80 questions · 80 marks · ≈ 1 hour · spans 21 of 21 topics
Assembled from the topic question banks — not an official Cambridge International paperA book shop owner sets up the circuit below, but they find that the lamp is too dim.
What change can be made to the circuit to increase the brightness of the bulb?
Choose your answer
Putting another resistor in parallel with the battery.
Putting a resistor in parallel with the bulb.
Putting another resistor in series with the resistor.
Putting another resistor in parallel with the resistor.
Extended tier only
Which graph represents the output of a simple a.c. generator?
Choose your answer
A triangle with uniform density is suspended from a thread. Which diagram shows a system which is not in equilibrium?
Choose your answer
Four different electric bicycles are driven along a road.
The work done by their motor, and the time taken to do that work is shown in the table below.
Which of the electric bicycles produces the most power?
| Work done / J | Time taken / s | |
|---|---|---|
| A | 10 000 | 20 |
| B | 20 000 | 40 |
| C | 400 000 | 400 |
| D | 2000 | 1 |
Choose your answer
A block is shown in the diagram. It has a mass of* m*.
Which expression, below, could be used to calculate the density of the block?
Choose your answer
What is the speed of a bowling ball which travels down a 30 m lane in 2.5 seconds?
Choose your answer
75 miles per hour
75 metres per second
12 metres per second
12 miles per hour
Radioactive materials are usually stored in containers lined with metal. This is done to reduce the amount of radiation being emitted, to protect people nearby.
What type of metal is used for this purpose?
Choose your answer
Lead
Aluminium
Steel
Copper
An atom consists of electrons orbiting a nucleus. The nucleus contains protons and neutrons.
For the atom to be neutral, which statement about the atom must be correct?
Choose your answer
The number of electrons is equal to the number of protons.
The number of protons is equal to the number of neutrons.
The number of electrons, protons and neutrons are all different.
The number of electrons is equal to the number of neutrons.
Extended tier only
What is the process which makes stable stars such as the Sun shine, and which element produced in the reaction?
| Process | Element | |
|---|---|---|
| A | fusion | oxygen |
| B | fission | hydrogen |
| C | fusion | helium |
| D | fission | hydrogen |
Choose your answer
Extended tier only
The orbit of Venus around the Sun is treated as a circular path with an average radius of 108.2 million km. The orbital period of Venus is 225 days.
What is the orbital speed of Venus?
Choose your answer
40 000 km / h
62 900 km / h
126 000 km / h
810 000 km / h
Extended tier only
A National Grid engineer connects an electrical cable between two pylons.
The cable is a bit too tight.
What could happen to the wire if the weather became very cold, and why?
| What could happen? | Why? | |
|---|---|---|
| A | The wire sags low | It expands |
| B | The wire breaks | It contracts |
| C | The wire breaks | It becomes brittle |
| D | The wire’s resistance increases | It contracts |
Choose your answer
Extended tier only
Which of the following statements about convection is correct?
Warm air rises because:
Choose your answer
The air molecules expand and become less dense.
The air molecules move further apart, making the air less dense.
The air molecules contract, making the air less dense.
The air molecules move closer together, making the air less dense.
Visible, red light has a wavelength of around 700 x 10-7 m.
Two other types of electromagnetic radiation, X and Y, have different wavelengths to the visible, red light.
Wavelength of X = 400 x 10-7 m
Wavelength of Y = 3.0 x 10-2 m
Which types of radiation could X and Y be?
| X | Y | |
|---|---|---|
| A | visible blue light | microwaves |
| B | x-rays | ultraviolet |
| C | infrared | radio waves |
| D | microwaves | ultraviolet |
Choose your answer
The speed of a wave is doubled. The frequency remains the same.
What happens to the wavelength of the wave?
Choose your answer
It doubles
It halves
It remains the same
It becomes four times as large
Extended tier only
Light enters a flat water surface at an angle of 27 °.
The refractive index of water is 1.33.
At what angle does the light ray refract?
Choose your answer
0.34°
20.3 °
20.0 °
37.0 °
A student rubs a plastic rod with a cloth. The rod becomes negatively charged.
