontally on the bob of a simple pendulum. Which diagram shows the angle between the pendulum thread and the vertical?

Balanced and unbalanced forces

When a plastic strip is rubbed using a cloth, the plastic ends up with a negative charge. Which statement accounts for this?

Electrical charge

Two conducting plates are placed parallel to each other and charged. The upper plate has a positive charge. The lower plate has a charge of the same magnitude, but it is negative. Which diagram shows the pattern and direction of the electric field between the two plates?

Electrical charge

Which quantity is defined as the electrical work performed by a source in taking a unit charge around one complete circuit?

Electromotive force and potential difference

Four $1.5\,\text{V}$ cells are arranged in a circuit as shown. The switch is then closed. What reading does the voltmeter show?

Electromotive force and potential difference

Two resistors are arranged in series with a battery, as illustrated. The meter readings for three voltmeters $V_0$, $V_1$ and $V_2$, together with the currents $I_0$, $I_1$ and $I_2$, are also shown. Which row gives the values of the current $I_0$ and the potential difference $V_0$?

Series and parallel circuits

A household computer draws a current that ranges from $0.40\,\text{A}$ to $1.2\,\text{A}$ while it is linked to the mains supply. What fuse rating is most appropriate for protecting the computer?

Circuit diagrams and circuit components

Students are required to sketch the pattern and direction of the magnetic field produced by a direct current (d.c.) in a straight wire. Diagrams 1, 2 and 3 are three of the answers they gave. The students do not know which way the current flows in the wire. Which diagrams show patterns and directions that could be correct for the magnetic field produced by the current in the wire?

Magnetic effect of a current

Which row shows the atom’s positive and negative particles?

The atom

For a particular isotope of element $Q$, the nuclide notation is $^R_ZQ$. In a neutral atom of this isotope, what is the combined total of protons, neutrons and electrons?

The atom

Which sequence places the planets in order of increasing distance away from the Sun?

The Solar System

A student walks from X to Y in $20$ minutes at a speed of $3.0\ \text{km h}^{-1}$. At Y, she turns through $90^\circ$ and then walks for $15$ minutes at $4.0\ \text{km h}^{-1}$ to arrive at Z. What is her average speed from X to Z?

Motion

A learner accidentally marks a page in a textbook that gives the definition of redshift. The mark hides the three key words 1, 2 and 3. Redshift is ......1...... in the observed ......2...... of electromagnetic radiation coming from ......3...... stars and galaxies. What are words 1, 2 and 3?

The Universe

A car is stationary at a red traffic light. Once the signal turns green, the car begins to move. The graph shows the car’s motion. The car accelerates at a constant rate. Which quantity is shown on the x-axis, and which quantity is shown on the y-axis?

Motion

An object drops with no air resistance acting on it. Its position at equal time intervals is represented by a row of dots. Which dot pattern is correct?

Motion

A gas enclosed in a container is compressed by a piston while the temperature remains constant. Which property of the gas stays the same?

Thermal properties and temperature

A car has a weight of $8000\ \text{N}$. What is the mass of the car?

Mass and weight

A lorry moves on a straight, level road. The lorry has a constant driving force of $80\,\text{kN}$, while the total resistive force is $20\,\text{kN}$. Which row states how the lorry is moving and gives the resultant force on it?

Balanced and unbalanced forces

The diagram illustrates a clothes peg. Which instrument would be suitable for measuring the height of the clothes peg accurately?

Physical quantities and measurement techniques

A rocket is sent straight upward by a constant force from its engines. The launch details are given below: - weight of rocket: $1.9\,\text{MN}$ - average air resistance: $0.10\,\text{MN}$ - force from engine: $3.5\,\text{MN}$ What proportion of the work done on the rocket is converted into an increase in speed over the first $100\,\text{m}$?

Work

Which equation is used to work out the efficiency of an energy transfer?

Efficiency

Four objects with different masses are raised through different distances over different time intervals. In which combination of mass, distance and time is the greatest power transferred?

Power

Air at a pressure of $1.0 \times 10^{5}\,\text{N m}^{-2}$ is held in a container by a piston. A force is used to push the piston downward into the container. The temperature of the air stays constant. The distance from the base of the container to the piston falls from $0.18\,\text{m}$ to $0.15\,\text{m}$. What is the new air pressure inside the container?

Particle model

A sealed gas syringe contains a gas maintained at constant volume. Which row shows how a change in the gas temperature affects its pressure?

Particle model

Gold has a melting temperature of $1064\,^{\circ}\text{C}$. What is this melting temperature of gold in the Kelvin scale?

Physical quantities and measurement techniques

The table gives the melting and boiling temperatures for three elements (argon, nitrogen and oxygen). At which temperature are the three elements in different states?