Which statement about the rod is correct?
Choose your answer
It gains electrons from the cloth and is attracted by a positively charged object.
It gains electrons from the cloth and is repelled by a positively charged object.
It loses electrons to the cloth and is attracted by a negatively charged object.
It loses electrons to the cloth and is repelled by a negatively charged object.
A student sets up the circuit below, it contains four fuses and four bulbs.
She finds that none of the bulbs are lit, but only one of the fuses has blown.
Which fuse has blown?
Choose your answer
Extended tier only
A student considers how changing the diameter and length of a wire affects its resistance.
Which row shows the changes that could be made to the length and diameter of the wire to decrease its resistance?
| Change to length | Change to diameter | |
|---|---|---|
| A | increase | increase |
| B | increase | decrease |
| C | decrease | increase |
| D | decrease | decrease |
Choose your answer
Extended tier only
Which device uses a split ring commutator?
Choose your answer
d.c. motor
transformer
relay
a.c. generator
A student makes a series of statements about a permanent bar magnet.
Which of them is true?
Choose your answer
The North pole of a permanent bar magnet will repel the North pole of another magnet.
A permanent bar magnet must be made from a soft magnetic material.
A permanent bar magnet can repel a magnetic material.
The field lines of a permanent bar magnet cross each other where the field is strongest.
Extended tier only
A corkscrew is used to open a bottle of wine.
Two forces are applied at each of the positions shown below.
Which pair of forces produces the greatest turning force?
Choose your answer
It is possible to reduce the harmful effects of burning fossil fuels on the environment without reducing the amount of fossil fuels burned.
Which of the following suggestions would not reduce the harmful effects of burning fossil fuels?
Choose your answer
Planting more trees
Investing in carbon capture and sulphur removal technologies
Increasing the efficiency of power stations
Increasing the number of hydroelectric dams
A block of an unknown material is shown in the diagram.
It's mass is 500 g.
What is the density of the block?
Choose your answer
The diagram shows a speed–time graph for a car travelling along a straight road.
What is the distance travelled by the car while it is moving at constant speed?
Choose your answer
An Olympic cyclist rides around a velodrome track 5 times.
The diagram below shows the reading on the stopwatch, which was used to time the laps. Unfortunately, the person using the stopwatch started it a little early, so the stopwatch reads 2 seconds when the cyclist starts.
What is the average time to complete one lap of the velodrome?
Choose your answer
16.24 s
14.04 s
15.84 s
15.21 s
A water-filled tank is resting on a table as shown in Fig. 1
Using the measurements in the diagram, determine the area which should be used to calculate the pressure the tank exerts on the table.
Choose your answer
0.25 m2
0.5 m2
0.75 m2
1.0 m2
Extended tier only
Strontium-90 is a radioactive substance with the nuclide symbol .
It decays by emitting radiation, as shown by the following equation.
What is missing in this equation?
Choose your answer
α- particle
Neutron
γ-ray
β-particle
A neutron and a proton are near to a positive nucleus.
If anything, what would happen to the proton and the neutron due to the charge on the nucleus?
Choose your answer
The neutron is repelled; the proton is attracted.
The proton is not affected; the neutron is attracted.
The proton is repelled; the neutron is attracted.
The proton is repelled; the neutron is not affected.
Which of the following describes the lifecycle of a star about the size of the Sun?
Choose your answer
interstellar hydrogen clouds → protostar → main sequence star → red supergiant → black hole
interstellar hydrogen clouds → planetary nebula → main sequence star → red giant → protostar→ white dwarf
interstellar hydrogen clouds → protostar → main sequence star → red giant → planetary nebula → white dwarf
interstellar hydrogen clouds → protostar → main sequence star → red supergiant → neutron star
Which list shows the correct order of the life cycle of a star like the Sun?
Choose your answer
nebula → main sequence star → red supergiant → neutron star
nebula → main sequence star → red giant → white dwarf
nebula → red giant → main sequence star → white dwarf
main sequence star → nebula → red giant → black hole
Extended tier only
A sealed yet empty (except for air) plastic drinks bottle is left outside in the sunshine on a warm day.
Which row of the table correctly describes what happens to the average speed of the air molecules, and to the pressure inside the bottle?
| Average speed of particles | Pressure inside bottle | |
|---|---|---|
| A | increases | increases |
| B | increases | decreases |
| C | decreases | increases |
| D | decreases | decreases |
Choose your answer
An iron cube is heated by a Bunsen burner.
Which of its properties decreases?
Choose your answer
Mass
Density
Volume
Internal energy
Two cars sit side by side, a black car and a white car. It is Summer.
During the day both cars absorb infrared radiation from the Sun, and during the night, both cars lose energy by emitting infrared radiation.
Which car heats up more quickly during the day, and which car cools down more quickly at night?
| Car which heats up more quickly during the day | Car which cools down more quickly at night | |
|---|---|---|
| A | black | black |
| B | black | white |
| C | white | black |
| D | white | white |
Choose your answer
Which type of electromagnetic wave is used in remote controls?
Choose your answer
Microwaves
Visible light
Ultraviolet
Infrared
What is the definition of the word amplitude?
Choose your answer
The number of complete waves that pass a point per second.
The distance from the peak of one wave to the peak of an adjacent wave.
The distance from the equilibrium position of a peak plus the same distance from a trough.
The maximum distance from the equilibrium position of any point on a wave.
A teacher has a clock mounted in such a way that students can only see its reflection in a plane mirror.
The diagram shows the reflection of the clock.
What time is shown on the clock?
Choose your answer
05:40
07:40
07:20
06:20
Extended tier only
In a common secondary school demonstration, a speaker is placed next to a lighted match.
A loud sound wave is played through the speaker, causing the flame to vibrate.
What type of wave is emitted from the speaker, and in which direction does the flame vibrate?
| wave type | direction of vibration | |
|---|---|---|
| A | transverse | ↔️ |
| B | longitudinal | ↔️ |
| C | transverse | ↕️ |
| D | longitudinal | ↕️ |
Choose your answer
Which of the circuit diagrams above shows a fuse which has been correctly connected?
Choose your answer
Extended tier only
What is the correct unit of charge?
Choose your answer
Ampere
Coulomb
Newton
Volt
Extended tier only
A current-carrying wire is placed into a magnetic field as shown in the diagram. The wire experiences a force.
In which direction does the force on the wire act?
Choose your answer
OP
PO
ST
QR
Which of the lists below are metals that are ferrous?
Choose your answer
aluminium and iron
steel and iron
steel and lead
tin and iron
Extended tier only
The graph below shows the journey of a truck along a straight, flat road.
During which part of the journey is the resultant force on the truck equal to zero?
Choose your answer
Which of the following energy sources produce no atmospheric pollution?
Choose your answer
Fossil fuels, bio fuels & nuclear fuel
Bio fuel, nuclear fuel and wave power
Nuclear fuel, wave power and solar cells
Wave power, solar cells & geothermal power
Four blocks, W,X , Y and Z are shown below.
Which of the two blocks have the same density?
Choose your answer
W and X
W and Y
Y and Z
W and Z
A helicopter flies the route shown below.
It stops at point I for 30 minutes to pick up some cargo.
The total time the helicopter takes between taking off from H and landing at L is 4.0 hours.
Calculate the average speed of the helicopter when it is flying.
Choose your answer
55.6 km/h
250 km/h
62.5 km/h
71.4 km/h
A student is trying to see how quickly they can run 5.0 km on a standard 400 m running track.
They reason that, if they know how fast they can run one lap, they can assume they will run at the same speed for 5.0 km, and can calculate their predicted time.
They, correctly, reason that they will not be able to maintain their initial pace throughout the whole 5.0 km, so they decide to time lap 5.
The diagram shows the reading on the stopwatch at the beginning and the end of lap 5.
Calculate how long it should take the student to run 5.0 km.
Choose your answer
36 minutes 52.5 seconds
24 minutes 22.5 seconds
13 minutes 0 seconds
9 minutes 45 seconds
A wooden block rests on a table.
On which surface should the block be laid to produce the largest pressure on the table?