States of matter

The diagram represents a liquid in a beaker at room temperature. What decreases the rate at which liquid is lost by evaporation?

Melting, boiling and evaporation

Which colour does the most effective absorber of infrared radiation have, and what is its texture?

Radiation

Which row shows the velocity and wavelength for an ultrasound wave?

Sound

Which group of quantities are all vectors?

Physical quantities and measurement techniques

The diagram illustrates a ray of light striking a plane mirror. The angle between the incident ray and the mirror is $30^{\circ}$. What is the angle of reflection?

Reflection of light

An object $O$ is positioned in front of a plane mirror. Which diagram shows the image $I$ produced by the mirror?

Reflection of light

The diagram illustrates a ray of light moving from air into medium Q. What is the critical angle at the boundary between medium Q and air?

Refraction of light

Which two kinds of waves make up the electromagnetic spectrum?

Electromagnetic spectrum

The diagrams display an iron nail in four separate situations. In which diagram does the nail act as an induced magnet?

Simple magnetism and magnetic fields

Which row shows a magnetic metal alongside a non-magnetic metal correctly?

Simple magnetism and magnetic fields

A magnet suspended freely is positioned at right angles to a uniform magnetic field, as illustrated. The magnet is seen from above. What happens to the magnet when it is released?

Simple magnetism and magnetic fields

A plastic rod is charged after being rubbed with a cloth. Which statement explains why the rod has a charge?

Electrical charge

A cell of e.m.f. $E$ is connected in series with four resistors, each having resistance $R$. From left to right, what current flows through each resistor?

Series and parallel circuits

In what other form can one volt be expressed?

Electromotive force and potential difference

The graph illustrates the cyclist's motion over a ride lasting $14\,\text{s}$. What is the cyclist's average speed for the ride?

Motion

X is a length of wire with length $l$, cross-sectional area $a$ and resistance $R$. Wire Y is constructed from the same material and is joined to wire X so that the combined component has a total resistance of $\frac{R}{2}$. What are the dimensions of Y, and in what way is it connected to X?

Resistance

Which circuit has both a fuse and a diode?

Circuit diagrams and circuit components

In a kettle powered by the mains supply, how is energy transferred?

Energy

A magnet passes through a coil of wire, as shown. Magnetic poles are formed at the two ends of the coil when the magnet goes into the coil and again when the magnet comes out of the coil. Which pole is induced at P as the magnet enters the coil, and which pole is induced at Q as the magnet leaves the coil?

Electromagnetic induction

A current flows through a straight vertical wire in the direction indicated. What pattern is formed by the magnetic field around the wire for an observer looking at the wire from the position shown?

Magnetic effect of a current

What component of a simple d.c. motor reverses the current direction in the coil after each half-turn of the coil?

The d.c. motor

Which statement concerning the nuclide notation ${}^R_Z X$ is correct?

The nucleus

In a radioactivity experiment, the background count is 28 counts per minute. A radioactive source is positioned $2\,\text{cm}$ in front of a detector, and the detector is connected to a counter. Readings on the counter are recorded both with and without sheets of different materials inserted between the source and the detector. Which forms of radiation does the source emit?

The three types of emission

A radioactive isotope is introduced into a patient during a medical examination. The radiation it gives off is picked up from outside the body. What suitable properties should this isotope have?

Radioactivity

A student makes four claims about the Solar System. Which of the claims are correct?

The Solar System

The diagram illustrates how a train’s velocity changes with time. Which parts of the graph indicate where the magnitude of the train’s velocity is decreasing?

Motion

What is never produced by the explosion of a red supergiant?

Stars

A metal disc is clamped between the jaws of a vice. Which property of the metal disc remains the same when it is squeezed?

Mass and weight

The gravitational field strength in space is lower than it is at the Earth’s surface. As a satellite travels farther from the Earth’s surface and out into space, what happens to its mass and to its weight?

Mass and weight

The density of a material is $2.4\,\text{g cm}^{-3}$. What is this density in $\text{kg m}^{-3}$?

Density

An object drops straight down through the air. Which diagram shows the forces acting on the object?

Balanced and unbalanced forces

A force $F$ acts on a lever at a distance $l$ from the pivot, as illustrated. The length $d$ is the perpendicular separation between the force and the pivot. Which expression gives the moment of force $F$ about the pivot?

Turning effect of forces

A trolley with mass 0.20 kg is initially at rest on a surface with no friction. A block of wood is fixed to the trolley. The block of wood has volume 0.0012 m$^3$, and the wood has density 650 kg m$^{-3}$.

Energy, work and power

A student shapes a ball from modelling clay. Its mass is 0.20 kg. She releases the ball from 40 m above the ground.