Choose your answer
A
B
C
Any side, they will all produce the same pressure
A student carried out an experiment to find the half-life of a radioactive substance. Their results are shown in the table below.
| Time(seconds) | Count-rate from source(counts per second) |
|---|---|
| 0 | 300 |
| 20 | 200 |
| 40 | 150 |
| 60 | 100 |
| 80 | 75 |
What is the half-life of this substance?
Choose your answer
20 seconds
40 seconds
60 seconds
80 seconds
The nuclide notation for a generic element is given below:
Which of the following is the correct definition of each of the terms?
| X | A | Z | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | symbol | nucleon number | proton number |
| B | symbol | proton number | nucleon number |
| C | symbol | neutron number | proton number |
| D | nucleon number | proton number | neutron number |
Choose your answer
What is the correct description of the Milky Way?
Choose your answer
Universe
Star
Galaxy
Nebula
Which of the planets listed is the gaseous planet which is closest to the Sun?
Choose your answer
Jupiter
Mars
Saturn
Uranus
Some properties of a substance are listed.
Which properties are correct for a solid?
Choose your answer
1, 2 and 3
1 only
2 and 3 only
1 and 3 only
Extended Tier Only
In a children’s experiment, a saucer of water is left outside to evaporate.
Which row shows weather conditions that will each cause the rate of evaporation from the saucer to increase?
| Temperature | Wind speed | |
|---|---|---|
| A | warm | windy |
| B | warm | still |
| C | cool | windy |
| D | cool | still |
Choose your answer
The walls of a vacuum flask contain two layers of glass, separated by a vacuum.
Which method(s) of thermal energy transfer are prevented by the vacuum?
Choose your answer
Radiation
Conduction and radiation
Convection and radiation
Conduction and convection
Which of the following groups contains only electromagnetic waves?
Choose your answer
Sound waves, γ-rays, X-rays.
γ-rays, microwaves, sound waves.
Radio waves, infrared waves, γ-rays.
Radio waves, sound waves, microwaves.
What is the unit of wave speed?
Choose your answer
Hertz
Metre
Second
Metres per second
Extended tier only
Which of the diagrams below shows both the correct position of the image, and the correct path the light rays must have taken to the eye?
Choose your answer
Which of the frequency ranges below is completely audible by a human who has average hearing?
Choose your answer
200 Hz to 200 kHz
5 Hz to 50 kHz
50 Hz to 5 kHz
50 kHz to 50 MHz
A student connects together some identical resistors in three different combinations, as shown in the diagram.
Which of the answers below shows the correct order of the combinations from the lowest resistance to the highest?
Choose your answer
P → Q → R
Q → P → R
Q → R → P
P → R → Q
A student connects a 6 V power supply to a 3 Ω resistor. The resistor is left connected to the power supply for 1 minute.
How much power is dissipated by the resistor?
Choose your answer
2 W
12 W
720 J
18 W
A magnet is pushed into a coil of wire connected to a centre-zero sensitive ammeter. The ammeter shows a negative reading, as shown in diagram 1.
The magnet is then held stationary inside the coil.
What does the ammeter read when the magnet is stationary, as shown in diagram 2?p
Choose your answer
a constant positive reading
a constant negative reading
a reading that slowly decreases to zero
zero
Extended tier only
A teacher, Mr. Garrison, brings a horseshoe magnet near to an iron bar as shown in the diagram.
Is the iron bar attracted to or repelled from the horseshoe magnet?
Which diagram shows the polarity of the poles that are produced in the iron bar?
| Rod | Attracted / Repelled | Pole Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| A | repelled |  |
| B | repelled |  |
| C | attracted |  |
| D | attracted |  |
Choose your answer
The graph shows the load-extension graph for a spring.
What does point P represent?
Choose your answer
the maximum load the spring can withstand
the limit of proportionality of the spring
the maximum extension of the spring
the spring constant of the spring
Which disadvantage does not apply to geothermal energy?
Choose your answer
Expensive to build
Few suitable locations
Can result in the release of greenhouse gases
Not reliable
How is the weight of an object defined?
Choose your answer
The force of the ground pushing on an object
A measure of the quantity of matter of an object at rest to the observer
The mass per unit volume of an object
The gravitational force acting on an object with mass
Which distance-time graph shows an object moving with constant speed?
Choose your answer
A student uses a ruler to determine the circumference of a wooden dowel.
She puts a mark onto the dowel, then rolls it along the ruler three times, before reading the position on the ruler at which it stopped.
What is the circumference of the dowel?
Choose your answer
12 cm
12.3 cm
37 cm
36 cm
A briefcase, with flat, rectangular sides rests on the floor as shown in the diagram.
The briefcase is now turned so that it rests with its large, flat side on the floor.
How has the change affected the force on the floor, and the pressure exerted by the briefcase on the floor?
| Force | Pressure | |
|---|---|---|
| A | unchanged | decreased |
| B | unchanged | unchanged |
| C | decreased | decreased |
| D | decreased | unchanged |
Choose your answer
The count rate from a radioactive isotope is recorded every hour. The count rate is corrected for background radiation. The table shows the readings.
| time / hours | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| corrected count rate / counts/s | 1200 | 990 | 816 | 673 | 555 | 458 |
What estimate of the half-life of the isotope can be obtained from the readings in the table?
Choose your answer
between 1 and 2 hours
between 2 and 3 hours
between 3 and 4 hours
between 4 and 5 hours
Which of the following statements would not be correct for the nucleus of any atom?
Choose your answer
The nucleus contains protons and neutrons.
The nucleus has a total charge of zero.
The nucleus is very small compared to the size of the atom.
The atom contains the same number of protons and electrons.
How many years would it take light to travel from the centre of the Milky Way to the outer edge?
Choose your answer
500 years
50 000 years
100 000 years
100 000 light years
Extended tier only
The orbit of the Earth around the Sun can be thought of as following a circular path with a circumference of 942 × 106 km.
What is the approximate orbital speed of the Earth?
Choose your answer
10 000 km /h
100 000 km /h
2.5 × 106 km /h
50 × 106 km /h
In an experiment to determine the nature of liquids, some very tiny pollen grains are suspended in water. They are illuminated by a bright light, and observed under a microscope.
The view through the microscope is of small, bright dots, which move about at random, rapidly and they frequently change direction.
Which of the following would be the correct explanation for the observation through the microscope?
Choose your answer
The bright dots are water molecules, being hit by other water molecules.
The bright dots are water molecules, which are vibrating due to their thermal kinetic energy.
The bright dots are pollen grains, which are being hit many times per second by water molecules.
The bright dots are pollen grains, which are vibrating due to their thermal kinetic energy.
In order to calibrate a degrees Celsius thermometer, the lowest fixed point can be found by placing the thermometer in:
Choose your answer
Melting ice with a large quantity of salt mixed in.
Pure distilled water.
Pure boiling water.
Pure melting ice.
Extended tier only
Which of the following statements about energy transfer is correct?
Choose your answer
Metals conduct thermal energy well because their electrons are not free to move.
Infrared radiation cannot travel through a vacuum.
Warm fluids rise because their particles move further apart.
Convection only occurs in gases.
Which of the following types of electromagnetic radiation has the highest speed in a vacuum?
Choose your answer
Microwaves
Radio waves
Visible light
None of the above
Extended tier only
The following table shows some examples of waves
Which row correctly lists the nature of each of the wave types?
| Sound waves | Infrared waves | Red light waves | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | transverse | longitudinal | transverse |
| B | longitudinal | transverse | transverse |
| C | longitudinal | longitudinal | transverse |
| D | transverse | transverse | longitudinal |
Choose your answer
A student stands at a distance from a wall. He claps his hands and hears an echo later.
What is the approximate value of ?
Choose your answer
When objects vibrate, they produce sound waves.
An object in a room vibrates. However, a person in that same room does not hear anything. Why not?
Choose your answer
The room contains no air.
The sound waves are travelling too fast.
The amplitude of the sound waves is too great.
The frequency of the sound waves is too great.
Extended tier only
Two resistors are connected in parallel.
What is the combined resistance of the combination?
Choose your answer
20 Ω
4.8 Ω
0.21 Ω
1.5 Ω