Energy

Fig. 3.1 shows gas at room temperature inside a metal cylinder. A metal piston is fixed in place so the gas is trapped. The metal cylinder is placed in boiling water, causing the trapped gas temperature to rise.

Particle model

A student sends a beam of white light from a filament lamp at a glass prism in a dark room. Fig. 4.1 shows the white beam striking the left-hand face of the glass prism. A screen is positioned to the right of the glass prism. Red light is seen at point R on the screen and violet light is seen at point V.

Dispersion of light

Ultrasound is a longitudinal wave, so it cannot be heard by humans because its frequency is too high for human hearing.

Sound

The bar magnet is able to turn freely about a thin rod passing through its centre. It starts at rest on a frictionless horizontal surface in a laboratory where the Earth’s magnetic field is shielded out.

Simple magnetism and magnetic fields

A filament lamp connected to a 12 V power supply transfers 24 W of power.

Resistance

The nuclide symbol for radioactive hydrogen-3 is $^{3}_{1}\text{H}$.

Radioactivity

A star that is stable in a faraway galaxy has a mass greater than 15 times the mass of the Sun.

Stars

A jet ski is a small boat built for carrying one or two people and moving at high speed on water. Fig. 1.1 shows a student riding on a jet ski. Inside the jet ski, a pump forces a high-speed jet of water backwards out of the rear. Fig. 1.1 includes labels for the arrow showing the direction of movement, the jet ski, and the jet of water.

Momentum

A glass beaker with mass $m$ is stationary on a horizontal surface. The base of the beaker is a circle of radius $r$. Fig. 2.1 shows the beaker while liquid from container X is being poured in. At the beginning, the beaker is empty. At time $t = 0$, the tap is opened and liquid from container X flows slowly into the beaker at a constant rate. At time $t = T$, the liquid stops flowing into the beaker.

Pressure

Fig. 3.1 depicts a laboratory freezer. Its door is shut and the freezer is on. A cold liquid is pumped along the copper pipe at the top of the freezer. The air beside the copper pipe cools rapidly.

Transfer of thermal energy

Fig. 4.1 shows a large syringe with the nozzle sealed by wax. A piston is fitted inside the syringe. The air in the syringe is at atmospheric pressure, $1.0 \times 10^5\,$Pa. The volume of the air in the syringe is $1.2 \times 10^{-4}\,$m$^3$. The area of the piston end that is in contact with the air is $3.5 \times 10^{-3}\,$m$^2$. Friction between the piston and the syringe is negligible.

Pressure

Some glass lenses act as converging lenses, whereas others act as diverging lenses. Fig. 5.1 presents the cross-section of a converging lens, the principal axis and the two principal focuses (focal points) $F_1$ and $F_2$ on a full-scale grid.

Thin lenses

Fig. 6.1 gives the circuit symbol for a relay, with two labelled terminals, and Fig. 6.2 presents two circuits connected through a relay. The heater transfers energy at a rate of 40 W when it is connected to a 12 V supply.

Electromagnetic effects

An alternating current mains electricity supply has a frequency of 50 Hz, and its maximum voltage is 300 V.

The transformer

The isotope thorium-230 ($^{230}_{90}\text{Th}$) undergoes decay by emitting an alpha particle ($\alpha$-particle).

Radioactivity

The Earth has a radius of $6.4 \times 10^6\,$m and completes one turn about its axis every 24 hours. Fig. 9.1 shows that, as the Earth spins, points on its surface travel in circular paths around the axis of rotation.

Earth and the Solar System

A student determines the volume of two identical straws using two different methods.

Physical quantities and measurement techniques

A student is studying series and parallel resistor arrangements. The student is given two resistors, X and Y, joined in the circuit illustrated in Fig. 2.1. The resistors are different from each other. The electromotive force (e.m.f.) of the power supply is $3.0\,\text{V}$.

Series and parallel circuits

A student carries out an experiment to determine the mass of a metre rule.

Turning effect of forces

A student uses ice cubes to investigate how long ice cubes of different masses take to melt when they are placed in water.

Melting, boiling and evaporation

A student works out an approximate density for the glass used to make a test-tube. In Fig. 1.1, a full-size drawing of the test-tube shows the height $h$ and the external diameter $d$.

Density

A student is studying how the resistance of a light-emitting diode (LED) changes when different currents pass through it. The student assembles the circuit shown in Fig. 2.1.

Resistance

A student carries out an investigation into the image produced by a converging lens.

Thin lenses

Water is heated in a glass beaker from room temperature until it reaches its boiling temperature. Plan an experiment to find out whether the time taken for the water to reach boiling depends on the diameter of the water surface exposed to the air.

Transfer of thermal energy